Email |  Print | RSS | Comment |  

 Email |  Print

Tue, Aug 30, 2011 | WikiLeaks

Walid al-Muallim

WikiLeaks: Syria Defends “Peaceful Objectives” against Israeli “Threats”

Syrian FM Muallim separately briefed Arab and European ambassadors on the same subject. Media accounts of the February 3 press conference with Spanish FM Moratinos quoted Muallim as warning Israel “not to test Syria’s power, since you know the war will reach your cities.” … Muallim also urged the Israelis to “return to reason, follow the path of peace … and implement the requirements of peace fairly and comprehensively.”

Source: WikiLeaks

Reference	Created	Classification	Origin
10DAMASCUS105	2010-02-04 15:09	CONFIDENTIAL	Embassy Damascus

 

VZCZCXRO6363
PP RUEHROV
DE RUEHDM #0105 0351509
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
P 041509Z FEB 10
FM AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 7319
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RHEHNSC/NSC WASHDC PRIORITY
RUEAIIA/CIA WASHDC PRIORITY
RHEFDIA/DIA WASHINGTON DC PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 0802
RUMICEA/USCENTCOM INTEL CEN MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY
RHMFISS/HQ USCENTCOM MACDILL AFB FL PRIORITY

C O N F I D E N T I A L DAMASCUS 000105

SIPDIS

DEPARTMENT FOR NEA/ELA, NEA/IPA, SEMEP
LONDON FOR MILLER, PARIS FOR NOBLES

E.O. 12958: DECL: 02/04/2020
TAGS: PREL KPAL SY IS
SUBJECT: VICE FM DEFENDS SYRIA’S “PEACEFUL OBJECTIVES”
AGAINST ISRAELI “THREATS”

Classified By: CDA Charles Hunter for reasons 1.4 (b) and (d)

¶1. (SBU) Vice Foreign Minister Faisal Miqdad convened
representatives of Western Hemisphere and African diplomatic
missions February 4 to review and echo FM Muallim’s comments
to the press the day before concerning Syria’s view of
Israeli rhetorical “threats.” Muallim separately briefed
Arab and European ambassadors on the same subject. Media
accounts of the February 3 press conference with Spanish FM
Moratinos quoted Muallim as warning Israel “not to test
Syria’s power, since you know the war will reach your
cities.” (NOTE: Moratinos, on the other hand, commented that
he “had not heard war drums” when visiting Israel earlier in
the week. END NOTE.) Muallim also urged the Israelis to
“return to reason, follow the path of peace … and implement
the requirements of peace fairly and comprehensively.”

¶2. (C) Miqdad framed his briefing as a necessary means of
presenting the Syrian viewpoint after an “escalation” from
Israel in the form of verbal threats from Army Chief of Staff
Ashkenazi, Prime Minister Netanyahu and Defense Minister
Barak. Ashkenazi, he said, had not contented himself with
military maneuvers but had “tried to make a state of war” by
threatening to launch an attack against Syria. This threat,
“and previous ones against Lebanon and Gaza,” led FM Muallim
to conclude that Syria had to respond to Israel’s
“allegations.” Meantime, said Miqdad, PM Netanhayu was
blocking peace talks by insisting on no preconditions (i.e.,
according to Syria, disregarding the requirements imposed by
UN Security Council resolutions and the Roadmap) and Barak
was talking a double game, saying one thing publicly but
another in private.

¶3. (C) In contrast, Miqdad portrayed Syria as having “defined
its objectives as peaceful” and exerted efforts to solve the
conflict with Israel by peaceful means. Frequently citing
Syrian assurances to SEMEP Mitchell regarding Damascus’
desire and readiness for peace, he pilloried Israel as “the
only party standing against international legitimacy and
peaceful solutions.” That is why, Miqdad asserted, FM
Muallim had correctly pointed out that the essential question
is why Israel is not working for peace. Syria does not seek
armed conflict but is ready to defend itself. Should war
come, he concluded dramatically, “Syrian mothers and wives
won’t be the only ones crying” and both regional and world
peace and security would be in danger.

¶4. (C) Comment: The SARG probably felt it could not be seen
as failing to respond after wide media coverage of remarks by
Israeli leaders interpreted as provocative in the Arab world
generally and vis-a-vis Syria specifically. The jarring tone
of that response underscores that Syria still often defaults
to the rhetorical mode of “resistance,” if not outright
confrontation. Though some attendees at Miqdad’s briefing
professed themselves worried afterwards about the prospects
for imminent conflict, other diplomats, such as the French
ambassador in his readout yesterday to CDA of the visit of
Senator Philippe Marini, dismissed the saber-rattling as
“just noise.” In his prepared remarks Miqdad complained
about the difficulty of knowing Israel’s true intentions; for
the moment, and at least until Syrian-Israeli talks resume in
some form, the same must be said occasionally of his own
government’s public stances.

HUNTER