JERUSALEM -- Syrian President Hafez Assad has launched his first
crisis in the current negotiations with Israel in what diplomatic sources
said was an exercise in brinkmanship.
A statement by Secretary
of State Madeleine K. Albright said the two
parties' "approaches to the next round differ,
and, as a result, there is going to be a delay."
Syria was reported to be reviewing the negotiations with Israel and
would not arrive for another round of talks near Washington on Wednesday.
Syrian sources said Assad was upset over Israeli leaks from the as well as
Prime Minister Ehud Barak's refusal to publicly commit to a withdrawal to
the June 4, 1967 lines.
The Beirut-based A-Safir daily said on Monday that the negotiations
would not begin on schedule and might be delayed indefinitely. The newspaper
said Syria is demanding that President Bill Clinton honor his commitments to
Assad to press for a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
The Syrian Al Baath daily said on Monday that Israel wants to obtain
everything without giving anything.
Israeli sources said so far Syria has not formally relayed any
suspension of the negotiations. At the same time, the sources said, Israeli
and Syrian negotiators remain in contact in the United States.
"There is apparently here some kind of tactics and we are not prepared
to accept this," Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy said on Monday. "We
have come to negotiate in an orderly way. If Syria thinks that peace is
Israel saying that it is coming down from the Golan Heights, this is not
peace. This is capitulation."
"To deal directly on the issues is too difficult," Tourism Minister
Amnon Shahak said. "Both parties want to present their positions and see
what they can get before they get down to details."
Arab newspapers on Monday reported that Syria was suspending the
negotiations with Israel to conduct a review. The newspapers in Beirut and
London quoted Syrian officials as saying that the negotiations would be
suspended until Israel agrees to focus Wednesday's scheduled round of talks
on withdrawal from the Golan Heights. Israel wants to discuss security
arrangements and normalization.
Arab diplomatic sources said Syria was also upset that a U.S. document
leaked by the government of Prime Minister Ehud Barak to an Israeli
newspaper took Israel's side in several disputes regarding normalization of
relations.
In Damascus, Syria's official SANA agency reported that Syrian Foreign
Minister Farouk Al-Shaara and U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright
discussed on Sunday "the outlook for the peace process in light of the
assessments and conclusions which the parties concerned will reach before
setting the date of the next round."
In Washington, officials confirmed the telephone conversation between
Ms. Albright and A-Shaara. State Department spokesman James Foley said that
despite the Syrian report the United States expects the next round to begin
as scheduled on Wednesday.
