Christopher nearing
agreement in Mideast

U.N. General Assembly condemns Israeli attacks

April 26, 1996
Web posted at: 6:15 a.m. EDT (1015 GMT)

JERUSALEM (CNN) -- Following what State Department officials termed a "good" meeting with Israeli Prime MInister Shimon Peres Friday morning, U.S. Secretary of State Warren Christopher flew quickly back to Damascus to meet with Syrian leaders.

"We still don't have an agreement," State Department spokesman Nicholas Burns said. Earlier, Burns said talks with Syrian and Lebanese leaders "have narrowed the gap," adding, however, that there are still "more than negligible differences."

U.S. officials said Christopher left Syria Thursday evening with a package he believed he could sell to Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. After meeting with Peres Friday morning, Christopher phoned Lebanon's Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, asking him to remain in Damascus for a meeting. Christopher also planned to meet with Syrian President Hafez Assad.

Burns called Thursday's meeting with Assad "very productive."

Christopher has shuttled between Jerusalem and Damascus for six days to try to find a formula to halt both a 15-day-old Israeli military blitz on Lebanon and Hezbollah guerrilla rocket attacks on northern Israel.

The violence has killed at least 137 people, mostly civilians in Lebanon.

Earlier Thursday, Christopher and Assad met for three hours. The meeting was followed by lengthy talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and Lebanese parliamentary speaker Nabih Berri in Damascus.

Details of the U.S.-proposed plan were sketchy, but U.S. officials said the agreement may not include a Syrian commitment to stop the flow of Katyusha rockets to Hezbollah.

The officials also say Israel has not pushed for guarantees to protect its troops in the security zone it maintains in southern Lebanon. Reports have suggested that the question of protecting Israeli forces has been a major stumbling block to an agreement.

On Thursday, Israeli peace negotiator Uri Savir said efforts to end the fighting were nearing an end.

"No doubt we are in the last part of the negotiation. There are a few more points open. On this, one must be stubborn. The end is always the most important," Savir, director-general of the foreign ministry, told Israel's Channel Two Television.

"On one significant point there is still a dispute, a sharp dispute, and we will continue to insist on our position," he said.

In Beirut, French Foreign Minister Herve de Charette was upbeat, saying he believed the talks were close to reaching a cease-fire agreement.

Both French and American diplomats are attempting to replace an oral agreement brokered in 1993 with a written agreement to protect civilians on both sides of the Israeli-Lebanese border from attack.

A U.S. official said the only plan for ending the fighting in Lebanon is the American plan. "If there is an agreement, it will be American inspired, brokered and mediated," the official said.

Earlier Thursday, Christopher's six-day mission seemed in danger of failing.

After meeting for about an hour, Peres and Christopher both stressed that disagreements remained in the negotiating positions of the Israelis on the one hand and the Syrians and Lebanese on the other.

Christopher said differences remain that will have to be "resolved by the parties themselves." Peres said a cease-fire is "far from a foregone conclusion."

Also Thursday, the U.N. General Assembly in New York condemned Israel's attacks against the civilian population in Lebanon and said it should pay reparations.

The resolution, which also called for Israel's withdrawal from all Lebanese territory, received 64 votes in favor in the 185-member Assembly, with only the United States and Israel voting against.

But 65 delegations, including all 15 members of the European Union and eight other countries associated with it, abstained, largely because they regarded the text as unbalanced.

Reuters contributed to this report.

Related stories:

• Outlook gloomier for Israeli-Hezbollah peace - April 25, 1995
• Israel's lead party no longer opposes a Palestinian state - April 25, 1996
• Peace eludes Israel and Hezbollah - April 24, 1996
• Israeli shelling forces Christopher to cancel Beirut trip - April 23, 1996
• Efforts intensify to reach Mideast cease-fire - April 23, 1996
• Cease-fire negotiations move slowly - April 22, 1996

Related sites:

• Faces of Conflict - Lebanon
• Faces of Conflict - Israel chronolgy
• CIA World Factbook
  • Israel
  • Lebanon

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