BILL HEMMER, CNN ANCHOR: Back in this country, Shepherdstown, West Virginia, peace talks between Israel and Syria are set to resume at this hour. The Israeli prime minister and Syria's foreign minister met face-to-face for the first time, yesterday, this after overcoming a key hurdle. CNN's Andrea Koppel is there with more.</s>ANDREA KOPPEL, CNN STATE DEPARTMENT CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): President Clinton returned to West Virginia to convene a three-way meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al-Sharaa, albeit a day later than he had originally expected.</s>JAMES RUBIN, STATE DEPARTMENT SPOKESMAN: The procedural hurdle that emerged yesterday has been overcome, and we are proceeding apace.</s>KOPPEL: Moving forward after President Clinton was unable to convince both sides on Monday to agree on a common agenda to resume substantive negotiations. The solution: All issues will be discussed in several working groups during this round of talks in a secluded hotel compound in West Virginia. Among them: the Israeli withdrawal from some or all of the Golan Heights in exchange for security guarantees and diplomatic relations with Syria, a deeply emotional matter bringing a small group of Israeli and American demonstrators to the site of the talks, protesting the surrender by Israel of any of the strategic Golan Heights. U.S. officials acknowledged the difficulty of resolving many of these complex issues, and emphasized this round of talks is only the beginning.</s>RUBIN: For what is going to be an extraordinarily difficult discussion, an extraordinarily difficult negotiation, and one that will require the most painful of political decisions by both parties.</s>KOPPEL: Another issue which could be discussed during these negotiations is the matter -- is a concern and a demand that Israel has made of Syria for it to reign in the active activities of Hezbollah guerrillas in southern Lebanon. Reporting live, I'm Andrea Koppel, CNN, in Shepherdstown, West Virginia.
Israel-Syria Peace Talks: Barak, al-Sharaa to Resume Negotiations Today With Emphasis on Hezbollah Guerrillas