VZCZCXRO8021
OO RUEHAG RUEHDF RUEHIK RUEHLZ
DE RUEHDM #2319/01 1371402
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 171402Z MAY 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 9055
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE
RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD 0059

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 DAMASCUS 002319 
 
SIPDIS 
 
SIPDIS 
 
PARIS FOR ZEYA, LONDON FOR TSOU 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM PREL SY LE
SUBJECT: FULL TEXT OF DAMASCUS-BEIRUT DECLARATION 
 
REF: DAMASCUS 02263 
 
¶1.  (U)  FULL TEXT OF DAMASCUS-BEIRUT DECLARATION: 
 
¶2.  (U)  BEGIN TEXT: 
 
¶3.  (U)  The Lebanese-Syrian relations are witnessing quick 
deterioration that could cause a deep fracture between the 
two neighboring countries and the two sisterly peoples. This 
deterioration has grown since the extension for the Lebanese 
President Emile Lahoud, in violation of the spirit of the 
Lebanese constitution and in indifference to the opinion of 
the majority of the Lebanese.  Then this situation escalated 
seriously, with the political assassinations that ended the 
lives of political, party, media personalities and citizens 
that included in the forefront the assassination of Premier 
Rafik al-Hariri. 
 
¶4.  (U)  Feeling extreme concern over this serious 
deterioration, some opinion-makers in both Syria and Lebanon 
called for convening a series of discussions and dialogues 
during February and March during which they agreed on the 
need to work, verbally and in action, for a fundamental 
correction of the Syrian-Lebanese relations in a way that 
fulfills the common interests and aspirations of the two 
people in sovereignty, freedom, dignity, justice and progress. 
 
¶5.  (U)  We are not oblivious to the fact that the relations 
between Syria and Lebanon are burdened with a number of 
problems whose repercussions have accumulated through decades 
since the establishment of the two political entities in the 
1920s. The Syrian regime's intervention in the Lebanese wars 
1975-1990 and the hegemony exercised over Lebanon after the 
war, and the regime's security controls of Lebanon,s 
political and economic decision came to further increase and 
complicate these problems. We think that these bitter 
experiences need to be contemplated, discussed and have a 
joint critical review on all levels, and we declare here, our 
complete willingness to contribute in the undertaking of this 
task. 
 
¶6.  (U)  However we would like, within this declaration, to 
recall the shared history of our peoples in common struggles 
and sacrifices, remembering the martyrs of Marjeh Square in 
Damascus and Al-Burg Square in Beirut during the years 1915 
and 1916, and the national and popular uprisings against the 
French mandate when Lebanese cities were closed and filled 
with demonstrations, its youth receiving bullets in their 
chests in solidarity with the uprisings in Syrian cities and 
vice-versa. We have examined the important responsibility 
exercised by the ruling classes in the two countries towards 
pushing economic boycott in 1950 and the burial of the joint 
dream of the pioneers of independence in establishing two 
independent states that would have the closest economic, 
social, political and cultural relations between them. 
However the tyranny of these narrow interests did not prevent 
the two peoples from renewing their joint struggle for the 
sake of the Palestinian cause and against international and 
regional military alliances until their solidarity, during 
the last decades, in confronting the Israeli aggression 
against them and its occupation of parts of their territories 
when confrontation in Lebanon resulted in liberating the 
occupied south. 
 
¶7.  (U)  Based upon this, at a time when pressurizing factors 
are increasing so as to drive a wedge between the Syrians and 
the Lebanese, we announce our determination on dialogue, 
solidarity and joint action for fundamental correction of the 
relations between the two countries and peoples in accordance 
with a joint future national vision. Here are some of its 
components: 
 
-- Respecting and enhancing the sovereignty and independence 
of both Syria and Lebanon within the framework of 
institutionalized and transparent relations that serve the 
interests of the two peoples and enhance their joint 
confrontation with Israeli aggression and American attempts 
at hegemony. We call in this field to establish these 
relations on a basis that rejects subordination and 
inferiority on one side and the superiority, seclusion and 
boycott on the other side. 
 
