Cablegate: Damascus Media Reaction: Syria/Qatar, Syria/Iran,

VZCZCXYZ0008
OO RUEHWEB

DE RUEHDM #3258/01 1841410
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 031410Z JUL 06
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 0127
RHEHAAA/WHITE HOUSE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHAM/AMEMBASSY AMMAN 6079
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 3928
RUEHEG/AMEMBASSY CAIRO 2461
RUEHRH/AMEMBASSY RIYADH 7127
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV 1116
RUEHAK/AMEMBASSY ANKARA 4502
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM 0724
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL//CCPA//
INFO RUEHNC/AMEMBASSY NICOSIA 6863

UNCLAS DAMASCUS 003258

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/Qatar, Syria/Iran,
Syria/Israel, Palestinian Territories, Iraq, Lebanon (7/1-3)

1. Summary: Syrian papers reported President Asad's meeting with
Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr Al
Thani, that focused on the latest regional developments,
particularly in the occupied Palestinian territories. Talks also
touched upon bilateral relations between Syria and Qatar.

Papers also cited President Asad's meeting with Ayatollah Imam
Khomeini's grandson Hasan Khomeini, Director of the Ayatollah
Khomeini Heritage Foundation, and an accompanying delegation.
Talks during the meeting dealt with the friendly relations
between the two countries and activities of the foundation.
Iranian Ambassador to Syria, Mohammed Hasan Akhtari, attended the
meeting.
Papers also cited a statement by the Cuban Foreign Ministry
condemning Israel's violation of Syrian airspace, saying that
this act "poses a danger to international peace and security".
The Ministry stressed that the violation further escalates
tension in the Middle East. It also strongly denounced Israel's
military aggression in the Gaza Strip, stressing that Israel
behaves arrogantly toward Palestinians, encouraged by unlimited
US support. It called upon the international community and all
peace-loving countries to act immediately to demand that Israel
withdraw from Gaza and stop state terrorism against the
Palestinian people.
Papers also reported that Syria has rejected accusations of the
United States Ambassador to the United Nations against Syria as
"baseless, unacceptable and untrue." Participating at the UN
Security Council's emergency session to discuss the deteriorating
conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories, Syria
condemned Israel's haughty practices, saying, "The Israeli
military escalation poses a real threat to the world's security
and stability." "Israel, paying no heed to legitimate
international resolutions, tries again to draw the region into a
cycle of violence by widening the ambit of struggle in the Middle
East," Syria's Acting Permanent Envoy to the UN said [The name of
the Syrian diplomat was not cited by the news report] "Israeli
fighters flying over the Syrian coast are a screaming breach of
international law and constitute an unjustified provocation
against a sovereign independent state," he indicated. The Syrian
diplomat underlined that "the US ambassador, who appointed
himself as a defender of Israel's brutal aggressions, is the last
one with the right to throw out such accusations, particularly
since biased US policies and distortion of facts are causes of
extremism and terrorism in the world." "The US, to cover hostile
Israeli policies against the Palestinian people, will never serve
a just and comprehensive peace but will exacerbate the
situation." The diplomat expressed hope that the UN will
shoulder its responsibility to contain the deteriorating
situation and the tragic circumstances that the Palestinian
people are passing through.
All papers featured a mass demonstration at the Yarmouk refugee
camp in Damascus on Sunday evening protesting Israeli practices
against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip and the
Palestinian territories. Protestors chanted slogans condemning
the barbarian Zionist aggression which has destroyed humans,
trees and stones in Gaza and other Palestinian cities.
Demonstrators also carried banners hailing Syrian solidarity with
the Palestinian struggle and demanding that the international
community put an end to Israel's dangerous violations against the
Palestinian people without any consideration of international
legitimacy or minimum human rights
End of summary.
2. Selected Headlines:

"President Asad discusses the latest developments in the region
and bilateral relations with Qatari Foreign Minister" (Government-
owned Tisrheen, 7/2)

"President Asad reviews relations of friendship between Syria and
Iran with Ayatollah Imam Khomeini's grandson Hasan Khomeini,
Director of the Ayatollah Khomeini Heritage Foundation"
(Government-owned TIshreen, 7/3)

"Angry reactions to the provocative Israeli violation of Syrian
airspace: Violation of international law; the world is being
called upon to exert pressure on Israel" (Government-owned

Tishreen, 7/1)

"Cuba condemns Israeli warplanes' violation of Syrian airspace"
(Government-owned Tishreen, 7/3)

"Syria rejects accusations of the US Ambassador to the UN: Bolton
has appointed himself as a defender of Israel. Israel is
practicing state terrorism. The US covering up of Israel's
aggressive policies against the Palestinian people aggravates
tension in the region" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/2)

"Foreign Minister al-Mouallem discusses the dangerous
deterioration in the occupied Palestinian territories with former
Italian Foreign Minister Demichelis" (Government-owned Tishreen,
7/3)

"Israeli occupation forces attack Hanieh's office. Olmert orders
his forces to liberate the Israeli soldier and to use all means
of force against Palestinians" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/3)

"Paying no heed to Israeli terrorism, US President Bush calls for
release of the Israeli prisoner. Israel rejects releasing
Palestinian prisoners and continues its open aggression"
(Government-owned Tishreen, 7/2)

