Syrian, Israeli Officials Attend Talks in Texas

For the first time in more than two years, high-level Israeli and Syrian officials met face to face this week to explore ways to revive their moribund peace process, according to the Texas think tank that hosted the session.

“It was a very serious exploration of options,” said Edward P. Djerejian, director of Houston’s Baker Institute, founded by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III.

“There may be some common ground on which the gaps can be closed,” said Djerejian, who was the State Department’s top Middle East specialist in the Bush administration. “It was focused on the negotiations and how to move them forward.”

The three-day meeting, which ended Wednesday, was the first between the Middle East antagonists since early 1996. Djerejian said that about 20 Israeli, Syrian and American policymakers and analysts attended.

Djerejian declined to discuss the details of the talks but said that the Baker Institute plans to publish a full report before the end of the month.

Israeli television, which first reported the meeting, said that neither side had changed its basic position on the peace process. But the television report said that the Syrians indicated they are prepared to resume negotiations with Israel even if the current deadlock in Israel’s relations with the Palestinians remains unbroken.

The Syrian contingent was led by Walid Mualem, Syria’s ambassador to the United States and its chief negotiator with Israel in the long-stalled talks. The Israeli delegation included Uzi Arad, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s top foreign policy advisor; Uri Saguy, former military intelligence chief; and Itamar Rabinovich, a former ambassador to the United States. Rabinovich was Israel’s chief negotiator when the Syrian talks broke down.

U.S. officials included Martin Indyk, the State Department’s chief Middle East expert, and three of his predecessors: Djerejian, Richard W. Murphy and Joseph Sisco. Baker also attended some sessions.

In Jerusalem, David Bar-Illan, a senior advisor to Netanyahu, sought to minimize the import of the meeting. But he said that Arad would report to the prime minister as soon as he returned to Israel.

“The only significance I can see is that the Syrians, knowing the Israelis would attend, did not cancel their attendance,” Bar-Illan said. “There were no actual negotiations as far as I know. They were not intended to be negotiations. What was intended--and what happened--was to have participants from both countries engaging in a colloquy about the Middle East.”

In a related development, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright said at a news conference that Washington is nearing the end of its patience with the Israel-Palestinian impasse.

“We will continue talks so long as they are constructive,” she said. But unless some progress is made soon, she said, Washington will have little choice but to end its role as mediator.

Earlier, in Tel Aviv, U.S. Ambassador Edward S. Walker Jr. said that Israel must decide in days, not weeks, if it will settle a festering territorial dispute with the Palestinians.

Kempster reported from Washington and Trounson from Jerusalem.