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OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0070/01 0210805
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 210805Z JAN 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 2834
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6517
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4297
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2906
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7472
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1520
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4862
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1080
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7204

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000070 
 
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/Norway, Syria/China, Bush's Iraq Strategy, Rice's 
Visit, Syria/Israel (1/18) 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers on Jan. 18 reported FM Walid Mouallem's 
meeting on Jan. 17 with Svein Sieve, Advisor of the Norwegian 
Foreign Ministry for Middle East Affairs.  Sieve reiterated the 
importance of Syria's role to cement security and stability in the 
region.  FM Mouallem emphasized the necessity of an Israeli 
withdrawal from occupied Arab territories, including the Golan, to 
achieve a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.  Both 
sides discussed current regional developments and bilateral 
relations. 
 
Papers also reported that Abdullah al-Ahmar, Assistant Secretary 
General of the Baath Party, received Chang Chi Jion, Deputy Minister 
of Foreign Communications at the Chinese Communist Party Central 
Committee, on Jan. 17.  Talks focused on bilateral relations and 
recent regional developments.  Mr. Jion stressed the importance of 
Syria's positions to solve the conflict in the region, and expressed 
his country's support of Syria's endeavor to regain the occupied 
Golan and establish a just and comprehensive peace in the region. 
 
All papers reported that Former US Secretary of State Madeleine 
Albright emphasized on Jan. 17 the need to open dialogue with Syria, 
and to resume peace talks and ensure the restoration of the occupied 
Golan.  At a hearing before the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the 
US House of Representatives, Albright said that "it is necessary to 
deal with the issue of the occupied Golan."  Albright, who heads the 
US National Democratic Institute, indicated that peace in the Middle 
East is very urgent matter now, saying "we have to acknowledge that 
the credibility of the US is very low right now and if we want to 
have influence in the Middle East, we have to follow up the peace 
process in this region."  She criticized the negligence of the Bush 
administration in following up efforts of the former US 
administration regarding a number of issues and matters related to 
the Middle East. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"Foreign Minister al-Mouallem holds talks with Svein Sieve, Advisor 
of the Norwegian Foreign Ministry for Middle East Affairs:  Peace is 
achieved by returning occupied Golan" (Government-owned Tishreen, 
1/18) 
 
"Syria and China hold party discussions;  Chung Chi Jion, Chinese 
Deputy Minister of Foreign Communication at the Central Committee of 
the Chinese Communist Party, reiterates the importance of Syria's 
stances in determining the future of the region" (Government-owned 
Al-Ba'th, 1/18) 
 
"Information Minister Bilal discusses cooperation between Syria and 
a number of Latin American countries.  Bilal:  We seek a WMD-free 
region" (Government-owned Tishreen, 
 
"Kuwait calls on Washington to hold dialogue with Syria and Iran. 
Former US Secretary of State Albright:  Returning occupied Golan is 
the key to peace in the region" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 1/18) 
 
"Bush enhances his strategy by waging an early campaign criticism of 
the Iraqi government" (Government-owned Tishreen, 1/18) 
 
"UN SecGen Ki Moon urges Bush to pay late financial dues to the UN 
and to join the Human Rights Council:  Partnership with Washington 
shouldn't be at the cost of other members" (Government-owned 
Al-Ba'th, 1/18) 
 
"More than 64 percent of Americans:  Our country is headed in the 
wrong direction.  Bloody explosions in Iraq reap scores of Iraqi 
lives" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/18) 
 
"After Israeli Chief of Staff Halots' resignation, the curse of 
defeat in Lebanon pursues Peretz and Olmert" (Government-owned 
Al-Thawra, 1/18) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
--------------------- 
 
 
"Peace under the Sun" 
 
--------------------- 
 
Abd-al-Fattah al-Awad, chief editor of government-owned Al-Thawra, 
wrote (1/18):  "It is high time they knew that Syria does not 
believe in playing under the table. 
 
