![[Imagemap]](/US/images/nav_us.gif){kind=small}
December 11, 1995
Web posted at: 8:35 p.m. EST
WASHINGTON (CNN) -- President Clinton renewed U.S. support for the Mideast peace process Monday, saying he is sending Secretary of State Warren Christopher to the region to help revive talks between Israel and Syria.
Christopher is to leave for Damascus, Syria Thursday after attending the Bosnia peace accord signing in Paris.
At a joint news conference following talks at the White House with visiting Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres, Clinton said he had called Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, who promised his support for making peace with Israel.
"I think the Syrian leader and the Syrian people now see the exceptional price that former Prime Minister (Yitzhak) Rabin and Prime Minister Peres have been willing to pay in their search for peace," said Clinton. "I think that is the fundamental reality here."
Clinton said he and Peres had agreed that more intensive and practical negotiations would be necessary to reach a lasting peace. (288K AIFF sound or 288K WAV sound)
This was Peres' first trip to Washington since Rabin's assassination.
Although Peres is considered the architect of the peace process, it was Rabin, as a military hero, who was able to seal the peace deals with the PLO and Jordan. Some have questioned whether Peres can wrap up the peace process with the Arabs. He reaffirmed his resolve Monday. (288K AIFF sound or 288K WAV sound)
"We don't intend to rest," he said. "We intend to continue the momentum full speed ahead in the name of all Israelis."
Four years of Syrian-Israeli negotiations have produced the outline of an agreement, which includes mutual military security and full peaceful relations in exchange for Israel's return of the Golan Heights, the strategic border enclave. At the news conference, Peres sidestepped a question on whether he would surrender all of the Golan Heights
Before the Rabin assassination, it was Syria that suspended negotiations in a dispute over future surveillance arrangements for the Golan.
Since Rabin's assassination, Israeli and Syrian officials have met again, briefly, quietly, and without hostility, at a conference in Barcelona.
Clinton was optimistic about the prospects for an Israeli- Syrian peace agreement. "We of course recognize that the differences will not disappear immediately. Great hurdles must be overcome. But an Israeli Syrian settlement is worth our every effort."
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Shara said publicly in Barcelona that an agreement with Israel could be "reached within the next few months."
Israel's new Foreign Minister, Ehud Barak, called the Syrian pronouncement "positive."
In a separate matter, Peres addressed a sensitive issue asking Clinton to grant executive clemency to convicted Israeli spy Jonathan Jay Pollard. Clinton said he would consider such a request.
Copyright © 1995 Cable News Network, Inc.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
External sites are not endorsed by CNN Interactive.