Egypt, U.S. say Geneva summit with Syria no failure

March 28, 2000
Web posted at: 9:36 p.m. EST (0236 GMT)

In this story: Mubarak offers to meet with Barak Israeli, Palestinian negotiators adjourn RELATED STORIES, SITES

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- U.S. President Bill Clinton and Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak held out hope for peace efforts in the Middle East on Tuesday despite a lack of progress in weekend talks between Clinton and Syrian President Hafez al- Assad.

Many Middle East analysts had hoped that the 69-year-old Assad, whose health is failing, had agreed to meet Clinton in Geneva on Sunday to reach a breakthrough. But Mubarak said he could not yet consider the meeting a failure, even if it produced no result.

INTERACTIVE MAP Golan Heights: A tug of war for peace     AUDIO Mubarak talks to reporters before meeting President Clinton 790k/35 sec. AIFF or WAV sound    VIDEO CNN's Walter Rodgers summarizes the meeting and talks about what's ahead. Real 28K 80K Windows Media 28K 80K     MESSAGE BOARD Mideast peace     . . . . News: Wye River Memorandum Background: Mideast Timeline The West Bank in Brief Key Players Maps: Middle East Israel Land-for-peace deal Interactive: Message board

"That doesn't make us pessimistic," he said. "We have to make much more effort for us to reach peace, and an agreement could be signed for the welfare of the whole area."

Clinton said he asked Assad to offer a way out of the current Syrian-Israeli impasse.

"I asked him to come back to me with what he thought ought to be done," Clinton said. "So the ball's in his court now, and I'm going to look forward to hearing from him. And we're going to talk about what else I can do, what else we can do together."

Mubarak offers to meet with Barak

Talks between Israel and Syria resumed in January after a five-year suspension, then foundered again over Syria's demand that Israel agree to a withdrawal from the Golan Heights before talks can go forward.

During the Geneva conference, U.S. officials say, Assad gave Clinton what he said was his bottom line. Privately, they say no deal is likely anytime soon without a compromise and that if Israel proceeds with plans to withdraw troops from southern Lebanon in July without a deal, more bloodshed could result.

Mubarak, a key U.S. ally and intermediary in the Middle East, said he may meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak when he returns to Cairo "to see what could be done."

He said, "Tremendous efforts are being done by the United States with the cooperation with us, and I hope that we could reach a solution between the two sides."

Israeli, Palestinian negotiators adjourn

Meanwhile, preliminary talks between Israeli and Palestinian negotiators have ended at a Washington air force base. Officials from both camps discussed a framework for resuming talks aimed at reaching a final peace settlement in September between Israel and the Palestinians.

The talks took place at Bolling Air Force Base in Washington, D.C. State Department Spokesman Jim Foley characterized the meetings as an "exchange of ideas" that were not expected to produce a result.

Foley described the talks as "a kind of brainstorming session" on the way to resuming negotiations.

"These talks were successful in achieving a real exchange of ideas, and a greater and deeper understanding of the needs and arguments by each side of the other side," Foley said.

The two sides will meet again April 6 in Washington, he said. He did not disclose whether the agenda will turn to formal negotiations or will remain in preliminary talks.

State Department Correspondent Andrea Koppel contributed to this report.

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Syrian Arab Republic Ministry of Information
Office of the Israeli prime minister
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CIA World Factbook: Syria

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