Israel, Algeria leaders in first meeting, a surprise, at funeral

Tuesday, July 27, 1999

RABAT, Morocco [MENL] -- Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak held a brief meeting with Algerian President Abdelaziz Bouteflika in the first such contact between leaders of the two countries.

Witnesses said the meeting took place in an open-air court at the royal palace where leaders were gathering to pay their last respects to King Hassan, who died of a heart attack on Friday.

"This is the first time in my life that I have met an Israeli personality," Bouteflika said. "I guess you can call it a scoop."

Barak pledged to maintain the Middle East peace process. "We are determined to achieve our goals and change the landscape of the Middle East," he said.

For years, Algeria was regarded as the one of the most hardline of Arab states. It was an early and passionate advocate of the PLO and of Palestinian groups that still reject any negotiations with the Jewish state.

But Algeria quietly moved to support the peace talks between Israel and the PLO as it sought more support from the West, particularly France over the last decade. The turning point appeared to be the Islamic insurgency against the government in Algiers that began in 1992, after national elections were cancelled.

Israeli leaders did not provide details of the meeting. But they said they were stunned by the easy access they enjoyed to Arab and Western leaders at the funeral. Israeli President Ezer Weizman held several meetings with world leaders, including President Hosni Mubarak.

In one meeting, Clinton joined Barak and Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat. In another development, Morocco's official news agency conducted its first interview with an Israeli leader in a session with Barak, who met with the king, Mohammed.

"The atmosphere was warm," Weizman said. "I spoke to several Arab leaders, from the Gulf."

The one disappointment was the refusal of Syrian President Hafez Assad to attend the funeral. Israeli sources said Assad stayed away in the wake of media reports that Israeli leaders wanted to meet Assad.

"He didn't want to meet with us, then he didn't want to meet with us," Weizman said.

The Israeli delegation returned to Israel on early Monday.