Tuesday, July 27, 1999

NICOSIA -- Syrian President Hafez Assad disappointed Israeli and U.S. officials by refusing to attend the funeral of Morocco's King Hassan.

Israeli officials said the reason appeared to be reports from Jerusalem that President Bill Clinton would attempt to arrange a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak. Barak said he had not planned any meeting with Assad.

"Assad believed that Clinton would press him to meet Barak," a diplomatic source said. "Assad didn't want to meet Barak and did not want to turn Clinton down."

"Even Clinton was surprised," former Prime Minister Shimon Peres said regarding Assad's absence.

Peres suggested that illness kept Assad away. "He is not a well man," Peres said.

U.S. and Israeli officials had hoped the Hassan funeral -- attended by an estimated two million Moroccans -- would enable Barak and Assad to firm up tentative overtures each has made to the other in recent weeks.

Barak met briefly with Jordan's King Abdullah and diplomatic sources said the Israeli relayed a message to the Syrian president. On Monday, Abdullah flew to Damascus to relay Assad the message, which was said to be connected to forthcoming talks between Israel and Syria.

Arab diplomats were stunned by the brief meeting between Barak and Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika. The meeting was front-page news on Monday in most of the London-based Arab dailies.

"Suprise in Rabat: meeting between Barak and Bouteflika," read the headline in the Saudi-owned Al Sharq al-Awsat.

"Bouteflika meets Barak for seven minutes," declared Al Zaman.

Hamas spokesman Ibrahim Ghoshe said in Amman that he was shocked by Bouteflika's meeting with Barak. "It is very shocking to see the president of the country of a million martyrs to shake hands and exchange pleasantries with the prime minister of the Zionist regime," he said in Amman.

The diplomats said Assad believes a meeting with Barak is premature. The Syrian president is said to first want to see progress in Israeli-Syrian negotiations that discuss the future of the Golan Heights.

Syrian newspapers on Monday urged Israel to declare its readiness to withdraw from the entire heights. The Al Baath daily said such a declaration would elicit an appropriate Arab response.

Preparations of the negotiations have encountered difficulty, the diplomats said. They include disagreements with Lebanon over its role in talks with Israel. Some Lebanese leaders oppose Assad's ban against a separate Lebanese negotiating team.

In addition, Syria wants to discuss Israel's purported nuclear arsenal in reply to security arrangements demanded by the Jewish state. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied that it has nuclear weapons.