VZCZCXYZ0000
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0406/01 1191348
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 291348Z APR 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3392
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6762
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4493
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 3115
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7639
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1712
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 5048
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1255
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7380

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000406 
 
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/Djibouti, Syria/Vietnam, Syria/Italy, Iraq, 
Palestinian Refugees, Arab Media Role, Lebanon, Russia (4/27-29) 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers on Apr. 27 reported that President Asad 
received a letter from the President of Djibouti, Ismail Omar 
Ghaila, connected with bilateral relations, regional developments 
and developments in the Horn of African.  The letter was conveyed by 
Djibouti Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, 
Mahmoud Ali Yousuf, during his meeting with President Asad on Apr. 
¶26.  Talks focused on current and bilateral relations. 
On Syrian-Vietnamese relations, papers reported the visit to Vietnam 
by a Syrian delegation headed by Assistant Foreign Minister Ahmad 
Arnous to convey a message from President Asad to the President of 
Vietnam, Nguyn Minh.  The letter was handed to Deputy Prime Minister 
and Foreign Minister of Vietnam, Pham Gia Khiem, on Apr. 26.  The 
letter dealt with developments in the region and means of developing 
bilateral relations. 
 
Papers also reported that FM Mouallem received two phone calls on 
Apr. 27, from Iraqi FM Hoshyar Zebari and Turkish FM Abdullah Gul, 
on ongoing preparations for the meeting of Iraq's neighboring 
countries scheduled to be held with the participation of the five 
permanent members at the security council and the G-8 nations in 
Sharm al-Sheikh in Egypt. 
 
On Apr. 29 papers featured a speech by the Secretary General of the 
Italian Communist Party, Oliviero Diliberto, at the opening of the 
4th conference of the party in Rimini on Apr. 28.  In the speech, he 
reiterated the importance of Syria's influential role in achieving a 
just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East and the importance 
of openness and dialogue with Syria.  He criticized practices of the 
Israeli occupation against the Palestinian people, recalling the 
statement of the late Pope John Paul II that "the holy lands are in 
need of bridges and not apartheid walls."  Diliberto condemned the 
US war on Iraq, stressing that "it has contributed to an increase in 
terrorism, injustice and poverty and damaged the world as a whole." 
 
 
All dailies on Apr. 29 reported that over 500 rehabilitated 
residential housing units were handed over to Palestinian refugees 
in Khan Dannoun Camp near Damascus as a result of cooperation 
between Syria and the European Commission Program for Humanitarian 
Aid, and the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees, 
UNRWA.  The hand-over took place in the presence of Information 
Minister Mohsen Bilal, who said that the real solution to all the 
problems in the region is the achievement of a just and 
comprehensive peace based UN resolutions and the Arab Peace 
Initiative.  He called on the European Union to reactivate its role 
to achieve peace in the region. 
 
Information Minister Moshen Bilal renewed Syria's commitment to 
achieve a just and comprehensive peace in accordance with relevant 
international resolutions, the Madrid Conference and the Arab Peace 
Initiative.  "Syria is committed to her rights and supports all just 
Arab causes," the Minister underlined in an interview with the 
Lebanese weekly Ashams (the Sun) published Apr. 27.  Bilal stressed 
the need for the Arab and Islamic mass media to consider themselves 
part of the confrontation with Israel and to put the Palestinian 
conflict with Israel among their top priorities.  Bilal said the 
forthcoming "International Conference on Arab-Islamic Media in 
Support of Palestinians," that will be held under the patronage of 
President Asad in Damascus April 30 - May 2, will address Arab media 
discourse, the concept of resistance in Arab media and the role of 
media in distinguishing between terrorism and the right to resist 
occupation. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad sends a message on regional developments and 
bilateral relations to Vietnamese President and receives a message 
from President of Djibouti on bilateral relations and developments 
in the Horn of African" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 4/27) 
 
"Mouallem receives calls from Zebari and Gul on preparations for the 
Iraq Neighboring Countries Conference in Sharm al-Sheikh" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 4/27) 
 
 
"Under the patronage of President Asad the 'International Conference 
on Arab-Islamic Media in Support of Palestinians' will be held in 
Damascus April 30-May 2" (Government-owned Tishreen, 4/29) 
 
"Over 500 rehabilitated residential housing units were handed over 
to Palestinian refugees in Khan Danno 
un Camp" (Government-owned 
Al-Thawra, 4/29) 
 
"Hailing the importance of the International Conference on 
Arab-Islamic Media in Support of Palestinians, Information Minister 
Bilal:  Syria works to achieve just and comprehensive peace" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 4/28) 
 
