VZCZCXYZ0030
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0304/01 0861346
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 271346Z MAR 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3211
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6678
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4429
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 3042
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7579
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1645
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4982
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1190
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7317

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000304 
 
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/UK, Arab Summit, Rice/Ki-Moon, Iraq (3/27) 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers on Mar. 27 reported President Asad's 
meeting on Mar. 26 with a delegation representing the British House 
of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee headed by Deputy Chairman of 
the committee, John Stanley.  Talks focused on regional and 
international developments and the political situations in Iraq, the 
occupied territories and Lebanon.  President Asad reviewed Syria's 
positions regarding current events in the region, confirming Syria's 
aim to cement security, stability and a just and comprehensive peace 
in the Middle East.  The President emphasized the rights of 
countries to the peaceful use of nuclear energy.  The delegation was 
also received by VP Shara on Mar. 26.  Talks focused on the 
difficult situation in Iraq, and on repercussions resulting from 
occupation and the intensive displacement of people in and outside 
Iraq.  Members of the delegation raised a number of questions on 
ways to deal with this situation and on Syria's  constructive role 
in restoring stability in Iraq. 
 
On the Riyadh summit, papers featured a statement by FM Mouallem on 
Mar. 26 that Arab Foreign Ministers in their preparatory meeting 
discussed a number of issues, headed by the Palestinian issue, the 
Arab-Israeli conflict, ways of activating the peace process, 
combating terrorism, and clearing the region of WMD.  Regarding US 
sanctions on Syria, the Minister said "there was an Arab consensus 
on rejecting the US stance, asserting the need to lift sanctions on 
Syria."  He described talks among the Arab FMs as very "positive and 
held within a spirit of Arab solidarity." 
 
Papers also reported that Saudi FM Prince Saud 
al-Faisal said on Mar. 26 that "Arab Foreign Ministers discussed the 
political developments in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon, Somalia and 
Darfur, in addition to other important issues related to economic, 
cultural, educational and social fields."  In a joint press 
conference held with Arab League Secretary General Amr Mousa 
following the ministerial meeting, Prince al-Faisal added that the 
ministers reviewed and prepared draft resolutions to be discussed at 
the 19th Arab Summit.  "The nature of the situation in the Arab 
arena is very critical and delicate and requires a unified stance on 
the official and popular levels to promote joint Arab action," he 
added.  On Lebanon, Prince al-Faisal expressed hope that the 
Lebanese will not carry their differences to the Arab summit, but 
"work to solve their problems by themselves free from any foreign 
interference that may harm the interests of the homeland."  The 
Saudi Minister called for freeing the Middle East from WDM while 
maintaining the right of each country to possess nuclear energy for 
peaceful purposes. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad stresses Syria's keenness for security and stability 
in the region to a delegation representing the British House of 
Commons Foreign Affairs Committee" (Government-owned Tishreen, 3/27) 
 
 
"Arab Leaders arrive successively in Riyadh today. 
Arab Foreign Ministers have prepared draft resolutions for the 
agenda of the 19th Arab Summit, to be passed to Arab leaders for 
discussion.  FM Mouallem:  There is an Arab consensus on rejecting 
US sanctions on Syria" (Government-owned Tishreen, 3/27) 
 
"Mouallem:  No dispute between Syria and Saudi Arabia over Iran; 
the Lebanese issue was not discussed" (Independent Al-Watan, 3/27) 
 
"UN SecGen Ki-Moon and Secretary Rice endeavor to arrange for a 
meeting that joins Israel, the Palestinian Authority and moderate 
Arab states.  Olmert:  I will not hesitate to attend if I get a 
visa" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 3/27) 
 
"Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert claims rapprochement with Arabs 
and resumes his contact with President of the Palestinian Authority 
Mahmoud Abbas" (Government-owned Tishreen, 3/27) 
 
"A missile attack shakes the US Embassy in Baghdad. Khalilzad speaks 
of meetings with armed groups" (Government-owned Tishreen, 3/27) 
 
"Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in the 
Middle East and North Africa warns against the increasing influx of 
Iraqi refugees into Syria and Jordan" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 
3/27) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
--------------------------------- 
 
"The Riyadh Summit, Any Message?" 
 
