Bilal, Baath Party, Palestinian Territories, Lebanon,

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000801 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: Bilal, Baath Party, Palestinian Territories, Lebanon, Iraq, Rice Visit, US/Lebanon (8/3-6) ¶1. Summary: Syrian papers on August 4 featured a lecture by Information Minister Muhsen Bilal saying that the US project currently aims at lessening the value of victories achieved by the Lebanese resistance and imposing its schemes on Palestine, Iraq and other countries with the aim of seizing the region's treasures and resources. In his lecture, Bilal noted the important role of mass media to unveil facts to international public opinion, underlining the necessity of raising the j ust Arab causes on the different platforms abroad. He accused the US of practicing a very dangerous policy in the region by sending huge military supplies to Israel saying that it aggravates tension in the region and destabilizes it. Papers on August 5 featured a statement on August 4 by Assistant Regional Secretary of the Baath Party Mohammad Saiid Bkhaitan affirming that Syria will remain the prime defender of national causes despite all circumstances, attacks and pressures. In a party meeting in Hama, Bkheitan stated that President Asad clarified the course of action regarding internal and external issues in his oath-taking speech, and that the Regional Leadership has devised a preliminary plan for implementing that course of action. Bkheitan also pointed out to the Party's role in guaranteeing national unity and confronting challenges and external pressures that target the nation's interests, stating that the party's agenda focuses on social services and the enhancement of the role of public and charity organizations in the development process. Independent al-Watan on August 4 published an interview with Ahmad Jibril, Secretary General of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command, in which he discusses Palestinian developments blaming the leaders of the Palestinian security agencies for the incidents that led to the HAMAS takeover of Gaza. He criticizes the policies of President Mahmud Abbas and his refusal to hold dialogue with HAMAS. He stresses that the United States has nothing to offer Palestinians as it draws up its policy in the region in a way that only serves Israel's interests. End of summary. ¶2. Selected Headlines: "Information Minister Bilal: Events have proven the soundness of the Syrian position" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/4) "Assistant Regional Secretary of the Baath Party Mohammad Bkhaitan: Boosting the party's work is a national necessity" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/5) "An Israeli report: The war in Golan will erupt at the beginning of November" (Independent al-Watan, 8/5) "The UN Fact-Finding Commission, investigating the Israeli practices in the occupied territories, visits the liberated city of Quneitira. Facts prove the dangerous Israeli practices against Syrian citizens in Golan" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/4) "Israel continues to detain Syrian journalist Farhat. The Foreign Ministry criticizes Israeli violations in occupied Golan" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/3) "Bahrain: Syria's role is important for Peace" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/4) "Hizbollah SecGen Nasrallah addresses the Lebanese: We want a government to lead the state not a bank or a company. The resistance's weapon is for defending Lebanon and is discussed within the framework of a national defense strategy. The US policy leads a team to monopolize authority and commit follies. Some Lebanese are ashamed of allying with the resistance that liberated Lebanon and not ashamed of living in Israeli camps" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/4) "Lebanese national factions continue to condemn US intervention in Lebanon. Official results of Lebanese elections to be announced today. Candidate of Al-Tayyar al Watani al Hurr is about to win" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/6) "Fateh al-Islam fighters shell an electrical plant in Tripoli, Lebanon" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/3) "Four US soldiers killed, two injured in Baghdad. Iraqi Premier al-Maliki rejects the resignation of two ministers from the Reconciliation Front. President Bush tries to solve the crisis by telephone and urges the Iraqi senior officials to make the political operation a success" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/6) "Thirteen US soldiers killed in the first days of August.Iraqi Premier al-Maliki rules out the withdrawal of the occupation before 5 years" Government-owned Tishreen, 8/5) "Abbas is to meet Olmert today to prepare for the New York Conference" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/6) "An Arab committee to resume dialogue between Fatah and Hamas" (Independent al-Watan, 8/6) "Israeli troops reoccupy the destroyed Gaza airport and assassinate Al-Jihad leader in Nablus" (Government-owned Tishreen, 8/4) "Lebanese Opposition factions hold the current authority team responsible for the continuing crisis. Speaker of Lebanese Parliament Berri warns against making presidential elections a card in the regional conflict" (Government-owned Tisheen, 8/5) "Tehran welcomes independence of EU decision-making from American policy" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 8/5) "Moratinos reiterates the importance of finding a solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 8/3) ¶3. Editorial Block Quotes: -------------- "Arab Declarations of Indulging Israel" -------------- Isam Dari, chief editor of