These negotiations failed, and there have been no further direct Syrian-Israeli talks since President Hafez al-Assad's meeting with then President Bill Clinton in Geneva in March 2000.

A more recent precedent for the Syrian-Israeli talks, which continue this week, was the marathon negotiation at Camp David in September 1978 that paved the way for peace between Egypt and Israel.

At the Syrian-Israeli talks last week, smoking was allowed in deference to Syria's chain-smoking Ambassador, Walid al-Moualem.

The issue here, he said, is whether the Syrian-Israeli talks produce "a real peace or a state of nonbelligerency."

Mr. Christopher then flew to Cairo to talk with President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt about the Syrian-Israeli talks and Palestinian self-rule in Gaza and Jericho.

Appearing with Mr. Peres at a news briefing, Mr. Christopher said the Syrian-Israeli talks have reached "a critical point" where the two sides need to "move forward at an intensified pace."

Mr. Peres must decide about June elections by mid-February, after the next round of Syrian-Israeli talks, which are to begin on Jan. 24, and another trip by Mr. Christopher to the region.

The Syrian-Israeli talks, obviously, are a bigger question.

The Syrian-Israeli talks have been deadlocked over the Golan Heights issue.

A3 Syrian Optimism on Peace The son of President Hafez al-Assad said in an interview that a deal was still possible in Syrian-Israeli talks, which broke down in January.