Lebanon, Syria/Ukraine, Syria/Iraq, Syria/Israel, Peace

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000751 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: Lebanon, Syria/Ukraine, Syria/Iraq, Syria/Israel, Peace Process, Palestinian Territories (7/24) ¶1. Summary: Syrian papers on July 24 reported the July 23 broadcast by al-Jazeera television of an interview with Hizbollah Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah. Nasrallah said that Syria was SIPDIS ready to engage in the July 2006 war on Lebanon, but Hizbollah did not see any reason for Syria to do so. He said that Israel took the Syrian readiness into account and did not take any military action in the "triangle area," which could have led to Syrian action. "Keeping the war within the Lebanese domain me ant that it remained under control. A regional expansion of the war could definitely have led to uncontrollable limits and unknown results. However, what I know for sure is that Syria informed the enemy's government via mediators that in the case of any ground advance into the Al-Urqub area on the way to the Hasbayya and Rashayya areas that are adjacent to the eastern mountains -- the guarded security boundary for Damascus -- Syria would not stand idly by and would enter the war. I also know that the Israelis took this message very seriously. Hence, you notice that no ground advance took place in that area," Nasrallah said. Papers reported that FM Mouallem met on July 23 with the Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister, Yuriey Kostenko, to discuss Syrian-Ukrainian bilateral relations and means to strengthen and develop them, in addition to recent developments in the Middle East. FM Mouallem affirmed the necessity of increasing consultations and visits between the two countries and exchanging points of view regarding various issues. Kostenko expressed his country's desire to improve relations with Syria, pointing out Syria's supportive role in achieving peace and stability in the region, and stating that what happens in the region affects his country's national interest due to its geographic proximity to the Middle East. Papers also reported that delegates said that a large meeting of Iraqi rebel groups that was due to be held in Damascus July 23 was canceled at the behest of Syria. Hundreds of delegates, including members of the banned Iraqi Baath Party, officers in Saddam Hussein's now defunct security forces and anti-US tribal leaders, had gathered in Damascus to work out a joint program for groups opposed to the continued presence of US forces in Iraq. "The Syrians gently made it clear that this is not the time for this," a senior Baath Party member said. He was speaking at a meeting to announce the cancellation of the conference at a hotel in the outskirts of Damascus. The decision did not go down well with most participants, especially those who had traveled from Iraq. Some delegates linked the meeting's cancellation to the visit last week to Syria by Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. End of summary. ¶2. Selected Headlines: "Hasan Nasrallah, Hizbollah Secretary General: Our missiles are capable of hitting any target in Israel. Syria threatened to enter the war in the case of any ground advance into the Al-Urqub area on the way to the Hasbayya and Rashayya areas" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/24) "Foreign Minister Mouallem and Ukrainian Deputy Foreign Minister Kostenko discuss the latest developments in the region and means of boosting bilateral relations" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/24) "Kim Howells, British Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, stresses the need to include Syria in efforts to revive the Peace Process" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/24) "A peace-demolishing statement by Israeli Vice President Haim Ramon: We might stay in the Golan indefinitely" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/24) "A Syrian decision postpones indefinitely a planned meeting of Iraqi opposition delegations in Damascus" (Independent al-Watan, 7/24) "A US delegation confers with President Lahoud: The Bush Administration does not aim at maintaining Lebanon's sovereignty and stability" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/24) "Blair in the region. Hamas expects failure of his mission if he boycotts Hamas" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 7/24) "US disappointment at failure to endorse the Oil Law. Four soldiers killed, and a helicopter crashed, in Mosul" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/24) ¶3. Editorial Block Quotes: -------------- "Where Are the Impossible Conditions?" -------------- Muhammad Khair al-Jammali, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra, wrote (7/24): "Every time Syria reminds people of its firm positions toward peace and its goal -- a goal thwarted by negative Israeli positions and the unjustified American bias toward them -- the Israeli officials rush to misinterpret the Syrian position with a view to distorting its essence and objective, namely, reviving the peace process and leading it toward its declared objective on clear, unambiguous, and unequivocal bases.... "Although this Syrian position is very clear, Olmert said in his comment that Damascus is setting impossible conditions through its demand for withdrawal from the entire Golan before the start of the negotiations! "Where are the impossible conditions in Damascus' position? Do they lie in Syria's attempt to correct the course of the negotiations and prevent them from turning into futile marathon negotiations as former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhaq Shamir wanted them to be so that they would fail, which indeed happened? "Or do they lie in Damascus' right to know that the negotiations will be resumed -- if they are to resume -- on the specific basis of the peace process, namely, the return of the land in full in return for peace? "Damascus does not set impossible conditions, and Olmert alone misunderstands its sound vision on peace. Why? Because he does not want to implement full withdrawal from the occupied territories and give relevant guarantees similar to Rabin's pledge. If that were not the case, he would have the courage to say that he is ready for full withdrawal from the Golan in return for a genuine peace with Syria. Olmert's statement, therefore, is a deliberate misunderstanding of Damascus' clear position, which does not tolerate any erroneous interpretation." -------------- "Syrian Solution and Regional Stability" -------------- Ahmad Suwwan, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote (7/24): "Syria has always been part of the solution, never part of the problem.... "When Syria makes continuous efforts to achieve security and stability in the region, it proceeds only from its firm belief that peace alone can lead the region toward security and stability. This peace cannot be achieved without a full end to the Israeli occupation of all the occupied Arab territories and the withdrawal of the Israeli forces to the 4 June 1967 lines in the Golan, the West Bank, Gaza, Sheba Farms, and Kafr Shuba hills.... "Those who tried to isolate Syria suffered a setback and ended up isolating themselves...." -------------- "A Game of Procrastination" -------------- Umar Jaftali, a commentator in government-owned Tishreen, wrote (7/24): "Six years have passed since President Bush announced his two-state vision without anything happening on the ground.... "We wonder what Tony Blair, Bush's closest ally in the aggression on Iraq and in many positions that frustrated the peace process in the region, can do as envoy of the Quartet. "James Wolfensohn, former Quartet envoy, said that Washington never stopped interfering in the negotiations and imposing its decisions on the committee.... "What will Blair, the new sponsor of the Quartet, do? Is he up to this sensitive responsibility that has to do with the fate of a people that was wronged and persecuted by Great Britain before any other country...? "Will Bush keep his promise of two states, which he did not fulfill even when he wielded wide powers at home and with the allies...? "We do not want to anticipate things, but what we see on the ground is not promising. It does not indicate that there is an international effort to end the Palestinian tragedy and Israel's painstaking attempts to destroy the Palestinian society, abolish its identity, and Judaize its land...." -------------- "An Emergency Case" -------------- Izz-al-Din al-Darwish, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote (7/24): "Israel and the United States occupy Arab lands, kill Arab peoples, and tamper with the unity and stability of Lebanon and Sudan.... What are the Arabs doing to confront all this....? Nothing useful at all. Not only this, but some Arabs push in this American-Israeli direction, and here lies the danger.... "Certainly, nothing like this would have happened without US political and media cover, which portrays rapprochement with Israel as the ultimate achievement on the security, political, and democratic levels.... "Yet there is an Arab conviction among the broader sectors -- peoples and governments -- that this deteriorating Arab situation is a passing phenomenon and will come to an end at any moment, especially at the time of hardship. This is what the distant and recent Arab past has proven." Corbin