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GOLAN HEIGHTS — At a beautiful observation point named Mitzpeh La'Shalom (Peace Vista), most visitors stop their cars and take photos of the horizon, which includes a bird-eye view of Syria.

Chami Roshansky, who settled in the Golan in 1980 after emigrating from Belgium, often spends her free time here handing out bumper stickers, answering questions and accepting contributions from visitors.

She is a dedicated member of the Golan Residents Committee. She opposes a peace treaty if it means the Golan will be returned to Syria.

"I'm not against peace," she proclaimed. "I have a boy in the army and I can't sleep at night."

But she thinks a treaty is unnecessary at this time because she doesn't view Syria as a threat to Israel.

"For 25 years we've had peace. Why don't we wait for the next generation to negotiate? Maybe they won't be so tired and maybe they'll have new ideas," she said.

"I don't think every peace in the world can be built on destroying other people," she added. "Negotiations is not giving, giving, giving. It's give and receive."

Like Roshansky, the leaders of the committee explained that they want a peace treaty with Syria but they don't think that treaty should be contingent on returning the Golan.

Avi Zeira, former head of the committee and now one of its top leaders, told visiting Jewish journalists that — according to international law — Israel has no reason to give back the Golan. He said Israel legally took it in a war declared by Syria and has the right to keep it because of Syria's past aggression against residents of the Galilee.

"If the Syrians want peace, why can't we all live together on the Golan?" Zeira asked. "They want the Golan and what we will get in return is nothing."

Zeira believes the peace treaty with Egypt, which returned the Sinai Peninsula, should have set an example. Asserting that it's a cold agreement, he asked, "Do we have to do the same thing again?"

Marla Van Meter, another leader of the Golan Residents Committee, said, "Staying on the Golan gives Israel the best opportunity to protect peace in the future. Security will always be the most important component of a peace process."

She said if the Golan were given back to Syria, Israel would have to spend between $30 billion to $40 billion for security equipment. She contends the money could be better used elsewhere.

Those who support trading the Golan for peace with Syria should talk to Turkey, Van Meter said.

"Turkey can tell you what it's like to have peace with Syria. It's constant terrorist attacks and the Syrians are taking their water."

Van Meter and Zeira believe they have made progress in convincing the Israeli public to vote against a land-for-peace deal with Syria. They feel particularly confident because Israel's burgeoning ex-Soviet population supports them.

Dmitri Apartzev, an emigre and the deputy mayor of the Golan settlement of Kazrin, agrees.

"About two-thirds of the new immigrants are against giving up the Golan," he said.

Apartzev attributes anti-Syrian sentiment to the longtime military alliance between Syria and the Soviet Union and the view that Syria's President Hafez Assad is a dictator. Such negative feelings toward Syria remain strong among ex-Soviets.

"We hear and see the anti-Semitism coming from Syria today and it reminds us what we experienced in Russia," Apartzev said. "We know what is a real dictator from our experiences, not from a textbook."

Comments such as these give Zeira and the Golan Residents Committee confidence that they won't be moving from the Golan anytime soon.

"We have the support of the public," Zeira asserted. "If we will get to a referendum, there is no doubt we will win."