Berger: Meeting with al-Assad logical step for Clinton
US National Security Advisor Sandy Berger said yesterday that with Palestinian- Israeli talks set to resume in Washington D.C., "The task now is to resume the Syrian negotiations."
However, Berger downplayed expectations of a dramatic result coming out of the meeting. "I do not expect there to be an immediately result from this meeting on Sunday. I expect that President Assad will go back; we'll come back to Washington; and we will continue the process," he said.
Berger was responding to reporters' questions yesterday after US President Bill Clinton announced that he would meet in Geneva, Switzerland on March 26 with Syrian President Hafez al-Assad.
"I think the President felt the next logical step was for him to meet directly with President Assad. He's had many direct, face-to-face conversations with Prime Minister Barak. And there are some things that are best discussed face-to-face, leader to leader. So I would hope that this could contribute to a process by which the Syrian-Israeli negotiations can be resumed. But we have no certainty of that," Berger said.
He added that President Clinton will not be carrying a specific US proposal on the Syrian - Israeli track, saying, "I think the President will present to President Assad his impressions of how the process of negotiations can be resumed, based upon the extensive conversations that he's had with both Prime Minister Barak and President Assad."
On the violence in south Lebanon since Syrian - Israeli peace talks in the US stalled, Berger said, "I think the violence in Southern Lebanon is not a positive development and we've urged restraint on all parties and compliance with previous agreements and I'm glad that things have quieted down."
On Syria's role in easing the situation in south Lebanon, Berger said, "I think it always remains a volatile area. And again, we will continue to urge the Syrian government to use its influence to encourage restraint."
He said he believes the Clinton - al-Assad meeting "is a step in a process that hopefully can lead to a resumption of negotiations. But that is by no means assured."
Berger added that the US is not pushing for peace because of the coming end of President Clinton's term of office, saying that President al-Assad, Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak have driven the process according to their own "imperatives." He stated that he believes al-Assad and Barak "want some understanding or some sense that, in the final analysis, if there are peace negotiations, that their needs can be met."