"The Lebanese unanimously condemn the crime which claimed the lives 
of two Lebanese youths.  Former Lebanese Minister Wadi al-Khazen: 
Foreign intervention causes tampering with security" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 4/28) 
 
"The EU keeps ban on the Palestinian government.  Israeli occupation 
maneuvers in West Bank and attacks a demonstration in Bel'in" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 4/28) 
 
"After the House of Representatives, the US Senate approves 
legislation linking funding of the war on Iraq to a timetable for 
the withdrawal of US troops" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 4/27) 
 
"Killing of 9 US soldiers within two days in Baghdad.  Victims of 
the Baghdad and Karbala explosions exceed 200 casualties" 
(Government-owned Tisheen, 4/29) 
 
"President Putin freezes Russia's participation in the conventional 
weapons treaty" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 4/27) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
"Israel's Response to the Arab Peace Initiative" 
 
--------------------------------------------- --- 
 
Muhammad Ali Buza, an editorialist in government-owned al-Thawra, 
wrote (4/27):  "Israel is responding to the Arab peace initiative 
with political escalation in such a way as to renew its total 
refusal to withdraw to the June 4, 1967, line and to acknowledge the 
inalienable rights of the Palestinian people, including the right to 
repatriation and the establishment of an independent state.... 
Israel persists in horrifying, besieging, and starving out masses of 
people in the occupied territories and in liquidating their leaders 
and cadres.... 
 
"This is a clear Israeli message to all Arabs and the parties 
concerned with the affairs of the region, saying that Israel will 
not accept peace unless it responds to its diktats and conditions, 
fulfills its Torah-based ambitions, and serves the interests of its 
strategic ally, the United States, which threw its full weight into 
the crisis and began managing, feeding, and escalating the conflict 
instead of helping ease and resolve it.... 
 
"Israel and the United States have no new position towards peace. 
Rather, they are engaged in further lies, charlatanism, maneuvers, 
and stalling for time in the hope of wresting gains that will 
legitimize their occupation, crimes, and evasion of a 
settlement.... 
 
"Arabs must not rely upon foreign powers to regain any Arab 
right.... Arabs are not the party that needs to give assurances and 
build confidence.... Duty dictates that no one in this nation should 
help this hostile alliance overcome its crises, offer gratuitous 
rewards to it, or cover up its measures, atrocities, and evasion of 
the requirements of a just and comprehensive peace." 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
"The Veto and the Law of the Jungle" 
 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
Isam Dari, Chief Editor of government-owned Tishrin, wrote (4/28): 
"President Bush is today preparing to use his veto to foil two bills 
endorsed by the House of Representatives and the Senate linking the 
funding of the war on Iraq to a timetable for the withdrawal of US 
troops from the Iraqi quicksand.... 
 
"Through this position, Bush and his neoconservatives provide us 
with conclusive proof of the abuse of democracy in the United States 
and the ability of the American ruler to exercise dictatorship and 
erase a contrary opinion, even if this opinion is expressed by the 
parliamentary majority, which represents the popular majority.... 
 
"The Bush administration does not intend to take its hands off Iraq 
before it achieves its hostile objectives in the entire region, not 
only in that country.... 
 
"It is not strange for Bush to use the veto against the will of the 
American public.  Nor are we surprised by anything that has happened 
to Iraq, from sanctions that were imposed on it before the 
aggressive war, to the serious conspiracy that is being implemented 
in the country today against the entire Arab nation to please Israel 
and implement the old Zionist plan in its new and modified American 
version, a version they are promoting to us under the broad headline 
'New Middle East.' 
 
"Perhaps the exercise of US dictatorship, which is wrapped in the 
cellophane of democracy, is not confined to domestic American 
affairs through the obstruction of Congressional resolutions or to 
attempts to export American democracy by force to other countries. 
It also affects international politics through the gate of the 
United Nations.... 
 
"The Bush administration today has two swords:  a veto at home and a 
veto abroad.  It is exercising the law of the jungle in broad 
daylight...." 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
"The Wise Take the Chance" 
 
------------------------------------ 
 
Hanan Hamad, a commentator in government-owned Tishrin wrote (4/28): 
 "Russian President Putin's decision to freeze commitment to the 
conventional weapons treaty, in response to the planned American 
deployment of a missile system in Europe, is a reaffirmation that 
Russian policy has put its feet on solid ground, allowing Russia to 
regain its international status and role in decision-making in the 
face of a confused American policy exhausted and weakened by the 
Iraqi crisis.... 
 
"It is regrettable that Arabs have failed to reap the fruits of 
Washington's exhaustion in Iraq, as they have sought to help save 
the Bush administration from its predicament instead of taking 
advantage of its points of weakness." 
 
Corbin