Clinton to meet Assad as latter's health worsens
SPECIAL TO WORLD TRIBUNE.COM
Tuesday, March 21, 2000
WASHINGTON -- Syrian President Hafez Assad has agreed to meet U.S.
President Bill Clinton in Geneva next week in an effort to renew peace
negotiations between Damascus and Israel.
Clinton said the meeting would take place on Sunday on the return from
his current six-day visit to South Asia.
"I think this is the appropriate thing for me to do to get this back on
track," Clinton said on Monday. "I do intend to go to Switzerland to meet
with President Assad. We'll just have to see what comes out of the talks."
White House spokesman Jake Siewert said he had no further details. Assad
and Clinton last met in Geneva in 1994.
"I don't want to unduly raise expectations," Clinton said, "but I think
that this is an appropriate thing for me to do to try to get this back on
track so that our objective of having a comprehensive peace can go forward."
National Security Adviser Samuel Berger said a meeting with Assad is
necessary to advance peace efforts. "I don't expect an instant result from
the meeting but hopefully it can move the process forward," Berger said.
"You can't move this thing forward without a face-to-face meeting with
Assad. The president felt and [Israeli Prime Minister Ehud] Barak agreed the
way to see whether that's possible was for the president to meet directly
with Assad."
In Jerusalem, Barak sounded cautious. "We hope that the meeting will
lead to a resumption of the negotiations," a Barak spokesman said. "This
will only come about if conditions are ripe. If there are direct talks
between Israel and Syria, Israel will work towards concluding a peace
agreement while assuring its vital interests and strengthening its
security."
Israeli minister Haim Ramon said the Barak government does not
understand why Syria has refused to renew the talks "because as everybody
knows the Israeli government declared that we are prepared to pay a
substantial territorial and a painful price for peace and security."
The reference was to Barak's concession to withdraw to the June 4, 1967
lines. Syria, however, wants control of the Sea of Galilee, something Barak
has rejected.
In Damascus, there was no immediate comment on Clinton's plans to meet
Assad. The Syrian dailies, however, warned Barak not to delay meeting
Assad's demands.
"These leaders must choose between peace and occupation, between
security and expansion, and if they don't do it today, they will be forced
to make up their minds very soon," the Syrian government daily Tishrin said.
Arab diplomatic sources said the two presidents will discuss a
U.S.-draft of a peace treaty. They said Assad has for weeks failed to
respond to the draft sent to Damascus.
Western diplomatic sources said Assad's agreement to meet Clinton comes
as the health of the Syrian president continues to deteriorate. They said
this might explain why Assad decided to meet Clinton in what could be a
last-minute effort to complete a peace agreement with Israel.
Diplomatic sources said a senior European official who met Assad over
the last two weeks reported that his condition has worsened. The official
said Assad has difficulty both in walking and talking and that his sentences
are often completed by Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk A-Shaara.
The official told Israeli diplomats that Assad was never seen in worse
condition. He said that Assad often appeared unaware of his surroundings.
Israeli government sources said Assad's condition is a key reason for
the delay in resumption in negotiations and the hardline Syrian positions.
On Monday, Assad is scheduled to meet Qatar Emir Hamad Bin Khalifa Al
Thani. The emir arrives for a two-day visit and is expected to pledge
support for Syria and offer him economic aid as part of any Israeli-Syrian
peace treaty, diplomatic sources said.
Earlier, Irish Defense Minister Michael Smith met his Syrian
counterpart, Mustafa Tlas. The London-based Al Hayat daily reported on
Monday that the two men discussed Irish participation in an international
peacekeeping force on the Golan Heights in the wake of a peace treaty
between Israel and Syria.
Another issue discussed was the prospect of cooperation between the
Irish and Syrian militaries. The European Union has raised the prospect of
both military and economic aid to Damascus as part of any peace treaty with
Israel.
Tuesday, March 21, 2000
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