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DE RUEHDM #5320/01 3241359
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O 201359Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2483
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UNCLAS DAMASCUS 005320 
 
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/UAE, Syria/Iraq, Golan, 
Calls for Peace/Dialogue with Syria, Lebanon, Palestinian 
Territories (11/20) 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers today reported that President Asad 
received on Sunday (Nov. 19) a letter from Sheikh Khalifa bin Zaied 
Al Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, concerning 
bilateral relations.  The letter was delivered by the UAE Ambassador 
in Damascus Yousef al-Medfaei. 
 
On Syrian-Iraqi relations, papers reported that Syrian FM Walid 
al-Mouallem started a visit to Baghdad yesterday (Nov. 19), which is 
the first of its kind since the US invasion of Iraq in 2003. 
Al-Mouallem held talks with Iraqi President Talabani, Iraqi PM 
al-Maliki, and Iraqi FM Zebari, as well as other officials.  The 
talks focused on the latest developments in Iraq and the region.  In 
a joint press conference with Iraqi FM Zebari, Al-Mouallem said that 
Syria "supports the political process, the Iraqi government, and 
efforts to achieve national reconciliation."  He added that Syria 
cares about Iraq because security in the two countries cannot be 
separated.  "We repeat our condemnation of all terrorist acts," he 
said.  "We support the elected government and national 
reconciliation....We support the unity of Iraq, and we think that a 
timetable for pulling  U.S. occupation forces out of Iraq will 
reduce violence in Iraq."  Syrian sources had expected that the 
ministers would announce resumption of diplomatic ties, but that did 
not happen.  Al-Mouallem's visit concurred with calls by UK PM Tony 
Blair and former US Secretary of State James Baker for talks with 
Syria and Iran to improve the situation in Iraq.  However, Syrian 
sources said that the visit was not meant to satisfy anybody, but 
came out of a Syrian desire to increase cooperation between the two 
countries.  Al-Mouallem said that setting a timetable to withdraw 
U.S. troops "will contribute to limiting violence." Zebari said the 
sides discussed re-establishing diplomatic ties, which were cut in 
¶1982.  No certain time was given for this, however. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad receives a letter from Sheikh Khalifa Bib Zayed 
Al-Nahyan, President of the United Arab Emirates, on bilateral 
relations" (Government-owned Tishreen, 11/20) 
 
"Foreign Minister al-Mouallem carries a message of amity from 
Damascus to Baghdad:  We didn't come to gratify any one.... Syria is 
dedicated to the Iraqi people's concerns.... Setting a timetable for 
withdrawal of US troops from Iraq will contribute to the achievement 
of stability.... Zebari:  The visit paves the war for good relations 
between the two countries" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 11/20) 
 
"Deputy Foreign Minister Miqdad receives a delegation of the UN Fact 
Finding Commission on the Golan:  Syria is determined to regain her 
occupied land by all possible means" (Government-owned Tishreen, 
11/20) 
 
"More US Congressmen call for dialogue with Syria.  Prodi reiterates 
the importance of achieving peace in the region" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 11/20) 
 
"British 'The Independent' daily:  Seeking Syria's and Iran's help 
to get out of the Iraqi impasse is London's and Washington's top 
priority" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 11/20) 
 
"Nasrallah, Hizbollah Chief, reiterates call to form a national 
unity government or hold early parliamentary elections.  Nasrallah's 
new promise:  Toppling the Feltman government" (Government-owned 
Al-Thawra, 11/20) 
 
"The Olmert government considers the UN General Assembly's 
resolutions denouncing the Bait Hanoun massacre as hypocrisy!  More 
than two Palestinians martyred, eight injured by the continuing 
Israeli aggression against Gaza" (Government-owned Tishreen, 11/20) 
 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
------------------ 
 
 
"Candles of Peace" 
 
------------------ 
 
Abd-al-Fattah al-Awad, Chief Editor of government-owned Al-Thawra, 
maintained (11/20):  "Israel and the party that supports it are 
neither willing nor able to achieve peace in the Middle East.... 
Israel quickly rejected the Spanish peace initiative.... 
 
