Cablegate: Damascus Media Reaction: Syria/Lebanon, Palestinian

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UNCLAS DAMASCUS 04365

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR PA, NEA/ARN, INR/IC/CD, INR/S:STHIBEAULT AND
JMCCARTER, VOA NEWS CA, NEA/PPD:CBOURGEOIS, DBENZE AND
AFERNANDEZ, IIP/G/NEA-SA RWINCHESTER
WHITE HOUSE FOR NSC
CENTCOM FOR CCPA

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KMDR PREL KPAO OPRC SY
SUBJECT: Damascus Media Reaction: Syria/Lebanon, Palestinian
Territories, Iraq (9/6)

1. Summary: Syrian papers today reported President Asad's
phone call to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan following up on
the situation in Lebanon, and Annan's interview with the daily
newspaper Al-Hayat (Sept. 6 edition) describing Syria's
cooperation with the UN regarding regional issues as "positive,"
and saying that there was tangible Syrian cooperation in this
regard. Annan confirmed that the issue of exchanging embassies
between Syria and Lebanon is a sovereign issue to be determined
by the two countries. He underlined the importance of moving to
achieve a comprehensive peace in the Middle East on all tracks,
saying "it is the only way through which we can enjoy peace."

Papers also reported that Minister of Information Bilal
participated in a symposium held by the Anglo-American
Organization at the British House of Commons. Dr. Bilal
stressed that Syria is working to realize a just and
comprehensive peace in the Middle East and to eliminate Israeli
occupation from her territories through full Israeli withdrawal
from all occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan,
to the Jun 4th 1967 borders. On UNSC Resolution 1701, Dr. Bilal
said that it does not call for a cease-fire, which is a matter
that raises astonishment and condemnation. He criticized the
British Government's position that allowed Israel to continue
its aggression against Lebanon for 33 days.

Papers also reported that Members of the Syrian Parliament
staged a sit-in on Tuesday in solidarity with their Lebanese
counterparts to protest the Israeli blockade of Lebanon. They
sent a cable of solidarity to Lebanese parliament speaker Nabih
Berri.

Papers also reported that MP Muhamad Habash, Chairman of the
Islamic Studies Center in Damascus, announced on Tuesday that a
popular delegation, including 50 parliamentarians, Islamic
scholars and Christian clergymen, will head to Lebanon to
demonstrate full solidarity with the Lebanese people. "The
visit comes within the framework of the activities of the
Islamic and Christian Joint Committee, which works in the field
of religious brotherhood and enhances cohesion between the two
brotherly countries," Dr. Habash told a SANA reporter. Dr.
Habash said that the delegation will visit areas destroyed by
the brutal Israeli aggression and meet with a number of
political leaders and religious and spiritual personalities.

End of summary.

2. Selected Headlines:

"President Asad discusses the situation in Lebanon by telephone
with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan" (Government-owned Tishreen,
9/6)

"President Asad honors families and civil associations who hosted
the brotherly Lebanese during recent aggression against Lebanon:
What you offered was great and unparalleled" (Government-owned Al-
Thawra, 9/6)

"Minister of Information Mohsen Bilal maintains at the British
House of Commons: Syria is working to realize a just and
comprehensive peace; Tony Blair's government allowed Israel to
destroy Lebanon" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 9/6)

"The People's Assembly stages a sit-in in solidarity with
Lebanese MPs. Speaker al-Abrash tells Lebanese counterpart: We
support you in order to complete reaping the fruits of victory"
(Government-owned Al-Thawra, 9/6)

"Hassan Nasrallah, Secretary General of Hizbollah: Israel takes
Syria's power into consideration; it stayed away from the Syrian
border during the latest war" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 9/6)

3. Editorial Block Quotes:

-------------------------------------

"Reconstruction Is a More Sublime Goal"

-------------------------------------

Umar Jaftali, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, said
(9/6): "President Asad's decision to rebuild three towns in
south Lebanon is yet another indication that Syria and Lebanon
share everything, even the loaf of bread, despite modest
material resources in relation to the magnitude of the tragedy
and the destruction that the Zionist enemy caused in Lebanon....

