December 8, 1999
Web posted at: 10:12 AM EST (1512 GMT)

Albright meets with Assad at the People's Palace in Damascus

JERUSALEM -- U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, saying Syrian President Hafez Assad appears serious about peace with Israel, is "much more hopeful" about getting talks reopened between the two countries.

Speaking Tuesday after meeting with Assad, Albright said she would talk with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak about the next move.

Peace talks between Syria and Israel broke down in 1996 after a series of suicide bombings by Islamic militants killed scores of Israelis. And Syrian officials have said talks could not resume until Israel acknowledged a pledge to give up the Golan Heights, territory Israel captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war.

Albright declined to go into any detail about her talks with Assad. But in farewell remarks in the Syrian capital of Damascus, she said she was "feeling much more hopeful than when I arrived." And U.S. officials said Albright would give Barak a message from Assad containing "new clarifications on important points" that could help bring about a renewal in peace negotiations.

From Damascus, Albright flew to Jerusalem for meetings Wednesday with Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. Israeli-Palestinian peace talks are currently bogged down over the issue of Jewish settlements in the West Bank and Gaza.