Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06DAMASCUS5423
2006-12-21 07:42:00
UNCLASSIFIED
Embassy Damascus
Cable title:  

Syria/UAE, Syria/Lebanon, Syria/PLO, Syria/EU,

Tags:  KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY 
pdf how-to read a cable
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DE RUEHDM #5423/01 3550742
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 210742Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2651
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6453
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4240
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2839
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7417
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1462
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4800
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1022
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7150
UNCLAS DAMASCUS 005423 

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR PA, NEA/ARN, INR/IC/CD, INR/R/MR:STHIBEAULT AND
JMCCARTER, VOA NEWS CA, NEA/PPD:CBOURGEOIS, AZAIBACK, AND
AFERNANDEZ, IIP/G/NEA-SA MDAVIDSON
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC
CENTCOM FOR CCPA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY
SUBJECT: Syria/UAE, Syria/Lebanon, Syria/PLO, Syria/EU,
Syria/Austria (12/18)

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 005423

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR PA, NEA/ARN, INR/IC/CD, INR/R/MR:STHIBEAULT AND
JMCCARTER, VOA NEWS CA, NEA/PPD:CBOURGEOIS, AZAIBACK, AND
AFERNANDEZ, IIP/G/NEA-SA MDAVIDSON
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC
CENTCOM FOR CCPA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY
SUBJECT: Syria/UAE, Syria/Lebanon, Syria/PLO, Syria/EU,
Syria/Austria (12/18)


1. Summary: Syrian papers on Dec. 18 reported President Asad's
visit to the UAE on Dec. 17 and his meetings with UAE President
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan. Talks dealt with the
deteriorating situation in the occupied territories. Both leaders
stressed the necessity of preventing clashes among Palestinians and
containing any incident that could cause cracks in the Palestinian
national unity. Both sides also discussed the situation in Iraq and
stressed the necessity of encouraging Iraqi and Arab efforts to
establish national unity among all segments of the Iraqi society and
make the political process there a success. Talks also dealt with
the situation in Lebanon and support for everything the Lebanese
agree upon.

Papers also reported VP Shara's meeting on Dec. 17 with a delegation
of the Lebanese People's Party, headed by Najah Wakim, which focused
on developments in Lebanon and bilateral relations. Wakim told
reporters following his meeting with Shara that "the US and some
other forces are halting the political dialogue in Lebanon and every
effort for reaching a solution that satisfies all Lebanese.

VP Shara also met on Dec. 17 with Farouq al-Qadoumi, Chief of the
Political Department of the Palestinian Liberation Organization
(PLO). Talks centered on the aggravating situation on the
Palestinian arena and the means of easing the current tension.
Al-Shara renewed Syria's call for all Palestinian groups to discard
division, avoid any escalating steps, and return to dialogue to
achieve national accord. He also asserted Syria's persistence
support for all efforts to solve these problems.

On Syrian-Iraqi relations, papers reported Syrian Minister of
Interior Gen. Bassam Abdul Majid's meeting with Iraqi Interior
Minister Jawad Kazem al-Bolani. In a press statement to reporters,
Abdul Majid said that Syria has undertaken many procedures to
control the borders between the two countries by increasing border
control points, and arresting hundreds of people who tried to enter
Iraq from the Syrian territories. For his part, Iraqi Interior

Minister al-Bolani described the talks "fruitful and constructive,"
adding that the meetings between different committees were marked by
transparency and sincerity.

Papers also reported Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Hasan Turkamni's
meeting on Dec. 17 with Ghounter Blater, Austrian Chief of Staff,
focusing on the latest developments in the region and mutual
cooperation between the Syrian and Austrian armies. Dr. Blater
inspected the Austrian battalion in the United Nations Disengagement
Observer Force (UNDPOF) in occupied Syrian Golan.