"All of this is happening in the absence of a supportive US role for 
the Middle East peace process.... The US has chosen to be an unfair 
and biased sponsor of the peace process.... 
 
"There is confusion in the statements of US officials concerning 
dialogue with Syria.  This is evidence of American disinterest in 
peace.... Sometimes you hear one person calling for dialogue, 
another denying and rejecting it, and a third setting conditions. 
Perhaps you can hear these conflicting statements from the same 
official over a short period of time! 
 
"It does not take much effort to explain this.  This is not only the 
confusion that follows the difficult problems that the Bush 
administration is facing.  It is also an attempt to contain the 
repercussions of the Republicans' loss, which was a result of 
American policies in the region.... 
 
"If Syria believes in and always calls for dialogue, it does not 
believe that dialogue for the sake of dialogue is the goal that 
everyone seeks.  Though important and significant, dialogue is not 
an end in and of itself.  In order not to be misunderstood, it is 
important to stress the need for dialogue, but the dialogue must 
have an objective.  The time of diktat has passed. The right and 
useful dialogue is the one that respects 'common interests', the 
sacred term in the language of politics.... 
 
"Syria never talked about conditions for dialogue, but it always 
insists that Syrian national and pan-Arab interests must be taken 
into consideration.  These interests focus on peace as a noble 
objective that returns rights to their owners and paints a new 
future for the region." 
 
------------------- 
 
"After US Failures" 
 
------------------- 
 
Izz-al-Din al-Darwish, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, 
wrote (11/20):  "Europe is dissociating itself from the United 
States as a direct result of the deception that the Bush 
administration practiced and of the haughtiness it adopted in its 
foreign policy, and, then, of the humiliating failure it reaped as a 
result of these positions, especially in the Arab region.... 
 
"Europe is now formulating new positions, especially with regard to 
the war on Iraq and the Arab-Israeli conflict.... The European moves 
toward the region and Syria in particular are part of these new 
European policies.... 
 
"Influential European countries like Spain, Italy, Belgium, and 
Norway responded to the somewhat timid position of the British 
Government toward Syria when they stressed the importance of Syria's 
role and the need to coordinate with Syria as an indispensable party 
if security and stability were to prevail in the region and if the 
peace process were to take its full course.... 
 
"Some European countries did their part.  They sent envoys to Syria, 
learned its positions, asked its opinion, and expressed willingness 
to continue contacts with it.  Others are awaiting more American 
failures to make similar contacts.  But in any case, it can be 
stressed here that Syria has adhered to its policy.  It did not give 
in to pressure or bow to the despotism of the American adventurism 
that was led by President Bush and his neoconservative team, and 
which has been defeated at home and abroad.... 
 
 
"This, naturally, does not mean that things have reached a point 
where Syria can feel reassured and non-skeptical, especially since 
the US Administration has not yet stopped its campaign against Syria 
or abandoned accusations against it.  American officials do not 
cease slandering Syria, and their insolence sometimes reaches the 
point of blaming Syria for all the problems of the region, although 
everyone in the region and beyond realizes and knows with certainty 
that the region is experiencing occupations, killings, and terrorism 
because of Washington's wars and unlimited support for Israel, the 
head of terror.  American officials, from the president down to the 
most junior White House employee, know this fact, but they insist on 
ignoring it for Zionist reasons, the most important of which is that 
most of them are more loyal to Israel than to their own country, the 
United States." 
 
------------- 
 
"Europe Anew" 
 
------------- 
 
Ahmad Dawwa, a commentator in government-owned Al-Thawrah, said 
(11/20):  "It is not surprising that Israel rejected the European 
peace initiative.  What is surprising is that this swift rejection 
passes without comment or query from the international community.... 
 We wonder how the world would react if the Palestinians were the 
party that rejected the peace plan. 
 
"The European effort to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict is an 
important step, but it needs support in order to produce the 
required result.  Had Israel thought its rejection of the Spanish, 
Italian, and French initiative would result in penalties, it would 
not have taken such a step, or at least it would have asked the 
three countries about the content of the initiative and the way to 
deal with it.... 
 
"If Europeans want to make a difference, they need to change their 
political performance and move from the role of a financier to the 
role of direct contributor to peacemaking...." 
 
Corbin