Almost no one expected Syrian President Hafez Assad to appear at the Sinai antiterrorism summit last week on the same stage with Israeli Prime Minister Shimon Peres. But given Damascus's pivotal role in the Mideast peace process and its potential to help stem terrorism, the assembled world leaders may be forgiven their optimism —and subsequent disappointment at Syria's no-show. President Clinton called the Syrian absence a "missed opportunity," reflecting the Arab nation's "general pattern of going their own way."
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