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Viewing cable 06DAMASCUS183, Damascus Media Reaction: Lebanon, Iraq, Palestinian

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Reference ID Created Released Classification Origin
06DAMASCUS183 2006-01-17 15:14 2011-08-24 01:00 UNCLASSIFIED Embassy Damascus
VZCZCXYZ0027
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #0183/01 0171514
ZNR UUUUU ZZH (508)
O 171514Z JAN 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6595
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 5723
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 3622
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2078
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 6852
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 0709
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4211
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0443
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6594
UNCLAS DAMASCUS 000183 
 
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: Lebanon, Iraq, Palestinian 
Territories, Iran (1/17) 
 
 
1. Summary: Syrian Papers reported additional statements by 
Lebanese and Egyptian factions voicing support for Syria and 
Hizbollah and condemning foreign intervention in Syrian and 
Lebanese affairs. 
 
On developments in the Palestinian territories, papers reported 
commencement of Palestinian legislative elections in the West 
Bank, despite Israeli obstacles. Headlines featured a statement 
by Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice that the participation of 
Hamas candidates in the Palestinian government jeopardizes 
international efforts to establish a Palestinian state. 
 
As for Iraq, papers reported the killing of two US pilots in a 
helicopter crash in northern Baghdad and Iraqi President 
Talabani's call to expand presidential decision-making authority. 
 
On Iran's nuclear issue, papers cited a BBC interview with Saudi 
FM Prince Saud al-Faisal in which he blamed the West for the 
Iranian nuclear program, saying that Western nations' failure to 
stop Israel from becoming a nuclear power "has done the damage we 
are all suffering from now." 
 
End summary. 
 
2.  Selected Headlines: 
 
"Mounting Lebanese rejection of foreign intervention and 
sedition. Student sit-ins call for persistence in resistance and 
for enhancing relations with Syria" (Government-owned Tishreen, 
1/17) 
 
"Israeli violations of Lebanese airspace continue. Lebanese 
parties and powers denounce Jumblatt's statements: They serve US 
schemes. History will try him" (Government-owned Al-Thawra, 1/17) 
 
"Egyptian intellectuals and politicians stress support for 
Hizbollah and Syria against the US campaign and the fabrications 
of its agents" (Government-owned Tishreen, 1/17) 
 
"Palestinian elections commence in the West Bank under impossible 
Israeli obstacles. US Secretary of States Rice hints at depriving 
Palestinians of their right to establish an independent state if 
they elect Hamas" (Government-owned Tishreen, 1/17) 
 
"Abbas will not run for re-election and says he can deal with 
Olmert" (Government-owned Syria Times, 1/17) 
 
"Israel arrests 19 Palestinian activists. Spanish FM Moratinos 
confirms respect for Palestinians' choices" (Government-owned Al- 
Thawra, 1/17) 
 
"The Iraqi Supreme Election Commission cancels results from 227 
polling boxes. Iraqi President Talabani calls for expanding 
Presidential authority. A US helicopter is downed in northern 
Baghdad, killing two pilots" (Government-owned Tishreen, 1/17) 
 
"The Iranian nuclear issue heats up. Russia objects to erroneous 
and violent steps. Saudi FM Al-Faisal: The West has contributed 
to building up Israeli nuclear arsenal and therefore shares 
responsibility" (Government-owned Al-Ba'th, 1/17) 
 
3. Editorial Block Quotes: 
 
----------------------- 
 
"Brammertz's Reception" 
 
----------------------- 
 
Abdul-Fattah al-Awad, Chief Editor of government-owned Al-Thawra, 
commented (1/17): "Although Syria has always repeated its 
determination to demonstrate complete cooperation with the IIC, 
judging this cooperation will involve a lot of give-and-take so 
long as there is no definite standard by which to assess it. 
 
