VZCZCXYZ0003
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0436/01 1301259
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 101259Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3441
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6788
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4517
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 3138
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7661
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1736
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 5071
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1278
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7403

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000436 
 
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/Libya, Syria/UN, Syria/France, Iraq, Lebanon, 
Palestinian Territories (5/10) 
 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian press on May 10 reported President Asad's 
meeting on May 9 with Libyan Prime Minister El-Baghdadi Ali 
al-Mahmoudi.  This is the first high level meeting between the two 
countries for years.  Talks dealt with bilateral relations, mutual 
cooperation, and topics on the agenda of the Syrian-Libyan Joint 
Higher Committee, which inaugurated its deliberations in Damascus on 
May 9.  Al-Mahmoudi was also received by PM Otri, with whom he 
discussed mutual cooperation and means of enhancing it in all 
fields, in the interest of both peoples. 
 
Papers also reported that President Asad received a telephone call 
from UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon on May 9 to talk about issues 
that were earlier discussed by the two sides during Ki-Moon's recent 
visit to Damascus. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad discusses bilateral relations and mutual cooperation 
with Libyan Prime Minister al-Baghdadi Ali al-Mahmoudi.  Meeting of 
the Syrian-Libyan Joint Committee is necessary to expand investment 
opportunities and to increase trade" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 
5/10) 
 
"President Asad receives a telephone call from UN Secretary General 
Ban Ki-Moon within the framework of continuing coordination with the 
UN" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 5/10) 
 
"The Joint Syrian-Libyan Higher Committee commences its 
deliberations in Damascus.  PM Otri and his Libyan counterpart 
al-Mahmudi:  Our cooperation serves our common interests" 
(Government-owned TIshreen, 5/10) 
 
"60 percent of Americans support scheduling withdrawal of US troops 
from Iraq" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 5/10) 
 
"Tehran seeks to help Washington in Iraq.  Zebari talks about the 
possibility of releasing the five Iranian hostages held by US 
forces" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 5/10) 
 
"Killing and injury of 7 US soldiers since Cheney's arrival to 
Baghdad"  (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 5/10) 
 
"General Aoun:  The Parliament is not qualified to elect a new 
president" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 5/10) 
 
"A new Israeli incursion into Gaza amid heavy criticism" 
(Independent al-Watan, 5/10) 
 
"Speaker of the Italian Parliament breaks EU siege on Palestinians" 
(Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 5/10) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
----------------------------- 
 
"France under New Presidency" 
 
------------------------------ 
 
Isam Dari, Chief Editor of government-owned Tishreen, commented 
(5/10):  "Syria is looking ahead with hope that the Syrian-French 
relations will witness positive development to serve the interests 
of the two countries and peoples as well as the region's peace and 
security.... 
 
"Syria, which seeks to build the best and strongest relations with 
all countries of the world without exception on the basis of 
reciprocal treatment, common interests, and noninterference in 
domestic affairs, is extremely eager to have special relations with 
France. Today it respects the will of the French people and their 
democratic option.... 
 
"The difficulties that Syrian-French relations have witnessed in the 
past few years were a result of pure personal positions and the 
 
personalization of the political situation against the will of the 
French people and the interests of France.... 
 
"Sarkozy became the president of France through the will and choice 
of the French people.  It is natural for the new president to 
express the interests of his country and people and pursue policies 
that embody this on the ground.  The French president knows the size 
of France's interests in the Arab countries and the region in 
general, and we do not think he will look at the Arab world with 
indifference...." 
 
---------------------- 
 
"Exaggerated Mistakes" 
 
---------------------- 
 
Omar Jaftali, a commentator in government-owned Tishreen, said 
(5/10):  "The Pentagon has announced that more troops will be 
deployed in Iraq.... The White House spokesman stated that attacks 
against US forces in Iraq are expected to escalate in the future.... 
This shows that the Bush administration, with its hawks and Zionized 
figures, is ignoring all American, Arab, and international 
criticisms and demands and is, indeed, determined to proceed with 
its hostile military plan against Iraq and its people and against 
the Arab region in general.... 
 
