Assad Reportedly Won’t Meet Barak

Syrian President Hafez Assad won’t meet with Israel’s prime minister to sort out final details of a peace deal, Syrian media said, dismissing as “farfetched” Ehud Barak’s call for a three-way meeting with President Clinton. Barak was quoted in an interview published Friday in Israel as saying some issues cannot be decided unless he sits down with Assad and Clinton. Thus far, the negotiations to hammer out a peace agreement aimed at ending 50 years of hostilities have been between Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shareh. “Barak is trying . . . to kill in advance the third round of talks,” the official Syrian daily Al Thawra said. Talks resume Wednesday.