On Syrian-EU relations, papers reported that on Dec. 17 Deputy
Speaker of the Parliament Naser Qaddour received a delegation of the
Green Group in the European Parliament headed by its Vice-Chairman
Pierre Jonckheer. Papers featured a statement by Qaddour affirming
that "Syria has always been seeking to establish just and
comprehensive peace in the region in accordance with the
international legitimacy resolutions and the Madrid Conference to
restore the occupied Arab territories till June 4th 1967 line."
Qaddour added that "Syria is still calling for a clear and an
independent European position regarding the current critical
situation in the region."

End of summary.


2. Selected Headlines:

"President Asad holds meetings with UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin
Zayed reiterating the importance of unifying the Palestinian ranks,
supporting everything the Lebanese parties agree upon and achieving
Iraqi national reconciliation. President Asad confers with the
Syrian community and members of the Abu Dhabi Trade and Industry
Chamber of Commerce. The President affirms the important role of
expatriates in encouraging mutual investments" (Government-owned
Tishreen, 12/18)

"Vice-President Shara discusses with Farouk al-Qadoumi, Chief of
Political Department of the Palestinian Liberation Organization
(PLO),and Lebanese MP Najah Wakim the means to avoid escalation in
Palestine and to enhance Lebanese national unity" (Government-owned

Al-Thawra, 12/18)

"Defense Minister Lt. Gen Turkamni discusses with Austrian Defense
Minister Blater cooperation between the two armies"
(Government-owned Tishreen, 12/18)

"Syrian and Iraqi Interior Ministries hold talks. Interior Minister
Abdul Majid: We achieved big steps on controlling the borders.
Iraqi Interior Minister al-Bolani: Discussions were fruitful and
constructive" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 12/18)

"Blair in Baghdad suddenly. Our forces will remain in Iraq!"
(Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 12/18)

"Two Palestinians killed, 30 injured due to security chaos. Prime
Minister Hanieh: Early elections are not constitutional and
aggravate tension" (Government-owned Tishreen, 12/18)

"The Lebanese opposition rejects provocations of the governing team
and determines to escalate sit-in protests. The opposition supports
the Arab initiative for a settlement" (Government-owned Tishreen,
12/18)


3. Editorial Block Quotes:

--------------

"The Golan is Key to War and Peace"

--------------

Ahmad Sawwan, a commentator in government-owned Tishreen, commented
(12/18): "A recent UNSC resolution called on Israel to revoke its
decision to annex the occupied Syrian Golan Heights because it is
null and void....

"The occupation of the Golan will not last and will come to an end
sooner or later....

"Israel, more than anyone else, knows that as far as Syria and all
the Arabs are concerned, the Golan is the key to war and peace in
the region. All its attempts to keep the Golan, or even part of it,
by deception and attempts to bargain during the peace negotiations
have failed because those attempts collided with a strong and solid
Syrian national will. This will proved that there could be no peace
in the region without the return of the entire Golan to the
motherland, Syria, and without the return of all the occupied Arab
territories within a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace....

"Talks on the Syrian negotiating track can only resume from where
they left off because about 80 percent of the solution had already
been achieved and negotiations cannot go on forever....

"Syrian calls for stronger pressure on Israel to comply with UN
resolutions and achieve peace in the region.... The clear road to
peace lies in an end to the occupation because it is the source of
tension and the cause of the problems of the region, from Iraq to
Lebanon to Palestine."

--------------

"An Oppressor and an Oppressed"

--------------

Maha Sultan, a commentator in government-owned Tishreen, wrote
(12/18): "The relationship between the United States and the United
Nations was not a working relationship, as Condoleezza Rice claimed,
but a relationship between an oppressor and an oppressed....

"UN Secretary General Kofi Annan started to criticize the United
States only when he was about to quit the international
organization. During his term, Annan refrained from criticizing the
US, scoring points at our expense. He and his ilk should have quit
silently so that the world would forget them and their cowardly
positions that brought tragedies and disasters upon nations....


"During Kofi Annan's term, the United Nations came under much
American pressure, especially with regard to the Middle East.... It
issued the largest number of resolutions against the peoples of the
region, and its record was full of all kinds of defeatism,
cowardliness, blindness, and disregard for Washington's plans to
redraw the map of the region based on the American-Israeli
interests."

Roebuck