Syria Pressures Clinton on Mideast Talks : Negotiations: Head of delegation looks for gesture showing incoming President’s views go beyond pro-Israel campaign rhetoric.

WASHINGTON — In a thinly veiled ultimatum to President-elect Bill Clinton, Syria said Friday that unless the incoming Administration demonstrates skill and fairness as a Middle East mediator within three or four months, the Arab parties will consider ending the year-old peace talks with Israel.

Although Mowaffak Allaf, Syria’s chief delegate to the negotiations, left room to maneuver on the Arab side, his comments at a press conference were clearly intended to pressure Clinton into an early gesture to show that his view of the Arab-Israeli conflict goes beyond his openly pro-Israel campaign rhetoric.

“We have to give some reasonable time to the new American Administration to pursue the efforts of President Bush” and Secretary of State James A. Baker III, Allaf said. “Three or four months after the arrival of the new President to the White House . . . if (the Arab parties) see that rounds are continuing without progress . . . then it will be time to reconsider the whole thing.

“Arab patience cannot last forever,” he said. “This peace process has lasted more than it should.”

It is not unusual for Syria to dangle its participation in U.S.-brokered talks as a bargaining chip in its relationship with the U.S. government. President Hafez Assad realizes that the talks cannot go on without Syria, so he tries to strike the best deal he can in exchange for his participation.

There had been reports that Assad might seek immediate concessions from Clinton as the price for continuing the talks next year. Allaf’s comments indicated that the wily Syrian dictator has decided to hold the card awhile, perhaps because he fears he would lose if he forced the issue at this time. If Clinton makes the inherited peace process his own, he can be expected to be more concerned about its success or failure than he is now when the talks are known as a Bush-Baker initiative.

Of course, it is in Assad’s own self-interest to stay on the good side of the world’s only remaining superpower, so he probably will not try to exact an exorbitant price for removing his deadline. However, he clearly wants Clinton to modify the pro-Israel tone heard during his campaign.

In the peace talks, which began almost 13 months ago in Madrid, Israel is negotiating separately with Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinians. A Syrian withdrawal would almost surely scuttle the talks because none of the other Arabs could be expected to continue without Damascus.

In the seventh round of talks, which ended Thursday, Arab and Israeli delegates agreed on one thing: Nothing much was accomplished. But no one wants to dismantle the process just yet. Although all parties expressed impatience, each has a reason for wanting the negotiations to go on.

The Palestinian delegation, which represents the viewpoint of the Palestine Liberation Organization, wants to keep the talks going to bolster the prestige of the secular PLO in the Israeli-occupied territories where a rival group, Hamas, is growing fast. The Islamic fundamentalist Hamas opposes the negotiations.

Jordan sees the negotiations as an opportunity to refurbish its relationship with Washington, tarnished by Amman’s tilt toward Iraq during the Persian Gulf War.

And Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin is eager to show results in the peace process to demonstrate the prowess of his new Labor Party-led government.