Opinion poll gives Barak a boost

JERUSALEM, JULY 10. Israelis support the Prime Minister, Mr. Ehud Barak's readiness to make compromises with the Palestinians despite his Government's near-collapse over a U.S. peace-making summit, according to an opinion poll published today.

The Dahaf Institute poll for the newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth showed 52 per cent of the 502 Israelis surveyed yesterday believed he must head for the Camp David summit with the Palestinian President, Mr. Yasser Arafat, and the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton. Of those surveyed, 45 per cent believed he did not have to go while three percent had no opinion.

Three right wing and religious parties resigned yesterday, stripping Mr. Barak of a majority in Parliament, but the former army chief elected last year on a promise to accelerate peace moves, vowed to head for the summit near Washington in any event. The poll, with a 4.5 per cent margin of error, showed that 53 percent of the Israelis surveyed believed Mr. Barak had a mandate to make concessions to Palestinians while 44 per cent believed he did not and three percent had no opinion.

In a televised address from his office yesterday, Mr. Barak shrugged off the Government desertions and appealed to the electorate he has said he will ask to approve a peace deal in Israel's first national referendum. Asked what they would prefer, 43 per cent of Israelis said new elections, 39 per cent a unity Government between Mr. Barak's One Israel faction and the right- wing opposition Likud, and 18 per cent a narrow left-leaning government.

Israel's right-wingers are afraid Mr. Barak will cede West Bank land they view as the Biblical land of the Jewish people and crucial to Israeli security. Mr. Barak was expected to barely survive a no-confidence vote in Parliament, helped by Arab parties and other leftists who would thwart an opposition bid to muster the 61 votes needed in the 120-seat Parliament to topple him.

Mr. Barak was scheduled to face three no-confidence votes before his departure for the Camp David summit. Mr. Barak, who was to have left for the U.S. in the morning, postponed his departure until after the vote.

The Likud party was in high spirits after three right wing parties quit the ruling coalition. The Likud Chairman, Mr. Ariel Sharon, said Mr. Barak does not have the support of the nation and urged him not to go to Camp David.

Meanwhile, the U.S. President, Mr. Bill Clinton, has urged Israel and the Palestinians to work hard toward a peace accord or watch tension and hostility rise in the region. ``If the parties do not seize this moment to make more progress, there will be more hostility and more bitterness - perhaps even more violence,'' Mr. Clinton said.

- Reuters

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