--------------------------------- 
 
Sa'dalah Barakat, a commentator in government-owned Al-Ba'th, wrote 
(3/27):  "Syria has intensified diplomatic efforts to render the 
Arab summit successful at this stage where the Arab nation is facing 
new dangers and challenges, especially in Iraq, Lebanon, and the 
Palestinian territories.... 
 
"A few years ago the convening of the Arab summit was an end in and 
of itself.  But this is not acceptable today.  The Arab people in 
all the Arab countries, as well as the friends of the Arabs -- 
peoples, governments, countries, and organizations -- want the Arab 
summit to take a position to curb the schemes of sedition and 
fragmentation and plans of hegemony, isolation, and usurpation of 
national and pan-Arab sovereignty.... 
 
"Will the Riyadh summit address a clear message to the engineers of 
those schemes to deter them from pursuing their objectives, which 
are registered with the neoconservatives but bear an Israeli 
certificate of origin?" 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
"The Summit and Causes of the Umma" 
 
----------------------------------- 
 
Muhammad Khair al-Jammali, a commentator in government-owned 
Al-Thawrah, wrote (3/27):  "The Arab summit needs to take clear, 
transparent, and sound positions toward a host of pan-Arab issues to 
prove that the Arab nation is able to effectively address its issues 
and defend its interests free from foreign dictates.... The summit 
must link a solution to the Iraqi problem to the removal of the 
occupation.... 
 
"What helps Arabs take such a position and announce it openly is the 
pressure that Americans and the world public are applying to end 
this occupation within a timetable that does not exceed one 
year.... 
 
"The siege on the Palestinian people is another issue on which the 
Arab summit needs to take a clear and frank position.... 
 
"There is no time for hesitation, waiting, or postponement of brave 
and courageous positions.  There is an opportunity to declare such 
positions at the Riyadh summit.  Nothing will prove the success of 
this summit other than talking with one language about all these 
issues and working to resolve them with a unified and inclusive 
vision...." 
 
------------------------ 
 
"Diplomacy of Confusion" 
 
------------------------ 
 
Omar Jaftali, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, 
commented (3/27):  "What Condoleezza Rice said at the beginning of 
her tour of the region was no more than an attempt to 'soften' 
feelings and absorb the shock created by the prevailing Arab 
inclination on the eve of the summit that there be no amendment of 
the Arab peace initiative and that there is no reason for such an 
amendment while Israeli terrorist practices continue.... 
 
"What is interesting is that Rice's visit to the region has 
coincided with the visit by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.... 
"It seems that Mrs. Rice wants to show 'temporary' sympathy with 
Palestinians, as a message from the US Administration to Ki-moon 
that the question is generally the subject of US concern and that he 
need not bother himself much about it.  Thus, it is possible to 
explain the new US stand on dealing with the Arab peace initiative, 
which has been and still is rejected by the United States, and which 
the Bush administration has not taken seriously since its launching 
in the 2002 Beirut Summit.  This administration knows also that 
Israel rejects it and that the United States colluded with Israel to 
circumvent the Arab initiative by inventing the so-called Roadmap as 
an alternate settlement process, which, in turn, was subjected to 
the well-known procrastinations, which created the right 
circumstances for Israel to violate rights and territory whenever it 
wanted. 
 
"What is the significance of the statements made by Rice about the 
importance of the Arab peace initiative?  The clear answer given by 
Rice herself, that 'there are US solutions,' might express the real 
prevaricating US stand....  Why this US 'positivism' now and not 
several years ago?  Is it not the US intention to confuse the Arab 
summit amid the firm Arab conviction that Israel is not ready for 
peace?" 
 
Corbin