VZCZCXYZ0039
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0444/01 1340939
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 140939Z MAY 07
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3451
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6791
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 4520
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 3141
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7664
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1739
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 5075
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 1281
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 7406

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000444 
 
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: Asad Speech/Nomination, Syria/PLO, Syria/UK, Syria/Italy, 
Iraq, Palestinian Territories (5/11-13) 
 
¶1.  Summary:  Syrian papers on May 11 reported President Asad's 
speech at the first session of the new People's Assembly on May 10, 
which approved the nomination of President Asad for a second 
seven-year term as president and set May 27 as the date for the 
presidential referendum. 
 
Papers also reported VP Shara's meeting on May 10 with Farouk 
al-Kaddoumi, Head of the Political Department of the Palestinian 
Liberation Organization.  Talks focused on the situation in the 
Palestinian territories and efforts to enhance Palestinian national 
reconciliation and rebuild the Palestinian Liberation Organization. 
 
 
On Syrian-British relations, papers reported FM Mouallem's meeting 
on May 10 with Peter Gooderham, Director for Middle East & North 
Africa in the United Kingdom's Foreign Office.  Talks focused on 
bilateral relations and regional developments, particularly in Iraq, 
LebQon and in the Palestinian territories. 
FM Mouallem reiterated Syria's support for efforts to achieve 
national reconciliation in Iraq and make the political process a 
success, stressing the need to schedule withdrawal of foreign troops 
and build the national army on national bases.  Regarding Lebanon, 
Mouallem confirmed Syria's support for all that the Lebanese agree 
upon to achieve security and stability in Lebanon. 
 
Papers on May 12 featured an interview with Italian Deputy PM and 
Foreign Minister, Massimo Dalima, published on May 11 in the Italian 
Weekly "L'Expresso," in which he reiterated the importance of his 
talks with FM Mouallem on the sidelines of the Sharm al-Sheikh 
Conference and expressed his intention to visit Syria soon.  Dalima 
stressed Syria's desire to cooperate to find solutions in the 
region.  Dalima denied reports of Hizbollah smuggling weapons in 
south Lebanon, describing them as baseless.  On Iraq, Dalima said 
the uni-polar policy era has ended and there is now a return to 
multi-lateral policy and the search for solutions based on 
dialogue. 
 
Independent al-Watan on May 11 published a Reuters report citing 
Fatah al-Islam group in Lebanon as saying that four of its members 
were killed in a clash with Syrian security forces while trying to 
cross into Iraq. 
 
End of summary. 
 
¶2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"President Asad delivers a speech at the People's Assembly:  Our 
priority is to protect the interests of the widest sector of Syrian 
masses.  National decisions are above international resolutions. 
Signing the UN Charter doesn't mean endorsing interests of the 
United States.  We have achieved good levels of economic growth in 
spite of the hard political circumstances.  We work to help Iraq, 
and not to save the occupation troops from their impasse.  The 
return of Golan is non-negotiable.  We have not authorized any party 
to negotiate on our behalf.  We are not intimidated by threats" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 5/11) 
 
"The People's Assembly unanimously approves the nomination of 
President Asad for new seven-year constitutional presidential term 
of office.  The People's Assembly determines May 27th is the date 
for conducting popular referendum on the presidency" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 5/12) 
 
"PM Shara to Farouk al-Qaddoumi [Head of the Political Department of 
the Palestinian Liberation Organization]:  Palestinian National 
unity achieves aspirations of the Palestinian people" 
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 5/11) 
 
"FM Mouallem holds talks with a British delegation on scheduling a 
timetable for withdrawal from Iraq" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 
5/11) 
 
"Italian Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister D'Alima: I will visit 
Syria soon" (Government-owned Tishreen, 5/12) 
 
"Bush extends sanctions against Syria" (Independent al-Watan, 5/11) 
 
 
"Israeli Foreign Ministry recommends commencement of negotiations 
with Syria" (Independent al-Watan, 5/11) 
 
"The Fatah al-Islam group in Lebanon announces the killing of four 
of its members in a clash with Syrian security forces at the 
Syrian-Iraqi border" (Independent al-Watan, 5/11) 
"The Iraqi Parliament adopts a resolution rejecting security walls. 
Four US soldiers killed or kidnapped in Baghdad" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 5/13) 
 
"Iraqis call for scheduling withdrawal of foreign troops.  Four US 
soldiers killed in various attacks, the fiercest of which were in 
Diyala" (Government-owned Tishreen, 5/12) 
 
"Fatah and Hamas agree on withdrawing armed men from Gaza streets" 
(Government-owned Tishreen, 5/13) 
 
"Confrontations in Gaza foil the security plan" (Government-owned 
Tishreen, 5/12) 
 
¶3.  Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
----------------- 
 
"Syrians' Option" 
 
----------------- 
 
Isam Dari, Chief Editor of government-owned Tishreen, wrote (5/12): 
"Syria under President Asad managed, with its calm policy and 
rational and logical approach, to overcome the hardest plight in its 
modern and contemporary history, to avoid falling into the traps 
that were set in its way, to face the hurricane that hit the region, 
and to adapt to formidable changes without abandoning its national 
and pan-Arab policies and its constant principles.... 
 
