President Clinton opens Syrian - Israeli negotiations opened in Washington

US President Bill Clinton on Wednesday opened at the White House the Syrian- Israeli peace talks in the presence of Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaaí Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and members of the two delegations.

President Clinton met with al-Sharaaí and Barak for 30 minutes following the resumption of the Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations.

The US president in a separate meeting discussed with al-Sharaa the developments of negotiations in their first day, stressing his determination to follow up on the negotiations personally and his willingness to participate in the efforts to nudge the peace talks forward and to conclude peace agreements on the Syrian and Lebanese track as soon as possible.

Later al-Sharaa met with the US secretary of State Madeleine Albright.

White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said that during that meeting, "The President started that meeting by going over what in his view was the best way to proceed over the next two days. The two sides agreed with the President's proposal and are moving forward."

He characterized the Washington talks as "the highest level meetings ever between Israel and Syria on any subject, much less peace between the two countries."

He said that Syria and Israel, during the meetings with Clinton and Albright, "raised their positions and concerns, while acknowledging that the other side's concerns needed to be addressed. Both sides made clear their desire for peace. They expressed the importance that both sides attached to the Syria-Israel component as critical to an overall comprehensive peace. Each side laid out, again, their concerns and discussed how to move forward in intensive negotiations."

Lockhart refused to go into detail about the positions expressed in the talks, but said the talks "are mostly focused on how to move forward, what is the process."