government-owned Tishreen, wrote (8/4): "Miss Rice came to the region like a storm, hitting here and threatening there. She returned without declared positive results but with a rich basket of secret results.... "If the State Department chief says she did not come to the region to market Bush's call for the public relations and normalization meeting that will be held in the United States next month, why then did she come...? "Secretary Rice, who a year ago installed herself as a midwife to bring the New Middle East out of the womb of war, destruction, and blood in the American aggression on Lebanon, which was implemented by Israeli hands, knows that this American plan, which suffered a serious setback, is the lifeline for the US Administration, and, if realized, will serve as the Republicans' powerful election card in the face of the rising Democrats in the forthcoming election. "Next year is an election year. The Republican Party, which handed its keys to the neoconservatives, has begun to realize the grave mistake it made. The Bush administration is sinking in problems it fabricated over the past six years and seven months, from Afghanistan, Iraq, Lebanon, and the occupied Palestinian territories to the home front where Bush's popularity is in the mire and the Congress is lying in wait for Bush's administration. "Faced with all these setbacks, the US Administration finds itself in need of a foreign victory, any victory, even if fictitious or on the media level, to redress its wounds, improve its ugly image at home and abroad, and present to the Republican Party, which has begun to grumble and level public criticism, a card it can use in the hot election season.... "The set scenario is based on the following: Preparing the atmosphere in the region for the revival of the new Middle East plan by confronting the countries and forces that were behind sending the plan to the intensive care unit, primarily Syria, Hizbollah, and Iran. Rice explicitly announced this when she said that the objective behind the arming of some Arab countries and Israel is to confront this steadfast triangle. "Rice forgot that the Arabs cannot get involved in such a crime no matter how strong "allies" to the United States they might be and regardless of the extent of their commitment to the American dictates and irrespective of how far they go in their relations with Israel and their normalization with it.... "The fall meeting in Washington wants the Arabs to grant Israel retail and wholesale declarations of indulgence. It wants them to offer warm handshakes and embraces and perhaps reconciliation and normalization. All this without a price, and let peace and its people go to hell! This is part of the scenario. The hidden part is graver and more dangerous. Arabs -- or at least some of them -- are unmindful of what is happening, or are riding on this American storm. Are we going to wake up before the axe falls on the head?" -------------- "A Pitiful Policy Run by a Superpower" -------------- Hanan Hamad, a columnist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote (7/4): "Here is one of the mockeries of the current world order management: The president of the world's strongest power declares war on individuals with unknown names, and under fictitious excuses, and promotes this war using resounding expressions like 'national state of emergency' to confront an alleged threat, not to the country that Bush's futile policy converted from a safe haven attracting the dreams of lovers of beauty and luxury to a powder keg ready to go off at any moment after decades of Israeli occupation and destruction, but to a certain individual whom Washington summed up with all the slogans of democracy, legitimacy, and stability. "In his decision, which--as analysts and observers described it--was a surprise in its significance and timing, Bush declared a 'national state of emergency' to confront the threat that Lebanon is facing and ordered a freeze on the assets in the United States of any individual threatening stability in Lebanon and supporting what he called the return of the Syrian domination to the country! "Further explaining the justifications for the draconian decision, the White House spokesman said: 'The president signed this decision because Lebanon's sovereignty and the democratic establishments in that country are under growing threat.' The State Department deputy spokesman, however, was more explicit when he said that the decision mainly targets Syria and Iran, which are supporting efforts to destabilize Lebanon's government. He was more elaborate when he named the person targeted by this American protection. He said: Bush's decision stems from our desire to make sure we are doing everything we can to support the democratic forces in Lebanon, including Prime Minister Fouad Saniora and his government. "It is no longer astonishing to see the US foreign policy being dwarfed under Bush's administration from the policy of a superpower with the responsibility of maintaining world stability to a policy interested only in maintaining the posts of specific individuals who were blinded by the desire for power and so lost their national pride and turned into tools in the hands of an administration living its last days and hoping to escape from its major crises. "But the more important question is: Where was the national state of emergency when Lebanon was coming under a brutal aggression that spared none of its human and material components in July and August 2006? Has the stability of the Saniora government become more important than the stability of Lebanon and the region? The answer is known, and it was carried by Rice and her colleague Gates in their latest visit." Corbin