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DE RUEHDM #0185/01 0571247
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 261247Z FEB 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3019
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6595
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4362
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2974
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7529
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1588
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4925
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1138
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7265

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000185 
 
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, Lavrov, Palestinian Territories, Arab League, 
Lebanon, Iraq (2/22) 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers on Feb. 22 reported FM Walid 
al-Mouallem's visit to Madrid and his meeting with his Spanish FM 
Miguel Angel Moratinos on Feb. 21. Talks focused on bilateral 
relations, regional issues, most importantly the situation in the 
occupied territories following the Mecca Accord, and the situation 
in Iraq.  Both sides stressed the importance of achieving stability 
and security in Iraq and maintaining its unity, territorial 
integrity, independence and sovereignty.  FM Mouallem briefed his 
Spanish counterpart on Syria's efforts to boost stability and 
security in Iraq to reach national reconciliation that will 
guarantee its unity and regional safety. 
 
Papers also reported Russian FM Sergey Lavrov's interview with 
"al-Watan al-Arabi" magazine published in Moscow on Feb. 21 in which 
he emphasized that solving Mideast issues requires holding a 
positive dialogue with all parties concerned, including Syria and 
Iran, which are important and effective parties in the region. 
"Russia calls for including Syria in the Mideast peace process and 
solving the Iraqi issue," Lavrov said.  "Russia positively evaluates 
communications between Syria and Iraq, as well as the resumption of 
diplomatic relations," Lavrov said.  He added that Russia is linked 
by traditional friendly relations with Iran and Syria, expressing 
concern over attempts by some foreign sides to direct baseless and 
incorrect accusations against these two countries. 
 
On the issue of Israeli excavations around the al-Aqsa Mosque, 
papers reported that Mohammed Sa'eed Bkhitan, Regional Assistant 
Secretary of the Ba'ath Party, said in a meeting on Feb. 21 with a 
 
SIPDIS 
Palestinian delegation concerned with Jerusalem affairs, that the 
Israeli occupation of Arab territories is the main reason behind 
problems in the region.  "Israel has been rejecting international 
resolutions and hindering the peace process in the region," Bkhitan 
said, reiterating the importance of facing every Israeli attempt to 
change the Arab Islamic identity of Jerusalem.  He confirmed that 
the Israeli excavations around the al-Aqsa mosque and Jerusalem 
constitute an obvious violation of Jerusalem's Arab and Islamic 
identity that provokes Arab and Moslem feelings across the world. 
 
Papers also cited a statement by Arab League Assistant Secretary 
General Ahmad Bin Hili to Tunisian "al-Chourouk" newspaper, 
published Feb. 21, stressing that the AL General Assembly has not 
received any request from any country to modify the Arab Peace 
Initiative of the 2002 Beirut Summit.  Bin Hili said that 
"modification of the Arab Peace Initiative is not scheduled for the 
forthcoming Arab summit."  He added that the peace initiative 
reflects the Arab strategic vision for a just settlement of the 
Arab-Israeli conflict, calling for marketing this initiative on the 
international level. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"Foreign Minister Mouallem holds official talks with Spanish FM 
Miguel Angel Moratinos on bilateral relations and latest 
developments in the Palestinian and Iraqi arenas" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 2/22) 
 
"Russian FM Sergey Lavrov expresses astonishment at haste at the 
Security Council to form and endorse the international tribunal: 
Syria and Iran must be included in Middle East peace and Iraq." 
(Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 2/22) 
 
"Regional Assistant Secretary of the Ba'ath Party Mohammed Said 
Bkhitan calls for facing Israeli attempts to Judaize Jerusalem and 
jeopardize the 
al-Aqsa Mosque" (Government-owned Tishreen, 2/22) 
 
"Fleeing the Hell of Iraq, withdrawal of British, Danish and 
Lithuanian troops from Iraq has already been scheduled" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 2/22) 
 
"British PM Tony Blair calls his forces to return to London. 
Senator Biden calls on Bush to follow Blair's steps.  Denmark 
completes withdrawal of its troops from Iraq" (Government-owned 
Al-Thawra, 2/22) 
 