"President Asad's decisions, as captain of the Syrian ship, are not 
personal or impulsive or reactions to certain actions or sudden 
developments.  Rather, they are positions, policies, and options of 
our Syrian Arab people.  They are based on an unwavering belief in 
Arabism, the national identity, and the free, dignified, and 
sovereign homeland.... 
 
"Syria stands on solid ground embodied by a national unity that is 
rarely matched in today's troubled world. 
 
"The choices of Syrians are the same national and pan-Arab choices 
that President Asad briefly expressed in his important speech to the 
People's Assembly...." 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
"Culture of Resistance and Course of Capitulation" 
 
--------------------------------------------- ----- 
 
Hanan Hamad, a commentator in government-owned Tishreen, wrote 
(5/12):  "We wonder what Arabs did to benefit from the defeat of 
Israel in Lebanon and from the predicament of Americans in Iraq.... 
 
 
"Arab regimes are making a mistake and miscalculation by 
exaggerating Israel's power to stifle the culture of resistance and 
encourage calls for surrender and concessions through separate and 
partial treaties that have brought nothing but failure.... 
 
"Despite the Winograd Report and the Baker-Hamilton recommendations, 
some Arab regimes, under the pretext of 'marketing the Arab peace 
plan,' are still extending a helping hand to those who are sinking 
in Iraq's quicksand and to the heads that are rolling as a result of 
the erupting July volcano.  But the decisive answer and the sincere 
diagnosis came in concentrated and expressive sentences in President 
Asad's speech to the People's Assembly when he said that Damascus 
has not authorized anyone to negotiate with Israel on the issue of 
 
peace, where there has been no progress because of the lack of an 
honest broker and because of Washington's pressure on the weak 
Israeli government, and when he stressed the Iraqi people's right to 
resistance...." 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
"The Solution Lies in the United States Leaving Iraq" 
 
--------------------------------------------- -------- 
 
Salim Abbud, a commentator in government-owned 
Al-Thawra, commented (5/11):  "Iraq is in great need of concerted 
efforts by all regional and world states to help it at the economic 
and security levels before liberating it from the occupation.  This 
occupation is the cause of all the bombings that are claiming the 
lives of thousands of people and prompting thousands of Iraqis to 
leave Iraq every month. 
 
"The world must break its silence toward what is happening and 
toward the United States' acts of intimidation.  The world must 
first search for the reasons that led to the destruction of Iraq and 
to the tragic situation that is emptying Iraq of its people.  All 
previous and future conferences on Iraq will not achieve the desired 
progress unless the cause, that is to say, the occupation, is dealt 
with.  The Bush administration is giving the world the false 
impression that it seeks to address the deteriorating Iraqi 
situation, while in fact it seeks to address its own deteriorating 
situation in Iraq, in the United States, and in the world.... 
 
"The Bush administration stands behind the bloody bombings and 
sectarian conflict, which are likely to spread to other states in 
the region.... 
 
"The Bush administration did not seek to bring the Iraqi regime down 
as it claimed.  The toppling of the regime was only an alleged goal, 
which the administration declared many times through Bremer, 
Rumsfeld, and Dick Cheney.  In fact, this administration destroyed 
the security, political, economic, social, and cultural structure of 
a state. 
The Iraqi situation is much more serious than an occupation.... 
 
"At the Sharm al-Sheikh conference, Secretary Rice called for 
supporting Iraq in return for a commitment by the Iraqi Government 
to work to achieve national reconciliation.  She made this call even 
though everyone knows that the US army controls everything in Iraq 
and that the Iraqi people need no reconciliation, but need to drive 
out the forces which are supported by the occupation and other 
forces that entered Iraq. The operation of most of these forces 
follows directly or indirectly the opinion of the Mosad and US 
intelligence....  At the Sharm al-Sheikh conference Rice sought to 
absolve her administration of the responsibility for what is 
happening and will happen in the future...." 
 
Corbin