"What is more surprising is that administration officials do not 
care about their dead and about the future of their soldiers, who 
have been pushed into useless battles with no honorable objective, 
battles that only harm the reputation of the United States and the 
American people...." 
 
--------------------------------------- 
 
"Some Arabs Need a Winograd Commission" 
 
--------------------------------------- 
 
Khalid al-Ashhab, a commentator in government-owned Al-Thawra, wrote 
(5/10):  "The Winograd report is being discussed, even by some 
Arabs, in a way suggesting that it was natural and logical for 
Israel to prevail in its war on Lebanon.... 
 
"It is very well understandable that Israel is trying to turn its 
military defeat in Lebanon into a political and diplomatic victory, 
but it is neither understandable nor justifiable that some Arabs are 
failing to maintain  their victory, or, at least, are turning it 
into a psychological defeat.... 
 
"Israel needed an investigation commission to discover the reasons 
behind its failure to complete a crime.  How many commissions of 
this type do some Arabs need to know the reasons behind their 
complete crime of abandoning the honorable resistance, and indeed of 
inciting against it?" 
 
------------------- 
 
"Seeds of Sedition" 
 
------------------- 
 
Mihriz al-Ali, a commentator in government-owned    Al-Thawra, wrote 
(5/10):  "The security plan that the US Administration presented to 
the Palestinian Authority carries the seeds of sedition.... It 
represents an indirect call for Palestinian civil strife.... 
 
"The plan does not take into consideration the Palestinian people's 
suffering as a result of Israel's isolating policy.  The removal of 
some Israeli roadblocks does not fulfill minimum Palestinian 
requirements.  To those who say the plan is necessary as a 
confidence-building measure:  How can confidence be built while more 
than 11,000 Palestinian detainees, including ministers and members 
of the Palestinian Legislative Council, suffer the ugliest forms of 
torture in Israeli prisons? 
 
"Palestinians must demonstrate further solidarity and national unity 
to confront and foil such hostile plans...." 
 
---------------------- 
 
"The Satanic Alliance" 
 
---------------------- 
 
Hanan Hamad, a commentator in government-owned Tishreen, wrote 
(5/10):  "No one is unaware of the US pressures being exerted on 
moderate Arabs to revive the process of achieving a political 
settlement of the Arab-Zionist conflict on Israeli terms. 
 
"These terms call for setting up an Arab-Israeli alliance to 
confront the so-called 'Iranian danger,' on the pretext that Iran's 
threat to Israel is no less than its threat to the Arab states.... 
 
"What is worse is the fact that there are some people among the 
advocates of the Palestinian issue, or, rather, the ones who claim 
this honor, who defend this deal and promote the idea of the 
possibility of unifying Arab and Israeli stands toward the alleged 
'Iranian danger.' 
 
"What makes this move attractive is the notion that it will be 
preceded by a resolution to the Palestinian issue, on the grounds 
that this issue is a top priority and that a resolution to it will 
help establish such an alliance.... 
 
"It is sad that the political agenda of some Palestinians must stoop 
this low.  Also, it is sad that they must promote this alliance with 
the devil against an alleged danger by turning Iran -- an effective 
strategic ally in the face of the Zionist enemy -- into an enemy 
more dangerous than Israel itself, only because Tehran is 
considering the use of nuclear technology to serve its people's 
economy and prosperity.... 
 
"Nevertheless, what hurts most is that this deal is being promoted 
at a time when the Olmert government and the Bush administration are 
suffering deadlock with regard to the occupation of Palestine and 
Iraq, now that the resistance action in both Arab countries and in 
Lebanon has put the myth of the invincible force to the test. 
 
"Instead of capitalizing on the July victory and the Iraqi 
resistance's ability to hit the US occupation army painfully to 
impose Arab conditions on any possible settlement, there are some 
Arabs who are losing self-respect and harming their people's dignity 
in order to buoy up Bush and Olmert and save them from their 
ordeal." 
 
Corbin