Baker Confirms Syria Is Balking, but He Sees No Major Threat to Mideast Talks : Diplomacy: Damascus has reservations about the final phase of negotiations, but it remains committed to peace process, he says.

WASHINGTON —  Secretary of State James A. Baker III confirmed Friday that Syria has expressed reservations about participating in the final phase of proposed three-part Arab-Israeli negotiations, but he said the issue is not serious enough to wreck the fragile peace process.

In a brief conversation with reporters, Baker said Syrian President Hafez Assad has placed qualifications on Syria’s participation in proposed multilateral talks about water resources, arms control, the environment and other regional problems in the Middle East.

But Baker said the Syrians are “willing (and) anxious to participate in the very vital bilateral discussions with Israel that would discuss the issue of peace.”

The United States and the Soviet Union, which hope to co-sponsor a Middle East peace conference before the month’s end, envision a three-stage process: A brief ceremonial opening, bilateral peace talks between Israel and each of its Arab neighbors and multinational talks on regional problems.

The real work of the peace conference would be in the bilateral phase. It would bring Israeli officials into face-to-face talks with Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and the Palestinians of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Baker proposed the multilateral phase in an effort to bring into the process Saudi Arabia and other Arab states that had balked at direct peace talks.

The New York Times reported Friday that Syria had flatly pulled out of the third phase. Baker said that Syria had not gone nearly that far. Still, Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir reacted angrily, suggesting that his government might refuse to take part in any of the talks unless Syria agrees to participate in the third phase.

“If Syria will not participate in the regional talks, we will need to discuss and decide,” Shamir was quoted as saying by the Israeli news service Itim. “This does not show a true and strong will for peace. This shows a lot of difficulties and doubts that still exist on the way to peace.”

Baker insisted that the matter is much less serious, saying: “It is not something that would prohibit or bar a peace conference or bilateral discussions between Israel and her Arab neighbors about peace, or for that matter, multilateral negotiations involving Israel and a host of different Arab states.”

Meanwhile, Baker met again Friday with four Palestinian leaders to discuss Palestinian representation at the proposed conference. Baker and the Palestinians talked for four hours Thursday and are scheduled to meet again next Wednesday in Jerusalem. Baker leaves tonight on his eighth trip to the Middle East since the end of the Persian Gulf War.