In this regard the Syrian participants call for the final 
Syrian recognition of Lebanon's independence and to depart 
from any reservation or equivocation in this regard. The 
Syrian and Lebanese participants declare jointly their firm 
insistence that neither Lebanon nor Syria should be a quarter 
or a corridor for conspiracy against its neighbor or any 
other Arab country. We jointly see that the first steps that 
 
DAMASCUS 00002319  002 OF 003 
 
 
need to be taken in this direction are represented by final 
demarcation of the borders and diplomatic exchange between 
the two countries. 
 
-- We declare our adherence to Syria's right to retrieve all 
of its occupied territories in the Golan and Lebanon's 
retrieving its occupied lands in the Shabaa Farms and the 
hills of Kafar Shouba by all means possible (taking into 
account the official Syrian declaration that the latter 
territories are Lebanese) under the umbrella of international 
legitimacy, and we stress our adherence to the right of the 
Palestinian people in establishing its independent state with 
Jerusalem as its capital and in a way that would guarantee to 
the Palestinians the right of return to their homeland in 
compliance with charters and implementation of international 
resolutions. 
 
-- We stress that the differences in the political, economic 
and social systems in our two countries could be a rich, 
varied and complementary source that would not impede 
cooperation, coordination and integration between them. But 
this requires conducting a correction of these systems on the 
basis of a comprehensive critical review of the past 
experiences in both countries. We declare in this regard our 
deep conviction that both countries are capable of creating a 
vision for coordination and integration between them that 
would combine the energies, capabilities and preferential 
traits that they both enjoy, especially in facing the 
multiple challenges imposed by globalization and the wide 
horizons it entails. 
 
-- We demand the respect and cultivation of public and 
private liberties, human rights, building of the state of the 
law, institutions, free and honest elections, circulation of 
power and unity of the state and maintaining its sovereignty 
over all of its soil. We stress the exceptional role played 
by the forces of democratic change in protecting independence 
and enhancing the capabilities of our two people in their 
national and regional battles. Furthermore, we insist that 
dominance of democratic regimes in the two countries 
constitute the best guarantee for the establishment and 
dedication of equal and sound relations between them. 
However, we adhere at the same time, to the right of the two 
peoples to choose with complete freedom, the economic, social 
and political system that fulfills their aspirations without 
any coercion. 
 
-- We call for establishing economic relations between the 
two countries on the basis of transparency, openly and 
complementarily in a manner that serves the popular interests 
and not the greed of a few who control the economy and the 
authority. This requires first and foremost liberalizing the 
economies of both countries from the organized plundering of 
the wealth and resources of both countries that has been, and 
is still being exercised by joint mafias that are benefiting 
from the positions of protection and utilization of authority 
in both countries. 
 
-- We denounce political assassination as a criminal method 
to deal with the opposition and to resolve political 
disputes, and we stress the need to facilitate the task of 
the UN International Investigation Committee to expose the 
instigators, organizers and the executers of the 
assassination of Premier Rafik al-Hariri and his colleagues 
and the other crimes, and to hold these actors liable for the 
criminal and political responsibility for their crimes and 
hand them the punishment they deserQ in accordance with 
international law and the public opinion. We absolutely 
reject any attempt to impose economic sanctions or otherwise 
on the Syrian people. 
 
-- We denounce the forms of discrimination and violence 
practiced against Syrian workers in Lebanon. We ask the 
Lebanese authorities to track down the perpetrators of the 
crimes of assault on these workers to expose them, arrest 
them and put them on trial to receive the punishment they 
deserve. 
 
-- We are not oblivious to the problems caused by the 
presence of exchanged employment between the two countries 
especially the Syrian laborers in Lebanon and the 
repercussions on the labor sectors especially in the fields 
of wages and social security, which dictates the need to 
establish laws that organize the flow of labor and its use in 
both countries to guarantee the interests and rights of 
workers. 
 
-- We ask the Syrian authorities to take immediate action by 
releasing all Lebanese prisoners and internees in Syrian 
 
DAMASCUS 00002319  003 OF 003 
 
 
prisons and detention centers and call for for the final 
revelation of the fates of those missing. 
 
-- Joint action to correct relations between the two 
countries and achieving equilibrium on the level of equality, 
trust and mutual respect requires a review of all the 
agreements and treaties signed between the authorities of 
both countries, to conclude an era and to start a new one 
that is based on equality, cooperation and common interests. 
 
¶8.  (U)  This declaration gains its legitimacy and strength 
from its own signatories. 
 
¶9.  (U)  Beirut April 6, 2006 
 
 
SECHE