"Cooperation is a bombastic and an amazingly broad and flexible 
 
word, which allows anyone to stretch its meanings in whatever 
direction he wants and to assess it according to his own 
standards.... 
"Syria, which responded to the appointment of Mr. Brammertz as 
new head of the IIC by emphasizing its willingness to demonstrate 
'full cooperation,' is going to have great interest in reaching 
an agreement on the standards that will be adopted in judging 
cooperation.... 
"Syria and the IIC must reach an agreement that determines the 
standards of cooperation and which will serve as an evenhanded 
yardstick for measuring the degree of cooperation. In the 
meantime, it is in no one's interest for the IIC to operate under 
an atmosphere of irresponsible statements, accusations and 
interferences, which do not lead to the desired results.... 
"The signing of such a protocol would represent the voice of 
wisdom and logic, as an alternative to the voices that aim to 
create an atmosphere of tension, which will cast its shadow on 
the region in general and on the investigation in particular. 
"Some people are receiving Brammertz with an outpouring of 
nervous and wild statements, whereas Syria is receiving him with 
a call for a cooperation agreement." 
--------------------- 
"Who Believes Welch?" 
--------------------- 
Muhamed Khair al-Jamali, an editorialist in government-owned Al- 
Thawra, wrote (1/17): "US Assistant Secretary of State David 
Welch said in Beirut that he was visiting Lebanon to show 
support.... Was this support meant for the Lebanese people and 
their stability or for a handful of hired persons and agents, 
such as Walid Jumblatt, who are working tirelessly to 
internationalize the Lebanese situation in order to promote 
American interference and prevent the return of Syrian-Lebanese 
relations to their normal situation...? Welch's visit was meant 
to foil Arab efforts -- which were crowned by President Asad's 
talks in Jeddah and Sharm al-Sheikh -- to end tension in Lebanon 
and heal the rift in Syrian-Lebanese relations. 
"The US Administration was displeased to see a constructive Arab 
role that would help fortify Lebanon and halt the plan that seeks 
to uproot it from its Arab environment and undermine its civil 
peace.... Therefore, this administration hastened to hinder these 
efforts and prevent them from achieving their noble pan-Arab 
objective of saving Lebanon from the conspiracy that aims to 
bring the country back to the era of partition, fragmentation, 
and sectarian war. 
"Welch's visit was part of this American effort, which claims to 
support Lebanon and its people, while actually harboring nothing 
but evil for Lebanon, Syria, and the rest of the Arabs.... 
Welch's statements in Beirut, in which he said that Washington 
rejects any deal at the expense of Lebanon, shows that the US 
Administration is determined to push ahead with its policy of 
separating Lebanon from its Arab role under the pretext of 
maintaining its sovereignty, and its policy of destabilizing 
Lebanon and perpetuating the estrangement between Lebanon and 
Syria in implementation of its Greater Middle East plan, which is 
based on the abolition of Arabism and the dissolution of the 
countries of the region into sectarian and ethnic entities." 
------------------------------------- 
"Traitors, and the Swamp of Disgrace" 
------------------------------------- 
Dr. Khalaf al-Jarad, an editorialist in government-owned 
Tishreen, commented (1/17): "The US Administration, in its effort 
to implement its Greater Middle East plan, which is stumbling in 
Iraq and facing strong opposition from Syria and the Arab 
resistance, is looking for local helpers [in Lebanon] with 
feudal, ethnic, and sectarian backgrounds. These local helpers 
falsely raise the slogans of democracy, freedom, and sovereignty, 
for they are well-known for their longstanding loyalties to 
countries and forces that have ambitions in Lebanon and the 
region, and for their absolute compliance with the 'lessons' of 
Satterfield and Feltman and the instructions of Rice, Bolton, and 
David Welch.... 
"The positions and abuses of these rancorous people, who are not 
loyal to their nation, identity, and the sacrifices of the 
resistance and their brothers, will not win the respect of their 
enemies or of the Americans. Indeed, they will only deepen their 
fall, degeneration, and plunge in the stinking swamp of 
 
treachery, treason, and humiliation.... 
"Syria and the resistance derive their power and steadfastness 
from justice and from their heroic defense of their existence and 
dignity. Those who bet on the people and their national and pan- 
Arab pride will never lose. As for the intrusive plans, colonial 
schemes, conspiracies, pressures, and threats, they are not new 
to our people. Our people know them well and know how to foil 
them and expose their champions and their followers, the igniters 
of sedition and civil war, the perpetrators of massacres, and the 
ones who, in these difficult times, personify, greed hatred, 
rancor, and miserable loss." 
------------------------------------- 
"What About Israeli Nuclear Weapons?" 
------------------------------------- 
Muhammad al-Khadr, a columnist in government-owned Al-Ba'th, 
wrote (1/17): "The United States and the European Union 
exhibit flagrant hypocrisy when dealing with the Iranian nuclear 
file. They are eager, so they say, to prevent the spread of 
weapons of mass destruction in the world, in spite of the fact 
that the Iranian government has announced that its research is 
for scientific purposes and that it does not intend to produce 
atomic bombs.... 
"Today...the Iranian issue has become a priority on the agendas 
of US President George Bush and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, 
as well as European capitals, including Paris, London, and Rome, 
who threaten sanctions and referral of the case to the Security 
Council.... 
 
"In principle, the entire world would be happy if these 
accelerated steps were meant to preserve international security 
and peace and thus prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons. 
However, the core of the matter is otherwise. Those who are 
worried about Iran are not really concerned about world peace: 
they have disregarded other areas of concern, most notably the 
Israeli nuclear arsenal of more than 300 nuclear warheads, 
according to estimates made by scientists and experts.... 
 
"President Bush was not embarrassed, at a press conference with 
Merkel, when he referred to the Iranian nuclear weapons as a 
threat to the world and Israel, without mentioning, directly or 
indirectly, the Israeli nuclear weapons, which threaten the 
entire world and not just the Arabs." 
Seche