Assad blames U.S. weakness to Israel for summit's failure

GENEVA -- The summit between United States President Bill Clinton and Syrian President Hafez ended without a decision to renew the stalled Syrian-Israeli peace talks.

Syria blamed Washington's weakness in the face of an extremist Israel for the failure of the Clinton-Assad meeting to revive the talks.

"Israel is always putting obstacles in the way of a resumption of the peace negotiations," said Gebran Kurie, spokesman for Syrian President Hafez Assad.

Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk A-Sharaa said that he hadn't expected a more positive outcome from the meeting. "Syria didn't expect a miracle, from [Israeli prime Minister Ehud] Barak but Syria didn't come to Geneva to help Barak deal with his internal problems," A-Sharaa told the pro-Syrian Lebanese daily, Al-Safir. "It's impossible to speak about the failure or success of the summit since the United States will continue efforts [for peace].

Sources said that Clinton did not present any new proposals to Assad but expounded on Israeli proposals. Clinton warned Assad that if the summit did not produce results, generations would pass until the peace process could be revived.

Assad reportedly replied that Syria was willing to wait for generations. If Israel wants peace, Syria is ready, Assad said.

In Jerusalem, Israeli officials expressed disappointment with the outcome. Israeli sources said that Assad's demand for a written commitment for an Israeli withdrawal to the June 4, 1967 border, toppled the summit.

Senior Israeli diplomatic sources said that as the chances for a resumption of the peace talks with Syria in the next few weeks fade, Barak has decided to speed up preparations for a unilateral withdrawal from Lebanon in July. He will also focus on reaching an agreement with the Palestinians on the drafting of a permanent peace settlement.

Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy accused Assad of intractability. " President Assad hasn't internalized peace as everyone understands it....There hasn't been any change in Assad's perception of the peace process," he said.

Levy said that Israel remains committed to a July withdrawal from Lebanon, with or without an agreement with Syria. "We have decided that our interest is to withdraw from Lebanon."

Israeli security officials confirmed that a decision to withdraw from Lebanon could be reached as early as May.

U.S. special envoy Dennis Ross will return to Jerusalem on Monday to brief Barak about the issues that were discussed in Geneva.

According to a high-level U.S. official, who requested anonymity, five main issues were on the agenda for the Clinton-Assad summit, including an exact boundary demarcation after an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, an alternative security arrangement that does not include an Israeli presence on the Golan, the exact nature of the peace being sought by both sides, the timetable for achieving it, and confidence-building measures.

But U.S. officials said they could not predict the next step of the negotiations.

"Differences remain between the Syrian and Israeli positions," White House Press Secretary Joe Lockhart said Sunday.

"I think the president understands that the differences that remain are significant. But I think he does believe that this was a very useful meeting with President Assad. It was a chance to talk face to face for the first time since these negotiations resumed, or began in Shepherdstown [West Virginia]. As far as resumption of talks between the Syrians and Israelis," Lockhart said, "it's impossible to predict when those talks might resume. Again, there are significant differences and I don't believe that from the position of the United States we believe that it would be productive for those to resume now."