 
"The Lebanese army's anti-aircraft batteries fire at Israeli 
warplanes violating Lebanese airspace.  The Lebanese opposition 
warns against US intentions" (Government-owned Tishreen, 2/22) 
 
"The Quartet awaits formation of the Palestinian government.  Russia 
and the UN call for removing ban on Hamas" (Government-owned 
Al-Ba'th, 2/22) 
 
"Israel steps up provocations against Palestinians and makes hasty 
progress towards building 3,000 settlement units in the West Bank" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 2/22) 
 
"The Arab League prepares agenda for the upcoming Ministerial 
meeting.  Bin Hili:  No one requested modification of the Arab peace 
initiative" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 2/22) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
------------------------------- 
 
"Civilization of the US Master" 
 
------------------------------- 
 
Isam Dari, Chief Editor of government-owned Tishrin, said (2/22): 
"Americans come from oversees to give us lessons in freedom, 
democracy, and human rights.  They love us so much that they bring 
us gifts of warships, aircraft carriers, and cruise missiles capable 
of distributing death equally and without discrimination between one 
group and another.... 
 
"Americans not only want to educate us;  they also want to 
discipline troublemakers....  For the American master, the 
troublemaker is everyone who rejects Washington's orders;  everyone 
who opposes the policy of diktats and makes a free, independent, and 
sovereign decision, uninfluenced by the hegemony of the Zionists in 
the Bush administration;  and everyone who engages in resistance to 
regain his land and rights.... 
 
"The American policy is characterized by full disdain for peoples' 
right to live, by perpetration of mass massacres worldwide, and by 
flagrant hostility toward humanity....  Americans are exporting 
death and hatred to us, promoting sedition, wars, and chaos, and 
inventing racist and chauvinist theories of which 'the clash of 
civilizations' is not the most dangerous." 
 
---------------------------------------- 
 
"Stagnant Commodity and Bankrupt Agents" 
 
---------------------------------------- 
 
Khalid al-Ashhab, a commentator in government-owned Al-Thawra, wrote 
(2/22):  "In US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's recent remark, 
that Fouad al-Saniora's government in Lebanon is the spearhead of US 
plans in the region, is a full and indirect declaration of political 
and diplomatic bankruptcy.  The remark also shows the ideological 
bankruptcy of neoconservatives, the futility of their mentality and 
their failure to implement any of the US plans in the Arab region. 
 
 
"Perhaps Rice's characterization of the March 14 team in Lebanon, in 
addition to the assurances it must have received through undeclared 
channels, might have pushed this team to the level of political 
obscenity and vulgar practices.... 
 
"Naturally, President Bush's policies and strategies have failed on 
the level of both the United States and the world, but their failure 
will be even more resounding and they will have no glimpse of hope 
as long as their agents and distributors are people like those who 
are entrenched in Lebanese authority from the March 14 team, people 
who fell, and with them their US commodity, into the abyss of 
obscenity, abuse, and vilification...." 
 
------------------------------- 
 
"Running in a Vicious Circle" 
 
------------------------------- 
 
Umar Jaftali, a commentator in government-owned Tishrin, wrote 
(2/22):  "It was clear from the very beginning that the meeting 
among Palestinian President Mahmud Abbas, Israeli Prime Minister 
Ehud Olmert, and US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was nothing 
but a media bubble to show that the political process on the 
Palestinian-Israeli track is still alive. 
 
"US and Israeli statements before, during, and after the meeting 
showed that the United States and Israel only want to abort the 
Palestinian agreement, hinder the effort to form a Palestinian 
national unity government, and bring the situation in the occupied 
Palestinian territories back to the square of domestic fighting on 
the pretext that Palestinians have not met international demands.... 
 
 
"The US Administration deals with the Palestinian problem with the 
logic of boycott, isolation, and evasion of UN resolutions and even 
of the few positive points in the Quartet's plan.  This drives 
Israelis toward further intransigence and paves the way for them to 
further swallow Palestinian rights and avoid the issues of a 
permanent solution, namely, Jerusalem, the border, and the 
refugees." 
 
Corbin