Al-Sharaa exchanges views with Albright before heading home
Syria-Israel-USA, Politics, 1/11/2000

US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright met in Shepherdstown on Monday before noon with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa and members of his accompanying delegation before they returned home.

Meanwhile, the spokesman for the US State Department, James Rubin, said that US President Bill Clinton has the belief that his meetings with both the Israeli and Syrian peace negotiators and the exchange of viewpoints between them were good and serious, stressing that all topics on the peace agenda were discussed.

Earlier in the day, US President Bill Clinton met with Foreign Minister al-Sharaa and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.

The meeting was attended by the US team in charge of the peace process and several numbers of the Syrian and Israeli delegations.

Discussions dealt with works of the four committees which resumed their works earlier in the day. They are the border demarcation committee, the equal security arrangements committee, the ordinary peaceful relations committee and the water committee.

Talks dealt with the issue of complete withdrawal from the occupied Golan back to June 4, 1967 border lines, as the basic issue in the peace process.

Al-Sharaa asserted that the task of the border committee is to demarcate the June 4, 1967 lines and not to discuss the issue of the withdrawal from the Golan. He added that the "Golan is not a subject of bargain and the question of demarcating the June 4, 1967 line needs only the time which the demarcation process takes."

Following the tripartite meeting, President Clinton and Foreign Minister al-Sharaa held a closed-door meeting.

For the fifth time, the US president arrived in Shepherdstown since the beginning of the second round of negotiations on January 3. Further reports said Albright had held a meeting with al-Sharaa on Sunday night (US time) and Monday at dawn (Damascus local time).

Present at the meeting were the chairman of the border demarcation committee, Lt. Gen. Ibrahim Omar, committee member Lt. Gen. Hassan Khalil and the US team in charge of the peace process. The participants reviewed the work of the four committees which have already resumed their work in Washington.

Talks dealt with the work of the border demarcation committee.

Previous Stories:
  Syrian Israeli four committees meet   (1/10/2000)
  Syrian-Israeli talks resumed on Sunday   (1/10/2000)
  Al-Sharaa, Barak to return to their countries   (1/10/2000)

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