(9 Jan 2000) Natural Sound
With President Clinton due to resume his mediation late on Sunday, the inconclusive round of peacemaking between Israel and Syria appears to be nearing a close.
Diplomatic sources told The Associated Press that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak tentatively planned to leave the land-for-peace negotiations on Monday evening and that Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa was likely to depart on Tuesday.
Earlier in the day, Barak joined U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright on a tour of the historic Sharpsburg civil war site where thousands of Americans lost their lives.
If the aim of the tour was to be symbolic then that symbolism was kept well beneath the surface.
Antietam National Battlefield, a Civil War site in Sharpsburg, Maryland, was the scene of a ferocious battle on September 17, 1862, in which more men were killed than in any other single-day battle during the war.
U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright took Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak on a tour of the site which saw a final combined casualty figure of over 23-thousand.
But both politicians had the problems of their own era on their minds during the visit.
It's looking increasingly likely that the peace talks between Israel and Syria will end inconclusively on Monday evening.
Both sides could leave behind experts to continue deliberations over a projected Israeli pullback on the Golan Heights and a peace offer from Syria.
Whether they plan to do so is not yet clear.
What is known is that, according the White House officials, President Clinton plans to return to Shepherdstown late on Sunday to continue the process.
It seems certain that what awaits him is another tough round of negotiations that may now mark the end of this stage of the peace process.
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