VZCZCXYZ0015
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #3305/01 1871224
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 061224Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0179
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1124
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4509
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0731
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6870

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 003305 
 
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: Syria/Saudi Arabia, Palestinian 
Territories, Syria/Iraq, Lebanon (7/6) 
 
 
¶1.  Summary: Syrian papers reported that President Asad received 
a phone call from Saudi King Abdullah Bin Abdulaziz which focused 
on the situation in the Middle East and bilateral relations. 
Papers also reported that Arab and Islamic groups at the UN in 
Geneva approved a draft resolution proposed by delegations from 
Syria, Palestine, Egypt, Libya, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia, 
regarding the dangerous situation in the occupied Palestinian 
territories in light of the Israeli military escalation. The two 
groups presented the draft resolution to the Secretary of the UN 
Human Rights Council to make it an official document to be 
submitted to the Council's extraordinary meeting to study 
Israel's human rights violations against Palestinians. The draft 
resolution calls for stopping the Israeli military attack on the 
Gaza Strip, halting the continuing Israeli violations against 
Palestinians, and condemning Israeli arrests of Palestinian 
officials and ministers. Meanwhile, the Jeddah-based Organization 
of the Islamic Conference (OIC) called on the International 
Quartet and the European Union to intervene immediately to stop 
the Israeli aggression against Palestinians. 
On Syrian-Iraqi relations papers reported that the seventh Syrian 
convoy of humanitarian aid to the Iraqi people headed to Iraq 
Wednesday to meet the needs of hospitals and health centers. A 
statement by Dr. Bashar al-Shaar, Minister of State for the 
Syrian Arab Red Crescent Organization, hoped "this aid will reach 
the Iraqi people as soon as possible and contribute to easing the 
suffering of the Iraqi brethren," pointing to the Syrian Red 
Crescent Organization's readiness to offer aid to the Iraqi 
people. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad talks on the phone with Saudi King Abdullah about 
the situation in the Middle East and bilateral relations" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 7/6) 
 
"Three Palestinians killed in the Gaza Strip. Israeli Prime 
Minister gives orders to expand aggression against Palestinians 
and to assassinate HAMAS officials. The Israeli army sets up a 
buffer zone in northern Gaza" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 7/6) 
 
"The Seventh convoy of Syrian humanitarian aid is dispatched to 
the Iraqi people" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/6) 
 
"French daily L'Humanite criticizes France's vote against a 
report by the UN Human Rights Council critical of Israeli 
human rights violations against Palestinians" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 7/6) 
 
"Former Lebanese Prime Minister Al-Hoss calls for adopting an 
overall salvation initiative by a government of national unity. 
Former Lebanese Minister Franjieh: Lebanon's interest lies in its 
commitment to its Arab identity but not to America's" (Government- 
owned al-Thawra, 7/6) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
-------------------------------------- 
 
"Accusations Do Not Solve the Problem" 
 
-------------------------------------- 
 
Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, 
commented (7/6): "We do not know whether it was the US 
Administration or Israel that invented the tactic of leveling 
accusations against Syria and blaming it for every problem in 
the region. But we know that the two have always found a party 
to blame for their successive failures and crises. 
 
"This American-Israeli agreement to blame Syria for tension and 
instability in the region has been an official policy of 
Washington and Tel Aviv since the first moment of the Iraq 
invasion, and indeed before then, when the US Administration 
realized that Syria was a stumbling block in the way of its 
 
expansionist and hegemonic plans in the region, at the top of 
which is the Greater Middle East plan.... 
 
"Israeli War Minister Amir Peretz accused Syria of capturing 
Israeli soldier Gil'ad Shalit in a commando military operation 
in Gaza, not in the Damascus suburbs! He also held Syria 
responsible for Shalit's life, as if Syrian military forces and 
intelligence agencies were deployed in Palestinian territories. 
 
"Peretz and his generals know that these accusations are untrue 
and bitterly ridiculous. But we excuse the Israeli government -- 
its head, ministers, and generals. All of them want to regain 
the lost prestige of the Israeli army, which suffered a heavy 
blow in the Karm Salim operation, where the Israeli soldier was 
captured. Israeli military and political establishments found 
out that the operation was a major affront to Israel's most 
sacred possession: the army. 
 
"But exporting crises and trying to blame others for the logical 
results of Israeli policies and hostile actions will not 
rehabilitate an army skilled at killing and terrorism. It will 
not solve the problem or bring calm back to the region. As long 
as Israel is moving against the current of peace, it will remain 
vulnerable to spontaneous revenge acts from a besieged people 
threatened with death and with nothing to lose." 
 
----------- 
 
"Arrogance" 
 
----------- 
 
Adnan Ali, a commentator in government-owned Al-Thawra, 
commented (7/6): "It is surprising that the world is turning a 
deaf ear to Israel's statements that its current aggression 
against Palestinians seeks to bring down the HAMAS 
government.... 
 
"Israel is launching a military campaign to cancel the results 
of democratic elections through brute force under the eyes and 
ears of a world that is doing nothing to defend these values.... 
 
"Israel is imposing collective punishment against more than 4 
million Palestinian detainees in the West Bank and Gaza because 
of one captured soldier.... What is happening is a blatant 
incident of arrogance and insolence that will certainly leave a 
blot of disgrace on the history of modern civilization...." 
 
------------------- 
 
"Wars of Windmills" 
 
------------------- 
 
Khalid al-Ashhab, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra, 
wrote (7/6): "Some Lebanese have started to realize, but too 
late, that for the United States they are not allies, friends, 
or even hired people, but far less than that. 
 
"These people are in a dilemma as they find themselves abandoned 
by Americans and rejected by the Lebanese people.... They 
realize that their road to Damascus is no longer open, indeed, 
that there is no longer a road for them to Damascus, at least 
today, and that Damascus' gates, though plenty, are closed to 
them and open to all other Lebanese, and they are many. This is 
why they try hard to hide behind these others, carry their 
banners, and borrow their faces.... 
 
"Lebanon's problem today is not with anyone beyond Lebanon's 
border. Lebanon's problem is with those who betrayed Lebanon in 
the name of defending it, and bargained over Lebanon in the name 
of its freedom." 
 
Seche