"Syria always seeks to serve the interests of Lebanon and the
Lebanese people, regardless of the campaigns by some tendentious
Lebanese who are connected with suspicious schemes....

"It is true that some people continue to bombard every Syrian
initiative to help Lebanon and to interpret it based on their
deviant positions, but it is also true that the majority of
Lebanese know the true Syrian intentions and what sacrifices
Syria has made, with its blood and money, for their sake....

"What counts now is the reconstruction of Lebanon through the
concerted efforts of sincere Lebanese and the sons of the Arab
nation...."

--------------------------------

"Inside Siege and Outside Siege"

--------------------------------

Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen, wrote
(9/6): "Those Lebanese who plotted against the Resistance and
relied on its collapse during the Israeli aggression against
Lebanon are now trying to portray the Resistance's victory as a
defeat....

"Those who trade in the blood of the Lebanese cannot discuss
patriotism or claim they care about Lebanon and its people....
Now that the American plan has received a fatal blow at the
hands of the Resistance, we today see those who are involved in
this plan pulling out their knives to stab and assassinate the
Resistance, either through the call to disarm Hizbollah or
through a vicious attack on the Resistance and all those who
support it from other factions. They are doing this to defend
the new Middle East plan because their existence is linked to
the existence and implementation of this plan....

"It is surprising that while this Lebanese team is doing this,
it is doing nothing to break the Israeli blockade on Lebanon....
Those who depart from the principles of the homeland and the
Resistance will ultimately fail and their policy will
collapse...."

--------------------------------------------- -

"Moves That Are Insufficient to Avert Dangers"

--------------------------------------------- -

Ahmad Dawwa, a commentator in government-owned Al-Thawra, said
(9/6): "Although the region and the world in general
acknowledge that the achievement of peace and the removal of
occupation is the way to solve the problems of the Middle East,
Israel and the Bush Administration are more interested in using
the absence of peace and the continuation of the occupation to
implement their chaos-based plans at the expense of the peoples
of the region and the security and stability of the world....

"The United States is hindering the establishment of the Iraqi
General Staff because this Iraqi body wants to determine the
responsibilities for the occupation....

"Israel, for its part, uses every possible means to kill any
peace opportunity. Its incursions into the Gaza Strip and its
raids into the West Bank result in additional martyrs and
wounded every day. Not only that: Israel's threats against

Iran are escalating, which means that it is almost impossible to
translate the talk about peace into action....

"Arabs are to blame for this American and Israeli disdain for
Arab existence, positions, and interests.... Arabs must adopt
positions that can prevent Israel from exporting its domestic
crisis, which the Lebanese Resistance's victory created,
especially since the danger of the Israeli threats against Iran,
if implemented, will affect the entire region, and their
disastrous results will not spare the Arabs...."

------------------

"Stupid Sanctions"

------------------

Dr. Sa'id Musallam, an op-ed writer in government-owned Al-
Thawra, wrote (9/6): "The policy of sanctions, which the US
Administration used in Iraq, Afghanistan, and other parts of the
world, and which it is now threatening to use against Iran,
caused destruction, starvation, and chaos in those regions and
increased the wealth and investments of the multinational
companies that are led by Bush, Cheney, and Rumsfeld....

"We wonder how the United States is going to deal with Moscow
and Beijing, which are now investing more than $40 billion in
Iran's oil, energy, and nuclear technology sectors....

"Regardless of how the Iranian nuclear crisis develops, the fact
is that Iran is not concerned about the stupid sanctions and
will not give up its sovereign rights...."

-----------------------

"Who Is Lying to Whom?"

-----------------------

Ghazi al-Dada, an op-ed writer in government-owned Tishreen,
wrote (9/6): "It is surprising that President Bush continues to
insist that the situation in Iraq is fine, even though the
security situation is worsening day after day and the Pentagon
is warning that the country is heading toward civil war....

"If the security situation in Iraq is improving, as President
Bush and other administration 'optimists' say, what is the need
for sending more troops to Iraq...?

"Who is lying to whom? Do Bush and his administration officials
live in a fictitious dreamer's world that exists only in their
minds and has no connection whatsoever with reality....?"

Corbin

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