Saudis pressured to act in crisis // Islamic activists may push for separate peace

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia Amid increasingly strident opposition fromreligious conservatives to American influences in the kingdom, thereis a growing sense in Saudi Arabia that, whether the crisis in thePersian Gulf is resolved by peace or war, the Saudis cannot afford towait much longer.

While Saudi Arabia until now has adamantly opposed a negotiatedsolution to the crisis, officials in the multinational alliance hereare concerned that pressure on the monarchy from religious activistscould force the Saudis, in the event of a continued stalemate, toseek a separate peace with Iraq.

"I think they clearly prefer a peaceful outcome," said a senior Western official. "They doubt it will happen. But the one thingthey have to have happen is to get it over."

He added, "By Jan. 15, they will need to know definitely whenand how (the United States) proposes to accomplish the objectivesthat we started out with in August."

The Islamic holy month of Ramadan in March and the annualpilgrimage to Mecca that follows have become "a kind of controldate," he said. "If this crisis has not taken some sort of decisiveturn by then, the tensions become almost insupportable."

Secretary of State James A. Baker III, meanwhile, expressedoptimism Sunday that the United States and Iraq will settle their quarrel over scheduling talks intime for him to visit Baghdad for a last-chance attempt to avert war.

"We are offering any one of the following dates as a possibledate for the meeting in Baghdad: Dec. 20, Dec. 21, Dec. 22 . . .,"Baker said, slowly emphasizing every date between Dec. 20 and Jan. 3.

With peace talks on hold, Iraqi officials began to say they arewondering whether they were fooled into releasing foreign hostages onthe false assumption that a reduction of the level of hostility wasin the works.

In private conversations, Iraqi officials said President Saddam Hussein's decision to free the foreigners was a show of goodwill inanswer to President Bush's proposal for talks. Iraq had announced itwould begin freeing the hostages Christmas Day and finish bymid-March.

Saudi Arabia so far has rebuffed the latest efforts to negotiatean Arab resolution to the crisis.

Algerian President Chadli Benjedid, fresh from contacts inJordan and Iraq, canceled a planned trip to Saudi Arabia when thekingdom made it clear it had no intention at present of agreeing to asummit between King Fahd and Hussein.

Such a meeting "is a waste of time. It will not happen," oneSaudi official said.

The prospect of the United Nations Security Council's Jan. 15deadline passing quietly with no resolution to the crisis in sightand no clear U.S. mandate for military action is looming as achilling scenario for both sides.

"The Saudis are totally reluctant to confront that possibility,"said one Western official, "as indeed we are."

Fueling much of the Saudis' concern for a quick settlement is arash of violent confrontations between religious conservatives andliberal, Western-influenced Saudis. Most Saudi officials believe theviolence is tied to the religious establishment's belief that theU.S. troop presence is contributing to secularization of theconservative Islamic kingdom.