ROBERT SIEGEL, Host: Itamar Rabinovich is Israel's ambassador to the United States and he has been a negotiator at the peace talks in Washington, dealing particularly with the Syrians, in the past. [interviewing] Ambassador Rabinovich, I'd like to ask you first about the reports we hear of so many people in southern Lebanon heading north for Beirut, while, indeed, Guerrillas for Hezbollah seem to remain behind in the south and continue to fire rockets toward Israel. Is it, in fact, Israeli policy to- to try to press the refugees toward the north so that Beirut will take notice of what's happening?

AMBASSADOR ITAMAR RABINOVICH: Not really. You also have to look at it symmetrically in the context of lots of people in northern Israel moving south. Now, we do not think that the- the real address is the government of Lebanon. When we look at the realities of Lebanese and Middle Eastern politics, we know that Syria holds sway in Lebanon, that Iran meddles in Lebanon - the Hezbollah is, in fact, a direct arm of the Iranian government - that it is acting in south Lebanon and in the rest of Lebanon with the sufferance of Syria. And, we think that the real address for putting an end to all of this and to the cycle of violence is in Damascus and is in Tehran.

SIEGEL: President Clinton yesterday praised Syria - that is, praised President Hafez al Assad in Damascus - for showing restraint. Do you share his- his estimate of President Assad's conduct?

AMB. RABINOVICH: I like him - appreciate the fact that Syria did not join the fray - but I'm less sanguine about the overall performance of Syria in all of this, because Syria very much lit the fires. It is now watching them passively and doesn't walk into the fray, but we are mindful of the role Syria has played in the past three weeks. After all, the events in Lebanon have been preceded by two weeks of violence by not just Hezbollah, but also by the Palestinian organization of Ahmed [inaudible], which has its headquarters in Damascus, taking part in the violence. And, Syria did little to prevent all of this and maybe did something in order to encourage all of this and therefore we do not feel like commending Syria at this time.

SIEGEL: How do you respond to this analysis, that we've heard from Arab commentators from Syria, Lebanon and elsewhere - and it is that so long as Israel keeps forces in southern Lebanon, there will be attacks on those forces in southern Lebanon. And if, indeed, Israel were to withdraw from southern Lebanon, then the government's concern - mostly Lebanon - would police the area and- and restore order. And, that the attacks across the border into Israel may be exceptional and provocative, but so long as you have troops there, you're going to be fighting with people.

AMB. RABINOVICH: I would answer in the following fashion- Most of what is in the security zone is not Israeli, but a local militia. We lay no claims to any part of Lebanon. We do not wish to remain in the southern part of Lebanon. What we really want to see is a functioning Lebanese state, a functioning Lebanese government - a Lebanese state - capable of exercising its sovereignty and jurisdiction in all parts of the state and guaranteeing peace and security; first and foremost in south Lebanon and then from south Lebanon into Israel. And, once that becomes the case, we will have no desire of remaining in Lebanon physically.

And finally, we are - let us not forget that - in the midst of a peace process. Secretary Christopher's trip to the Middle East over the weekend is designed to deal primarily with the underlying issues of the peace process. We think that the real solution to many of the problems - maybe all of the problems - that we are dealing with now is in agreements to be reached between Syria and Israel. And, once that happens, the Syrians would authorize the Lebanese to proceed with an agreement of their own. And, our real hopes lie in that direction.

SIEGEL: Ambassador Rabinovich, thank you very much for talking with us today.

AMB. RABINOVICH: Thank you very much.