President Clinton tried yesterday to advance the Israeli-Syrian peace talks on the basis of a US document but there was no sign of a major breakthrough as the present round drew to a close.
The President returned to the talks outside Washington for the fifth time after a weekend break for religious observances.
The Israel Prime Minister, Mr Ehud Barak, and the Syrian Foreign Minister, Mr Farouq al-Shara, are expected to return to their respective capitals today leaving officials to work on details. A date may be set for the next full round of talks.
Any new peace settlement will involve Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights seized from Syria during the 1967 Middle East war, but the Israelis are demanding strict security guarantees and the normalisation of diplomatic relations.
In his first public statement on the talks since they began last Tuesday, Mr Barak told reporters that Israel "will not sign an agreement unless in our opinion, it will strengthen the security of Israel and address its vital needs." Mr Barak, who spoke while touring the American Civil War battlefield of Antietem, said that "there is no doubt that the negotiation is difficult".
His remarks are said to have irritated US officials who had insisted on a news blackout all week as Mr Clinton and the US Secretary of State, Ms Madeleine Albright, tried to get the two sides to accept what is called a "core agreement".
This would lay out terms for an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, security arrangements for Israel, the sharing of water resources and normalisation of relations.
The Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr David Levy, told reporters yesterday morning during the battlefield tour that on borders "nothing has been agreed".
In Jerusalem, an Israeli cabinet minister, Mr Haim Ramon, said he had spoken to Mr Barak late on Saturday and reported that while Syria had refused to permit Israel to retain an early warning station after a withdrawal from the Golan Heights, Syria was prepared to consider a warning station operated mainly by US and French personnel with a Syrian presence and a symbolic Israeli presence.
The talks at the small West Virginia town of Shepherdstown 70 miles from Washington had got bogged down in procedural wrangles for most of last week in spite of four visits by Mr Clinton and the continual presence of Ms Albright at the secluded hotel from which the press was excluded.
Mr Barak and Mr Shara had no face-to-face meetings but they did meet several times in the presence of Mr Clinton who on Friday handed over a seven-page working paper outlining the "core agreement."
A Syrian source called the document "an advanced step in the negotiating process to reach a formula on points of difference so they can be bridged". Israeli officials reported that the mood of the talks had changed and that they had been encouraged by what they said had been moderate statements from Mr Shara.
President Clinton was to have dinner last night with Mr Barak and Mr Shara, a Syrian official said.