U.S. Ambassador to Israel Resigns Post : Diplomacy: Edward Djerejian will head new public policy program at Baker Institute in Houston. He denies leaving with bitter feelings.

JERUSALEM —  U.S. Ambassador to Israel Edward P. Djerejian announced Thursday that he will leave his post after only eight months to become director of a university institute founded by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

Djerejian, 55, is one of the most experienced envoys in the foreign service, and his decision to quit surprised Israeli officials.

Several American officials in Israel said Djerejian resigned after telling associates he was dissatisfied with the way the United States was handling peace negotiations between Israel and Syria. They said Djerejian was frustrated in recent months by his relatively limited role in Syrian-Israeli peace talks.

But Djerejian, reached in Houston, roundly denied those reports. “I’m doing this for personal and family reasons,” he said. “This is not a resignation in protest. This is a career decision.”

He will become the first director of the new Baker Institute for public policy at Rice University in Houston on Aug. 1. He worked closely with Baker on Middle East issues during the George Bush Administration, when Baker was secretary of state.

“This is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, and timing is something people don’t control,” he said. “This is exactly the kind of second career I wanted to embark on.”

He said he told Secretary of State Warren Christopher some months ago of his intention to retire.

But Israel’s government was being formally notified of his decision only today, a senior U.S. official said.

Christopher had no immediate public comment. In a written statement released in Houston, Baker called Djerejian “quite simply one of the finest diplomats I know.”

Djerejian has told associates that after 33 years in the foreign service--and with college tuition bills looming for several children--he was eager to work in the private sector.

Despite the ambassador’s denials, several American officials in Israel said he had been visibly frustrated by his relatively limited role in the Syrian-Israeli talks. They have been handled largely by Christopher and two aides.

Djerejian “blew up” earlier this week when Christopher excluded him from a key meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, they said.

In a telephone interview, Djerejian did not address the issue of his overall role in the negotiations but dismissed the allegation that he was angry at being left out of meetings. “That’s nonsense,” he said. “ . . . Ed Djerejian doesn’t take a walk over something like that.”

Before coming to Israel at the beginning of this year, Djerejian served as assistant secretary of state in both the Bush and Clinton administrations and as ambassador to Syria in the Ronald Reagan Administration.

In the Bush Administration, he played a major role in the Madrid conference that launched direct Arab-Israeli peace talks as well as the negotiations in Washington that followed.

The Baker Institute, which Baker founded last year, is planned as a nonpartisan think tank with experts on both domestic and foreign affairs. Baker is considering running for the Republican presidential nomination in 1996 and could draw on the institute for policy advisers--or, if he were to win the presidency, for top officials.

Parks reported from Jerusalem and McManus from Washington. Times staff writer Robin Wright in Washington also contributed to this report.

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