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KATZRIN, Israel — Emotions ranging from hope to uncertainty to anger fill the 16,000 Golan Heights residents as their fate is again the topic of Israeli-Syrian peace talks.

Negotiations resumed this week in Washington, and residents here know that the price for peace with Syria is likely to be the return of all or most of the Golan, the strategic plateau Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.

"We are praying for peace — a peace with the Golan," says Sammy Bar-Lev, head of the regional council of Katzrin, the Golan's largest town, with 6,500 residents.

"It must be a peace we can live with, not a Yamit-style peace," he adds, recalling the return of that Sinai settlement to Egypt in 1982, in which some Israeli settlers were forcefully evicted and the town was razed.

Later that year, Israel passed a bill that applied Israeli law and jurisdiction to the Golan. The international community never recognized the move, and the de facto annexation has provided the Golan's Jewish residents with little reassurance about their future.

Bar-Lev, a 30-year resident of the Golan, talks of years of uncertainty as successive governments debated the territory's fate. He is sure that the Israeli public will reject any agreement with Hafez Assad, Syria's president, that involves the return of the Golan.

Such certainty reflects the differences between Golan settlers and their counterparts in the West Banks.

For West Bank settlers, life has been a constant struggle against the Palestinians who accuse Israel of stealing their land. In contrast, the Golan was virtually uninhabited when Israel entered, aside from a few Druze villages.

In addition, while most West Bank settlers are driven by a religious-nationalist ideology, many Golan settlers are left-leaning. They moved to the Golan either to bolster Israel's security or to improve their quality of life in 32 small towns peppered throughout the eerie but breathtaking landscape of brown, scorched earth and volcanic rock formations.

"This is like a small city, but we still have the mountain air," says Leah Ravid, 37. In this year's elections, Ravid voted for Barak, as did more than 57 percent of Golan electorate. She also voted for the Third Way Party, which campaigned on a single issue — keeping the Golan — and failed to win enough votes to return to the Knesset.

In 1978, Ravid became one of the founding members of Katzrin, and her first marriage was also the first Jewish marriage in the Golan Heights. She later lived in the United States between 1982 and 1994, returning to Katzrin with her second husband, Avishai, to open a small gift shop at the local shopping center.

"I am worried because I do not want to live in Tel Aviv and I do not want to move back to New York," Leah Ravid says. If the government decides to evacuate the Golan, Ravid may petition or protest, but in the end, will leave peacefully.

Her husband, Avishai, is even more willing to leave for peace with Syria. He also challenges the traditional Israeli security doctrine that deems the Golan — overlooking the kibbutzim along the Sea of Galilee to the west and the Syrian lowlands to the east — to be essential for Israel's security.

"Israel is no longer a country of heroes and Syria does not need to send soldiers to make war — they can send missiles — so a mile here or there does not matter," he says. "The secret for security is peace."

He is also convinced that many Golan residents quietly agree with this position. "Under the table, all everyone is waiting for is compensation," he says.

Compensation will not help the Golan Heights Winery, the most well-known industry on the Golan. Established in 1983 on the outskirts of Katzrin, the winery now produces 3.6 million bottles a year, and generated revenues of $15 million in 1998, including $3 million in exports. Its labels have won dozens of medals at international wine competitions. The secret to success, says Adam Montefiore, the company's international marketing manager, is Golan grapes.

"The high altitudes and the soil make this a unique vineyard area," says Montefiore. "To leave the Golan would be a disaster for the Israeli wine industry."

Although the winery steers clear of political campaigning, it does have a message for the policy-makers.

"It is up to the politicians to be creative enough to come up with a solution that will allow us to continue," he says. "You do not need a flag to grow grapes."

Back in Katzrin, the Golan Residents Committee has led a sporadically vociferous campaign against returning the Golan, and is gearing up for another battle.

"We have to work on Israeli public opinion to show that returning the Golan would be a total disaster," says Avi Zeira, outgoing chairman of the group, presenting the traditional Israeli position against trading the Golan for peace with Syria.

Relinquishing Israel's strategic foothold overlooking the Syrian frontier would endanger its security, he says, as Syria remains a sponsor of terrorist groups and does not really seek normalization with Israel.

In contrast, Yigal Kipnis has been coordinating a small peace movement of Golan settlers to counter the Residents Board since late 1995.

"Peace with Syria is a vital interest of the state of Israel," says Kipnis, who lives in Ma'aleh Gamla, a moshav overlooking the Sea of Galilee.

"I would be very happy if we could make peace without leaving the Golan, but we will accept with understanding an agreement that includes returning the Heights."

Israel, he says, conquered the Golan for two reasons: to provide a security buffer to the northern settlements from Syrian aggression and to ensure Israel's water interests. The Golan's streams are the source of about 30 percent of Israel's water.

If Israel can achieve these same two goals with a peace treaty, Kipnis argues, then why should the settlements remain? "This is a Garden of Eden that we have never had, but a treaty with Syria will not be decided by our personal interests," he says.

"The only reason the settlements are here is because Israel believed that peace with Syria was an impossibility. All of Israel's leaders realize this is no longer true."