Christopher Recognizes Syria Move on MIAs : Mideast: He calls Damascus’ decision to help resolve cases of 7 Israeli soldiers a step forward. But Jerusalem isn’t obliged to respond, he says.

U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher, the families of missing Israeli soldiers at his side, said Tuesday that Syria’s decision to help resolve seven MIA cases was a small step forward but not something that Israel needs to answer in kind.

“It was an independent humanitarian gesture indicating some spirit of goodwill on the part of the Syrians,” Christopher said. “I don’t think there ought to be or needs to be any particular (Israeli) response.”

Nevertheless, it seems virtually certain that Christopher will achieve the modest aim of his Jerusalem-Damascus shuttle diplomacy: a resumption of Israel-Syria peace talks in Washington, probably late next month.

U.S. and Israeli officials said that Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin and Syrian President Hafez Assad have already agreed to the resumption and that Christopher will announce it Thursday when he returns to Damascus.

Rabin said the only remaining question is the timing for the talks to resume.

Assad told Christopher on Sunday in Damascus that Syria will help three staffers of the House Foreign Affairs Committee to investigate the fate of the seven MIAs, including three who were lost more than a decade ago. At the same meeting, Assad said he will permit all Syrian Jews who want to emigrate to leave the country before the end of this month.

The gestures were clearly intended to improve the atmosphere for the Israel-Syria negotiations. And they did, despite some skepticism among Israeli officials.

“I would like to thank the secretary of state for his efforts in Syria to make it possible to do better in the search for the missing-in-actions and on other issues related to the interest of a Jewish state,” Rabin said.

When a reporter asked why he did not thank the Syrians as well as Christopher for the development, Rabin said: “At this stage, I thank those who achieve it. When I’ll see the results of these promises by the Syrians, I’ll thank everyone that will offer assistance.”

Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres said Assad’s action improves the climate for talks, although he said the Syrian president probably was motivated by a desire to show “Israel, and the other Arab states as well, that he is not out of the picture.” He said Assad may have feared he was becoming a marginal figure at the peace table following the Israel-PLO peace agreement.

On the fourth day of his weeklong Middle East trip, Christopher met Rabin, Peres, families of the MIAs and Palestinian peace negotiators. He plans to visit Cairo today for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Christopher’s meeting with the 11-member Palestinian delegation led by Faisal Husseini and Hanan Ashrawi was overshadowed by his talks Monday with Yasser Arafat, chairman of the Palestine Liberation Organization. Although the delegation is expected eventually to resume peace talks with Israel in Washington, the PLO and the Israelis are bargaining directly over conditions for Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank town of Jericho.

Under the terms of the peace agreement, the Israeli army is supposed to start withdrawing its forces from Gaza and Jericho on Monday. Ashrawi said the Palestinians told Christopher that the deadline is “a test for the commitment of both sides” to abide by the peace agreement.