"Press leaks and unknown sources that talk about memoranda of 
principles and offer information to give the impression that Syria 
is engaged in secret negotiations are useless.... 
 
The address to peace with Syria is known and declared: a serious 
commitment to returning the Golan up to the 4 June 1967 border.... 
 
 
"Syria believes in peace negotiations on clear bases. It is not 
concerned with any road not leading to the restoration of its 
rights. 
 
"Syria has always announced that peace is a sacred goal.  But as 
time has proved, peace is achieved under the sun, not in the 
darkness of secret negotiations. 
 
"It appears that the United States and Israel are not ready to bring 
about peace in the region.  While touring the region, Condoleezza 
Rice is selling in closed rooms a rotten commodity called the 
American strategy in Iraq, while in front of cameras she sells the 
illusion of peace.... 
 
The current Israeli government is too weak to make important peace 
decisions.  It is clear that Israel is not ripe for peace.  It is 
playing the time factor, helped by the United States, which created 
in the region climates of sedition and conflict open to wide 
wounds...." 
 
-------------------------- 
 
"The Bush Administration and Forgiveness" 
 
-------------------------- 
 
Isam Dari, chief editor of government-owned Tishreen, commented 
(1/18):  "Honestly, we have started to feel sorry for Ms. 
Condoleezza Rice as she suffers from long travel hours and little 
sleep, looking in dictionaries for attractive and appealing words to 
beautify the ugly face of the US Administration.... 
 
"No sooner has she landed in one airport than she is getting ready 
to fly to another, carrying her prefabricated ideas and packaged 
democracy boxes to present them as non-returnable gifts to the 
Arabs, all the Arabs.  Woe betides those who reject the American 
gifts! 
 
"Neoconservatives sent this vicious advocate to our region to market 
their new rotten commodity, which President Bush gave a bright name: 
 'The new American strategy in Iraq....' 
 
Did Rice receive the UN Report that says the number of victims of 
terror in Iraq in 2006 alone reached 34,000? 
 
"We believe she is aware of the figures.  But she is unable to admit 
that the massacres, violence, terrorism, and sectarian chauvinisms 
in Iraq are all due to the American presence or a result of direct 
American incitement, perhaps with Israeli participation.  Isn't the 
promotion of creative instability in Iraq and the region the final 
objective of neoconservatives? 
 
"We believe that one day she will admit that she was wrong, as her 
predecessor General Colin Powell did.  He lied publicly, confessed 
publicly, and asked for forgiveness when it was too late. 
 
"The Bush administration is today called upon to ask for forgiveness 
from the Americans first and then from all the nations of the world 
for the crimes it has committed against all of humanity." 
 
 
------------------------- 
 
"Will Domestic 'Creative' Instability Develop into Regional 
Instability?" 
 
------------------------- 
Dr. Mahdi Dakhlallah, former Information Minister, commented in 
government-owned Tishreen on (1/18): "What an irony:  while 
criticism of US policies grows inside the United States, US 
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice obtains in the Arab world open 
 
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endorsement of and absolute support for these policies. 
 
"On the very day some Arab countries announced their explicit 
support for the US strategy in Iraq, an American opinion poll showed 
that 60 percent of the American people reject this strategy. 
 
"This is as far as the American people are concerned. But let us 
forget peoples.  There is a wide rift in the American political 
establishment itself between the policy of the administration and 
the opposition of Congress and other political figures.  The 
opposition, indeed, comes from both the Democratic Party and the 
Republican Party.... 
 
"Rice will leave our stricken Arab region satisfied with 'Arab' 
support for the strategy of her president.  She will probably shout 
in the face of the opponents in the Congress:  If the judge is 
happy, what is the problem of the lawyer?' 
 
"As it crudely appears, the picture is like this:  The American 
people and Congress tell us:  Our policy toward you, Arabs, is 
wrong.  We reply:  No, no.  We fully support it! 
 
"This is perhaps the theater of the absurd, on the stage of which 
Arabs are lost, and the full cost of which they pay...." 
 
Corbin