US and Syria clear the air

Mrs Albright thinks the Syrians should now leave Lebanon

The Syrian Foreign Minister, Farouk al-Shara, has indicated that Damascus could be willing to resume negotiations with Israel - subject to conditions.

Negotiations have been stalled since January over the issue of Israeli withdrawal from land occupied in 1967.

Mr Shara was speaking after a meeting in Cairo with US Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright. Their discussions had been billed as an attempt to get stalled Syrian-Israeli talks back on track.

We are not going to give up our rights. We will continue to claim them in full

Farouq al-Shara

Mr Shara called the meeting positive, telling reporters it "removed much of the misunderstanding that occurred in the past few months".

Damascus was said to have been angered when US officials said the ball was in its court after the Geneva summit in March between Presidents Bill Clinton and Hafez al-Assad.

Neither side responded to questions about the possibility of fresh elections in Israel freezing prospects for Middle East peacemaking in the coming months.

President Clinton wants new peace initiatives

Mr Shara reiterated Syria's commitment to Arab rights, defined as recovering all the territory lost in the 1967 Middle East war and restoring the legitimate rights of the Palestinians.

An unnamed senior US official later said Mr Shara expressed great interest in finding a way to reopen negotiations with Israel.

"It is going to take some time before we get a resumption of talks.

"I can't point to anything of substance that has changed," the official said.

Left in Lebanon

Before the meeting Mrs Albright called for a pullout of more than 30,000 Syrian troops from Lebanon, after the sudden end of Israel's occupation of the south in May.

"It is very important that all parties do in fact follow through on their obligations.

"The Israelis have done so and I think that the Syrians should do so also," she told a news conference.

United Nations Resolution 425 which Israel says it is implementing, 22 years after its promulgation, called for the withdrawal of all foreign forces in Lebanon.

Fresh incentive

As President Clinton nears the end of his term in office, Mrs Albright has spoken of his "passion for peace" and intention to use his last few months in the White House to promote Middle East accords.

The latest meeting came as part of a series of recent initiatives undertaken by the US aimed at getting the stalled peace process rolling once more.

The occupied Golan Heights remain a key issue

"There is no higher foreign policy priority for Mr. Clinton. We are not having a summer vacation. We are working very hard," she said.

On Tuesday, Mrs Albright persuaded Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to send senior negotiators to Washington early next week to resume talks.

The March summit meeting end with President Assad insisting that Israel must turn over all of the Golan Heights, a strategic border area, all the way to the Sea of Galilee.

Mr Barak is willing to turn over most of the territory as part of a peace treaty, but is trying to hold on to the entire inland sea - from where it derives 40% of its water supplies.