The Israeli Prime Minister left for the United States today to resume peace talks with Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara this week in the state of West Virginia. "On the second day of the new millennium we are on a mission on behalf of our people to bring security and peace to Israel," Ehud Barak said from the tarmac, recalling past Arab leaders who had arrived at the site to forge historic treaties with Israel.
Mr Barak warned earlier that Israel will have to pay what he called a hard and painful price for peace with Syria. However, he said that the price was worth paying, and he believed a large majority of Israelis would approve a settlement in a referendum promised for later this year.
Mr Barak was speaking hours before he is due to leave for Washington for a new round of talks with Syrian leaders. Syria is expected to demand a complete Israeli withdraw from the strategic Golan Heights as the price of any peace deal. For their part, the Israelis are seeing a complete normalisation of relations with Syria and Lebanon, together with security guarantees.
