NO SIGN OF IMPROVED SYRIA-EGYPT RELATIONS,

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 004898 SIPDIS SIPDIS PARIS FOR WALLER, LONDON FOR TSOU E.O. 12958: DECL: 10/12/2016 TAGS: PGOV PREL SY EG SUBJECT: NO SIGN OF IMPROVED SYRIA-EGYPT RELATIONS, CONCESSIONS BY HAMAS Classified By: Charge d'Affaires Michael H. Corbin for reasons 1.4 b/d ¶1. (C) SYRIA-EGYPT RELATIONS: Poloff met with an Egyptian diplomat October 11 to discuss recent press reports about an October 10 summit between Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak and Syrian President Bashar al-Asad, which ultimately did not take place. The diplomat said that relations between the two leaders remain frozen ""like black ice,"" after Asad's August 15 speech before a Syrian journalists' association in which Asad likened some Arab leaders to ""half men."" The SARG has taken some steps to reconcile with Egypt, as was pointed out to the Egyptian Ambassador here in recent meetings with Syrian VP Farouk al-Shara'a and Syrian FM Walid Mu'allim, however these measures have not been enough, the diplomat said. (Note: While Shara'a said that the SARG had taken appropriate steps to mend the rift between the two leaders, Mu'allim voiced the opinion that the SARG could do more and that Shara'a had largely shaped the content and tone of Asad's speech, the diplomat said.) Additionally, during his August 21 visit to Damascus, the Emir of Qatar had successfully encouraged Asad to call Mubarak to express condolences about that day's fatal train wreck in Egypt, but Mubarak declined to speak to the Syrian leader, saying that he was occupied and would call back, said the diplomat, adding that almost two months later, Mubarak has yet to do so. In the Arab context, Asad is the junior partner and needs to make significant personal amends to Mubarak, said the diplomat, who speculated that a visit by the Egyptian leader to Syria in the near future remains highly unlikely notwithstanding recent press accounts. ¶2. (C) EXTERNAL HAMAS: The diplomat also dismissed Qatari efforts to reconcile the differences between Palestinian leaders, calling Qatar's six-point plan a recycled version of points that the Palestinians have mostly agreed to but failed to implement. The diplomat cited recent Egyptian conversations with Damascus-based Hamas leader Khalid Mish'al and his deputy Moussa Abu Marzouq who indirectly indicated that, at least external Hamas, does not believe that it is in the group's interests to make concessions at a time when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbass is so weak. When asked about the inter-Palestinian meeting that failed to take place in Damascus after being rescheduled for September 28, the diplomat said, ""The Palestinians are fighting each other, not with words but with bullets in the streets."" It was unlikely that any such meeting would take place in the near future, he claimed. CORBIN