"New deterioration in President Bush's popularity. 66 Iraqis
killed, 87 injured in an explosion in Baghdad" (Government-owned
Tishreen, 7/3)

"A huge demonstration at the Yarmouk refugee camp in Damascus to
denounce Israel's aggression against Gaza. Arab and Islamic
protests amidst world silence. The Zionist war storms the people
of Gaza" (Government-owned Tishreen, 7/1)

"Palestinian PM Hanieh: The Israel occupation doesn't seek the
kidnapped Israeli soldier, but seeks to foil the Palestinian
government. Israel rejects a conditional release of its two
soldiers and resumes raids and incursions" (Government-owned
TIshreen, 7/1)

"A new US military scandal: Slaughter of a whole Iraqi family.
Burning of an Iraqi girl after being raped" (Government-owned
TIshreen, 7/1)

3. Editorial Block Quotes:

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

"Evading a Crisis and Domestic Failure"

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

Ilyas Murad, chief editor of government-owned Al-Ba'th, wrote
(7/2): "Through its aggression on Gaza and accusations against
Syria, Israel is trying to escape from its own crisis and
failure by creating regional tension....

"Now, days into the siege and the killings and kidnappings of
Palestinian MPs, the reasons and the truth of the Israeli
aggression have appeared. It transpired that Israel was shocked
by the capture of one of its soldiers and the killing of two
others in the resistance attack on a fortified military
position. Neither Israel's military nor its 'militant civilians'
expected the resistance to be able to carry out such an attack.
Perhaps they believed that aggression on and violation of Syrian
airspace would help resolve their crisis through an incident
that, to say the least, represents an attempt to evade the real
problem. Mutual violation of airspace is possible anytime
anywhere. Even small or weak countries can do it. Organizations
also can do it. But we should discuss the reasons and dimensions
of such an act.

"Troubled Israel wanted to create tension in the region and
trigger new events that would perhaps move things back and foil
Palestinian coherence, which was achieved despite all wagers to

the contrary. Perhaps it also wanted to provide a dose of
support for those in Lebanon who are calling, through pretexts
they put on the negotiating table, for disarming the
resistance.... Israel wants to say that this harmony in
consolidating the will of resistance and spreading consciousness
of resistance, which is taking root in Palestine, Iraq, and
Lebanon, is not allowed. Perhaps Israel also wants to offer
support for some [Syrian opposition] symbols abroad who have
stretched out a hand for negotiations with Israel and requested
help and assistance.

"There is harmony between Israel and the US representative to
the United Nations, who makes false accusations against Syria,
its people and leadership."

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

"Partners in Lying and Aggression"

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

Ali Nasrallah, an editorialist in government-owned Al-Thawra,
wrote (7/2): "Just as the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza was a
lie, the claim that Israel wants only to free its captured
soldier will not be the last in the series of lies that Israel
makes as part of the hostile schemes that are drawn up and
discussed in advance with Washington and some Western capitals.

"There were Israeli reports saying that the Israeli operation in
Gaza was planned weeks before the capture of the Israeli soldier
and that the objective is to undermine the HAMAS government and
crush the will of the Palestinian resistance....

"Israel and the United States are partners in lying. They insist
on sticking to old lies as they fabricate and believe new ones.
In the meantime, Israel is making progress in its effort to
impose a fait accompli on the world and prepare it to accept its
next plans, while the principle of political realism flourishes
among some Arabs who are no longer provoked by the images of
blood and destruction in Palestine!"

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

"A Gang Enjoying International Protection"

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

Isam Dari, an editorialist in government-owned Tishreen,
commented (7/1): "All hell broke loose when Palestinian
commandoes captured an Israeli soldier in a military operation.
Every party in the world, led by the administration of US
President George Bush, made painstaking efforts to obtain the
release of this soldier of Israeli identity and French
nationality.

"The superpowers have not stopped defending killers and
criminals. The frenzied attempts to release the soldier, who
left his country and came to kill the people of Palestine, are
continuing around the clock. When Israel committed a flagrant
act of piracy in broad daylight and arrested -- indeed kidnapped
-- a number of ministers and parliament members who were
democratically elected by the Palestinian people, no one in this
'free' world bothered to condemn the act, which can be committed
only by mafia and terror gangs.

"All that this world, which claims to be civilized and to be a
champion of human rights, could do was issue a generous call for
'self-restraint,' a term that the 'civilized' ones usually use
when they find themselves forced to admit that what Israel's
armed gang has done goes beyond all imagination and transcends
all the red lines that mean brutal massacres against the
Palestinians....

"What elicits sorrow, regret, and anger, all at the same time,
is that a superpower that is supposedly in charge of world peace
and security is blessing the acts of this gang and providing it

with protection under false justifications, such as terming its
acts self-defense....

"But this is how we have known the Bush administration and its
allies. And this is how Israel will continue to practice
aggression and all kinds of terrorism, including the violation
of the airspace of Arab countries - Syria and Lebanon in
particular. Nothing will deter it as long as the 'civilized free
world' is providing all necessary protection for the terrorist
Israeli gang."

Seche

© Scoop Media