VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0102/01 0311236
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 311236Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2896
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6549
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4322
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2933
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7493
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1546
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4887
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1101
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7225

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000102 
 
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/Spain, Russia, Syria/Turkey, Palestinian Territories, 
Lebanon, Iraq (1/31) 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers on Jan. 31 reported that President Asad 
received, on Jan. 30, a phone call from Spanish Prime Minister Jose 
Luis Rodriguez Zapatero in which they discussed the Palestinian 
situation and current efforts to stop intra-Palestinian fighting. 
Premier Zapatero underscored Syria's important role in the dialogue 
among the Palestinian parties to form a government of national 
unity. 
Papers also featured a statement on Jan. 30 by Alexander Sultanov, 
Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and the Russian President's Special 
Envoy to the Middle East, confirming the impossibility of achieving 
peace in the Middle East without making progress on the Syrian and 
Lebanese tracks.  Sultanov reiterated the call to hold an 
international conference for peace in the Middle East and adopt a 
strategy to resume negotiations on all tracks in the region.  He 
added that the situation in the region urgently requires a 
discussion by the Quartet about steps needed to speed up the peace 
process.  The Russian official indicated the need to form a 
Palestinian national unity government to handle the difficult 
situation the Palestinian people and the people of the region in 
general are passing through. 
 
On Syria/Turkish relations, papers reported that Foreign Minister 
Walid Mouallem will visit Turkey Jan. 31 to discuss bilateral 
relations and recent developments in the region with Turkish 
officials. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad receives a phone call from Spanish Premier Zapatero 
on the situation in Palestinian territories and efforts to stop 
in-fighting" (Government-owned Tishreen, 1/31) 
 
"Foreign Minister Mouallem to visit Turkey today to discuss latest 
developments in the region and bilateral relations" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 1/31) 
 
"Russia calls for an international conference for peace in the 
Middle East and a strategy to resume negotiations on all tracks" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/31) 
 
"Russian Deputy Foreign Minister and Special Presidential Envoy to 
Middle East Sultanov confirms impossibility of achieving peace in 
Middle East without making progress on Syrian and Lebanese tracks" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 1/31) 
 
"Lebanese demonstrations reject foreign intervention and support the 
Opposition's demands.  Hizbollah Secretary General of Nasrallah: 
Inciting sedition is an attempt to take revenge on the resistance" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 1/31) 
 
"Baker and Hamilton testify before the Congress:  Stability in the 
region will come from solving the Arab-Israeli crisis" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/31) 
 
"Bolton:  Iraq's unity does not serve [U.S.] interests" 
(Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 1/31) 
 
"Calm returns to Gaza.  Fatah and Hamas exchange prisoners.  Abbas 
threatens early elections.  Hanieh underscores the importance of a 
security organization for all Palestinians" (Government-owned 
Al-Ba'th, 1/31) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
------------------------ 
"Occupation's Role in Distancing Iraq from its Arab Neighborhood" 
 
------------------------ 
Salim Abbud, a columnist in government-owned Al-Thawra, said (1/31): 
 "After rivers of blood and conflict have flowed in Iraq, Americans 
are today trying to drag countries of the Arab region, as they did 
before, into imaginary dangers by diverting their attention from 
what is happening in Iraq and Palestine to the so-called Shiite 
 
threat and the Iranian nuclear threat. 
 
"Damascus, as usual, draws attention to the gravity of those 
attempts.... Syria is working hard to restore and strengthen 
relations with Iraq because this supports Iraq's unity, prevents 
domestic strife, and strengthens the resolve of the correct Iraqi 
resistance against occupation.... 
"The US has always applied pressure, before the occupation and at 
present, to prevent any rapprochement between Damascus and Baghdad, 
because it realizes the depth of relations between the two countries 
and peoples and the impact of this on the nature of the region and 
its desire to confront US and Zionist plans.... 
 
"Iraqi President Jalal Talabani's recent visit to Syria transcended 
this American desire and laid the proper foundations for resumption 
of relations between Syria and Iraq.  The US occupation will try to 
undermine the results of this visit, but the bonds between the Iraqi 
and Syrian peoples are too strong to be broken, especially at this 
stage, when Iraq is experiencing a grave situation requiring serious 
and genuine cooperation from sisterly Syria to support security and 
stability in Iraq and foil any attempt to stoke the sectarian and 
ethnic conflict in the country...." 
 
-------------------- 
 
"Gambling Adventure" 
 
-------------------- 
 
Umar Jaftali, an editorialist in government-owned Tishrin, wrote 
(1/31):  "Nothing indicates that the US Administration is 
reconsidering its policy in the region or correcting the mistakes 
that have brought tragedies upon the region and the United States 
itself.... 
 
"Americans continue to pursue the same policy in Iraq, Lebanon, and 
the Palestinian territories, while sending more troops and equipment 
to the region for a possible attack on Iran.  This proves that the 
US Administration is implementing an American-Zionist strategy, the 
basic goal of which is to control the Middle East and its oil 
sources, ignite sectarian and denominational sedition in the region, 
and turn the Arab conflict with Israel into domestic conflicts in 
order to reshuffle the cards and rearrange the region." 
 
----------------------- 
 
"Will the Real Compass Come Back?" 
 
----------------------- 
 
Ghazi al-Dada, a commentator in government-owned Tishrin, wrote 
(1/31):  "It is regrettable that intra-Palestinian clashes are 
continuing while the Palestinian people are still fighting for their 
rights and occupied land.... 
 
"Surely, no one can dispute that anyone who fires at his brother 
fires at himself, and anyone who sheds the blood of his brother 
sheds his own blood.  The sedition, therefore, must be confronted 
and foiled.  Palestinians must stick to their national unity and not 
give the Israeli-American schemes a chance to succeed.  They must 
return to the language of dialogue and avoid the language of 
weapons, which pleases and serves only the Israeli enemy...." 
 
Corbin