Word: golan
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...will to resume negotiations, the two sides differed fundamentally over what had been agreed in previous talks, which broke off in 1996. The Syrians want Israeli prime minister Ehud Barak to restate what they say was a promise by slain permier Yitzhak Rabin to hand back the captured Golan Heights in exchange for peace. Barak maintains that this was a hypothetical offer, and that an Israeli promise to withdraw can only come aftervarious conditions had been negotiated. Now, Albright appears to have choreographed a sequence of gestures and undertakings that will bring Barak and Syrian foreign minister Farouk al-Sharaa...
...Both sides have the will to resolve this problem," says TIME U.N. correspondent William Dowell. "(Syrian President) Hafez Assad is concerned to negotiate Syria's recovery of the Golan because he doesn't want to leave his son and appointed successor, Bashar, facing this complex problem. For the Israelis, a deal with Syria would put Israel at peace with all of its immediate neighbors." It may be some time, though, before the two sides reward President Clinton with a triumphant photo opportunity. "The talks will be hard because both sides are tough negotiators," says Dowell. "There's unlikely...
...good news is that Barak wants to negotiate by mid-February the outlines of a settlement with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and begin talks with Syrian president Hafez Assad on returning the Golan Heights. Arafat and Assad, both ailing, realize this is probably their best and last chance to reach agreements. But Arafat and Barak are still haggling over a small parcel of Israeli-occupied territory. Albright wants to stay out of petty real estate disputes and keep Barak and Arafat focused on resolving bigger questions. But the men still distrust one another so much that it's hard...
...achieving a "cold peace" with Israel. His hope is to go down in history both as a peacemaker and as the Arab struggler who remained steadfast long after the Sadats, the Husseins and the Arafats did separate deals behind his back. He can portray the return of the Golan as a victory to Syrians who have known it as occupied land for most or all of their lives, since Israeli troops seized it during the Six-Day War of 1967. "He is a wise leader. We are all behind him," says Halima Khalid, 39, a Syrian homemaker picnicking with...
Will Assad's negotiators ever get back to the table and make this deal? The negotiations center on a simple-sounding swap: Israel returns the Golan and Syria delivers peace, including security arrangements and normal relations between the two nations. But there's nothing simple about the agreement. Israel insists that any return has to be gradual, a step-by-step process designed to boost each side's confidence. The Syrians claim that Israel, during Rabin's tenure, agreed to hand back the entire Golan Heights. Damascus now demands that negotations begin with that concession in the bag. Barak...