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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #5423/01 3550742
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O 210742Z DEC 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2651
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6453
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4240
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2839
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7417
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1462
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4800
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1022
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7150

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 005423 
 
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: Syria/UAE, Syria/Lebanon, Syria/PLO, Syria/EU, 
Syria/Austria (12/18) 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers on Dec. 18 reported President Asad's 
visit to the UAE on Dec. 17 and his meetings with UAE President 
Sheikh Khalifa bin Zayed Al Nahyan.  Talks dealt with the 
deteriorating situation in the occupied territories.  Both leaders 
stressed the necessity of preventing clashes among Palestinians and 
containing any incident that could cause cracks in the Palestinian 
national unity. Both sides also discussed the situation in Iraq and 
stressed the necessity of encouraging Iraqi and Arab efforts to 
establish national unity among all segments of the Iraqi society and 
make the political process there a success.  Talks also dealt with 
the situation in Lebanon and support for everything the Lebanese 
agree upon. 
 
Papers also reported VP Shara's meeting on Dec. 17 with a delegation 
of the Lebanese People's Party, headed by Najah Wakim, which focused 
on developments in Lebanon and bilateral relations.  Wakim told 
reporters following his meeting with Shara that "the US and some 
other forces are halting the political dialogue in Lebanon and every 
effort for reaching a solution that satisfies all Lebanese. 
 
VP Shara also met on Dec. 17 with Farouq al-Qadoumi, Chief of the 
Political Department of the Palestinian Liberation Organization 
(PLO).  Talks centered on the aggravating situation on the 
Palestinian arena and the means of easing the current tension. 
Al-Shara renewed Syria's call for all Palestinian groups to discard 
division, avoid any escalating steps, and  return to dialogue to 
achieve national accord. He also asserted Syria's persistence 
support for all efforts to solve these problems. 
 
On Syrian-Iraqi relations, papers reported Syrian Minister of 
Interior Gen. Bassam Abdul Majid's meeting with Iraqi Interior 
Minister Jawad Kazem al-Bolani.  In a press statement to reporters, 
Abdul Majid said that Syria has undertaken many procedures to 
control the borders between the two countries by increasing border 
control points, and arresting hundreds of people who tried to enter 
Iraq from the Syrian territories.  For his part, Iraqi Interior 
Minister al-Bolani described the talks "fruitful and constructive," 
adding that the meetings between different committees were marked by 
transparency and sincerity. 
 
Papers also reported Defense Minister Lt. Gen. Hasan Turkamni's 
meeting on Dec. 17 with Ghounter Blater, Austrian Chief of Staff, 
focusing on the latest developments in the region and mutual 
cooperation between the Syrian and Austrian armies. Dr. Blater 
inspected the Austrian battalion in the United Nations Disengagement 
Observer Force (UNDPOF) in occupied Syrian Golan. 
 
On Syrian-EU relations, papers reported that on Dec. 17 Deputy 
Speaker of the Parliament Naser Qaddour received a delegation of the 
Green Group in the European Parliament headed by its Vice-Chairman 
Pierre Jonckheer.  Papers featured a statement by Qaddour affirming 
that "Syria has always been seeking to establish just and 
comprehensive peace in the region in accordance with the 
international legitimacy resolutions and the Madrid Conference to 
restore the occupied Arab territories till June 4th 1967 line." 
Qaddour added that "Syria is still calling for a clear and an 
independent European position regarding the current critical 
situation in the region." 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad holds meetings with UAE President Sheikh Khalifa bin 
Zayed reiterating the importance of unifying the Palestinian ranks, 
supporting everything the Lebanese parties agree upon and achieving 
Iraqi national reconciliation.  President Asad confers with the 
Syrian community and members of the Abu Dhabi Trade and Industry 
Chamber of Commerce.  The President affirms the important role of 
expatriates in encouraging mutual investments" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 12/18) 
 
"Vice-President Shara discusses with Farouk al-Qadoumi, Chief of 
Political Department of the Palestinian Liberation Organization 
(PLO), and Lebanese MP Najah Wakim the means to avoid escalation in 
Palestine and to enhance Lebanese national unity" (Government-owned 
 
Al-Thawra, 12/18) 
 
"Defense Minister Lt. Gen Turkamni discusses with Austrian Defense 
Minister Blater cooperation between the two armies" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 12/18) 
 
"Syrian and Iraqi Interior Ministries hold talks. Interior Minister 
Abdul Majid:  We achieved big steps on controlling the borders. 
Iraqi Interior Minister al-Bolani: Discussions were fruitful and 
constructive" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 12/18) 
 
"Blair in Baghdad suddenly.  Our forces will remain in Iraq!" 
(Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 12/18) 
 
"Two Palestinians killed, 30 injured due to security chaos.  Prime 
Minister Hanieh: Early elections are not constitutional and 
aggravate tension" (Government-owned Tishreen, 12/18) 
 
"The Lebanese opposition rejects provocations of the governing team 
and determines to escalate sit-in protests.  The opposition supports 
the Arab initiative for a settlement" (Government-owned Tishreen, 
12/18) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
"The Golan is Key to War and Peace" 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
Ahmad Sawwan, a commentator in government-owned Tishreen, commented 
(12/18):  "A recent UNSC resolution called on Israel to revoke its 
decision to annex the occupied Syrian Golan Heights because it is 
null and void.... 
 
"The occupation of the Golan will not last and will come to an end 
sooner or later.... 
 
"Israel, more than anyone else, knows that as far as Syria and all 
the Arabs are concerned, the Golan is the key to war and peace in 
the region. All its attempts to keep the Golan, or even part of it, 
by deception and attempts to bargain during the peace negotiations 
have failed because those attempts collided with a strong and solid 
Syrian national will. This will proved that there could be no peace 
in the region without the return of the entire Golan to the 
motherland, Syria, and without the return of all the occupied Arab 
territories within a just, lasting, and comprehensive peace.... 
 
"Talks on the Syrian negotiating track can only resume from where 
they left off because about 80 percent of the solution had already 
been achieved and negotiations cannot go on forever.... 
 
"Syrian calls for stronger pressure on Israel to comply with UN 
resolutions and achieve peace in the region....  The clear road to 
peace lies in an end to the occupation because it is the source of 
tension and the cause of the problems of the region, from Iraq to 
Lebanon to Palestine." 
 
------------------------------- 
 
"An Oppressor and an Oppressed" 
 
------------------------------- 
 
Maha Sultan, a commentator in government-owned Tishreen, wrote 
(12/18):  "The relationship between the United States and the United 
Nations was not a working relationship, as Condoleezza Rice claimed, 
but a relationship between an oppressor and an oppressed.... 
 
"UN Secretary General Kofi Annan started to criticize the United 
States only when he was about to quit the international 
organization.  During his term, Annan refrained from criticizing the 
US, scoring points at our expense. He and his ilk should have quit 
silently so that the world would forget them and their cowardly 
positions that brought tragedies and disasters upon nations.... 
 
 
"During Kofi Annan's term, the United Nations came under much 
American pressure, especially with regard to the Middle East.... It 
issued the largest number of resolutions against the peoples of the 
region, and its record was full of all kinds of defeatism, 
cowardliness, blindness, and disregard for Washington's plans to 
redraw the map of the region based on the American-Israeli 
interests." 
 
Roebuck