Highest level contacts ever

Israel_s Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister al-Shara arrived in Washington Tuesday ahead of historic talks on a peace treaty that could close the circle on Middle East peace. He meets al-Shara on Wednesday. The talks will be the highest-level talks ever between Israel and Syria. The two countries have been in a technical state of war since Israel was founded in 1948, and Syria is hoping that it can reclaim the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 war, as part of a larger agreement. However, Israeli and U.S. officials cautioned that no immediate breakthrough was likely from two days of meetings that will start with a White House gathering hosted by U.S. President Bill Clinton. Barak, an ex-army chief who negotiated with the Syrians before talks were broken off in 1996 after a wave of suicide bombings in Israel by Islamic militants, said on his departure he felt a historic responsibility to end 50 years of hostility. In Damascus, the government English-language Syria Times said a peace deal would achieve "security, prosperity and dignity" for everyone in the Middle East, including Israelis. The fate of the talks will hinge on the Golan Heights, where some 17,000 Israelis have settled. Israel annexed the region in 1981.