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THE WHITE HOUSE

                     Office if the Press Secretary
                         (Geneva, Switzerland)
________________________________________________________________________
For Immediate Release                                     March 26, 2000

STATEMENT BY THE PRESS SECRETARY

Since we hosted the talks at Shepherdstown, we have been engaged in an effort to try to clarify the needs and positions of the Israelis and Syrians.

President Clinton felt that it was important to meet with President Assad face to face in order to further that process. Clearly, having met a number of times with Prime Minister Barak, the President felt it was appropriate to hear President Assad's views directly.

Throughout the process, the parties have differed on a number of issues. While we have a better understanding of the Syrian position, differences remain between the Syrian and Israeli positions.

We will continue to try to help the parties overcome these differences.

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