VZCZCXYZ0022
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0291/01 0261554
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (508)
O 261554Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6730
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 5752
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 3646
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2107
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 6877
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0745
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4240
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0468
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6619

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000291 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PA, NEA/ARN, INR/IC/CD, INR/S: STHIBEAULT AND 
JMCCARTER, VOA NEWS CA, NEA/PPD:CBOURGEOIS, DBENZE AND 
AFERNANDEZ, IIP/G/NEA-SA RWINCHESTER 
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC 
CENTCOM FOR CCPA 
 
E.O. 12958:  N/A 
TAGS: KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY
SUBJECT: Damascus Media Reaction: Golan, Lebanon, Palestinian 
Elections, Iraq, Iran (1/26) 
¶1. Summary: Syrian papers featured a statement by citizens of the 
Golan emphasizing that they are part of the Syrian Arab people 
and confirming adherence to national unity and genuine accord 
 
with their leadership in Syria. They announced their clear stands 
against all "conspiracies" against their motherland and 
leadership. They praised "resistance" in Lebanon and the 
Palestinian territories. They called on the Lebanese people to 
remember the sacrifices offered by Syria for Lebanon and the 
blood of Syrian martyrs, noting that this has restored to Lebanon 
its civil peace. 
 
Further in the Lebanese arena, papers reported that the Amal 
Movement and Hizbollah boycotted a Lebanese cabinet meeting, 
linking their boycott to characterization of Hizbollah as 
"resistance" not as "militia". 
 
End summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"Political dispute over characterization of Lebanese resistance 
as militia continues in Lebanon. Lebanese circles: Israel is our 
enemy; Lebanon's future is in sticking to its Arabism. Amal and 
Hizbollah boycott a cabinet meeting today" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 1/26) 
 
"People of the Golan confirm adherence to national unity" 
(Government-owned Syria Times, 1/26) 
 
"Rice calls for accelerating UNSC resolution 1559. Al-Saniora 
heads to Cairo" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 1/26) 
 
"AL SecGen Amr Mousa: Dispatch of Arab forces awaits a request by 
a sovereign Iraqi government and the departure of occupation 
forces" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 1/26) 
 
"Al-Sadr calls for formation of an independent Iraqi government: 
We took part in the election to support the process of driving 
occupiers out of Iraq" (Government-owned Tishreen, 1/26) 
 
"An explosion in Baghdad. A clergyman is killed in Samurra. US 
forces attack Fallujah. Arrests in Basra" (Government-owned Al- 
Ba'th, 1/26) 
 
"Palestinian elections proceed smoothly. Abbas is confident of 
the role of the elections in a settlement with Israel. Observers 
laud the process of Palestinian elections. US-Israeli worry about 
the election results" (Government-owned Tishreen, 1/26) 
 
"Nablus votes to restore security and end chaos. Hamas: No 
contradiction between resistance and joining the Legislative 
Council. Olmert orders construction of the separation wall to 
continue" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 1/26) 
 
"Iran agrees to enrich uranium in Russia. Washington warns India 
and China: We will not allow any nuclear weapons within the world 
oil center" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 1/26) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
------------------------ 
"Alliance with the Devil" 
------------------------ 
Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, 
commented (1/26): "The accusation that Syria is Lebanon's enemy 
is the peak of moral and political degeneration.... It is a 
serious ethical scandal.... The accusers, who constitute a small 
group in Lebanon, have revealed their cards and roles through 
their alliance with the devil.... 
"We tell these people: Enough lies, deception, recklessness, and 
departure from Lebanese and Arab sacred principles. Enough 
underestimation of the Lebanese people's intelligence and 
tampering with their emotions. The last fig leaf on your body has 
fallen and your cards are totally exposed. The Lebanese public 
knows your affiliations and the objectives for which you are 
'struggling' in the media. They are the same as the objectives of 
Israel and the United States, from disarming the resistance and 
leaving Lebanon without protection to applying pressure on Syria, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
which stands in the face of all the plans of hegemony, despotism, 
and colonialism...." 
----------------- 
"Strange States" 
----------------- 
Omar Jaftali, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote 
(1/26):  "One cannot explain the positions of the ill-intentioned 
people who are publicly colluding with the American-Zionist 
project as they jump from one side to another in a way that the 
Arab public finds disgusting.... 
"These people are casting doubts on every national principle and 
value, and, in order to serve their personal interests, they are 
being pushed by a suspicious plan that harms Lebanon before 
anyone else and returns the country to a climate of sedition and 
sectarian fighting.... 
"What does accusing the Lebanese national resistance of treason 
mean? What does the gratuitous acquittal of Israel of the crimes 
that were committed in Lebanon mean if it does not mean 
involvement in the Israeli plan? How can we claim to be patriots 
when we say that Israel is not an enemy and that Syria is the 
enemy and should be occupied? Aren't these things alien to the 
feelings of the majority of the Lebanese, who hold the national 
resistance in high esteem and see it as a source of national and 
pan-Arab pride?" 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
"Their Actions Say No to the Arabs, Yes to the Americans" 
 
--------------------------------------------- ------------ 
 
Ali Nasrallah, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra, 
commented (1/26): "This is a result that any observer of the 
statements by Lebanese Prime Minister Fu'ad al-Saniora and his 
main partner Walid Jumblatt would reach. 
"The two reject the Saudi-Arab initiative and insist on bringing 
in Americans and handing the country and the instruments of 
command over to them, thus turning the country into a base and 
platform for them to tamper with the region and push the plans 
designed for the region to serve their interests, which they 
share with Israel. 
"The Saudi initiative, and before it the initiative by Arab 
League Secretary General Amr Mousa, are rejected and attacked. 
Intensive media and political campaigns are being organized to 
shoot down these initiatives.   In the meantime, US officials 
(Welsh and Abrams) are cheered and welcomed.... 
"After all this, they still talk about sovereignty, freedom, 
independence, and relations based on mutual respect with Syria. 
Whom do they think they can fool with such twisted logic?  Do 
they have any credibility left to earn the trust of even the 
naive among the Lebanese people, who know very well how to 
differentiate between friend and enemy, and whose memory about 
Jumblatt's history and the roles he has played and continues to 
play to serve the US and Israeli interests is still fresh? 
"The issue is very clear and does not need much thinking or 
analysis.  They wish to take Lebanon to the other side, a plan 
that will be resisted by the Lebanese people and their national 
forces, who believe in Lebanon's Arabism and its affiliation, in 
terms of culture and history, to the Arab nation.   Lebanon 
cannot be isolated from its Arab nation and the organic and 
historic ties linking it to this nation cannot be severed.... 
"Prince Talal's call on some of those living in the mountains 
[Jumblatt and his group] to be silent sends more than a message 
to Jumblatt, who no longer feels ashamed of declaring his 
hostility to Syria and the nation and revealing his relations and 
role in service of the Zionist and US plans.  So much so that he 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
has ignored the reminder by his interviewer on Future Television 
to correct his statement that Syria, not Israel, is his enemy. 
He refused to correct himself.  After all this, is there any 
doubt left that he and Al-Saniora believe in the slogan `no to 
the Arabs and yes to the Americans' and that they have already 
crossed to the other side of the river?" 
Seche