It seems the Israelis are playing their old trick of proposing an unacceptably immoderate action in the expectation that if they back down, they will be praised as moderates. Ariel Sharon’s proposal to double the number of settlers on the occupied Golan Heights would seem designed to cause just the international uproar that it has and set the stage for a “statesman-like” reversal of the policy, to international acclaim.

But there is more to this. The move comes at a time when Washington is stepping up the political pressure on Syria to tow the US political line. The Americans are sure that despite the tightly patrolled border with Iraq, Damascus is still supporting Iraqi insurgents. In American eyes, its long-standing support for Hezbollah puts Damascus firmly in the terrorist camp. It is viewed as the common denominator between the suicide bombers in Israel and Iraq. Given the massive US military presence in Iraq, the threat to Syria must be seen as very real.

It is just possible that Sharon’s settlement proposals are designed as extra bargaining counters in renewed negotiations on the road map to peace in Palestine. Washington sees Syria as one of the keys to a deal. But the plain fact is that Syria wants the Golan Heights and the slopes of Mount Hermon back, and Israel, which annexed them in 1981, regards them as an intrinsic part of its border defenses. A partial solution would be to turn the area into a UN-administered demilitarized zone, but that does not resolve the issue of Syrian sovereignty.

Therefore the chance that Sharon is acting as part of a renewed peace plan from the White House seems remote. Far more likely he is exploiting Syria’s current exposure to mounting US pressure. Syria now seems in its weakest diplomatic position on the Golan Heights since they were seized by the Israelis in 1967. International protest, led by the French, is not going to count for much in Washington. Nor is Syria’s strong case in international law for their ultimate return.

Clearly therefore, Sharon is seizing his chance to consolidate Israel’s position in this part of the occupied territory and win the plaudits of Likud’s core right-wing supporters. There are already some 14,000 settlers in the 451 square miles of the Golan. If Sharon intends to double their number, the proposed 900 new homes will only be a start.

A freeze on settlements was of course a key condition of the road map, which the Sharon regime has been pretending to consider. That this was a sham is made clear by Interior Ministry figures issued this week, showing that in Sharon’s first three years in power, Israeli settlements in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have grown 16 percent. The real figure is no doubt higher.