Syria, 2007

I would like to congratulate Mr. Srgjan

Kerim on his election to the presidency of the General

Assembly at its sixty-second session and to wish him

every success in his important task. Allow me also to

salute his predecessor, Sheikha Haya Rashed

Al-Khalifa of sisterly Bahrain and to express our

appreciation of the efforts she deployed to bring the

work of that session to a successful conclusion.

I also wish to express to the new Secretary-

General, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, our best wishes for success

in his noble mission, namely, that of guiding our

international Organization towards the realization of

the purposes and principles of its Charter.

The Middle East region has been an arena of

daunting challenges and heightened tensions owing to

the Israeli occupation, since 1967, of Arab territories

and to the denial of the legitimate national rights of the

Palestinian people. Although this is not a new

development, recent challenges and tensions have been

escalating and, as such, they not only threaten security

and stability throughout the region, but also

international peace and security. The hopes of the

peoples of the region of achieving a just and

comprehensive peace and living in a secure and stable

environment have faded, if they have not totally died.

Moreover, the current situation in Iraq and the

attendant anger and apprehensions it has generated

have turned the region into an explosive hotbed of

tensions and a theatre of confrontations, instead of

allowing it to prosper, pursue its development goals

and achieve progress.

May I, therefore, ask what have we accomplished

over the past year or during the previous session of the

General Assembly in terms of addressing the root

causes of tensions plaguing the Middle East region?

That situation does not serve the interests of any of the

parties, inside or outside the region. The prevailing

trends have not changed: Israeli occupation of Arab

lands continues, so does the denial of the legitimate

rights of Palestinians. One can even say that the

support, financing and arming of those policies have

continued unabated and have even surpassed previous

records. The recently reported figures on the increased

United States arming of Israel speak for themselves.

The latest act of aggression against Syria on

6 September 2007 is proof of Israel’s desire to escalate

tensions. We reiterate that the failure of the

international community, including the Security

Council, to condemn that act of aggression will

encourage Israel to persist in that hostile pursuit, and

will lead to the exacerbation of tensions in the region.

Some sources in the United States have spread rumours

and fabricated news in order to justify that act of

aggression. By distorting the facts they have become

Israel’s accomplices in that act.

Addressing and pursuing peace in the Middle

East require first and foremost evincing the will to

make peace on the basis of law and justice.

Regrettably, that will does not factor into the priorities

of some of the policies pursued nowadays. The

contemplated substance, approach and objectives of an

international gathering that seeks to find a

comprehensive solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict

remain vague. Furthermore, the proposed gathering

fails to identify the purpose, basis, terms of reference

and time frame of the process.

Syria has repeatedly stressed and stresses again

today that peace is its strategic choice. President

Bashar Al-Assad highlighted that fact in the statement

he made before the People’s Assembly on 17 July

2007. He stated that Syria is ready for a just and

comprehensive peace built on resolutions of

international legitimacy, which he deemed to be the

prelude to the realization of peace and security in the

region. The statement confirms that Syria has the will

to make a genuine peace that would recover the rights

and return the land to its rightful owners and that

would guarantee peace for all. We have repeatedly

called for a resumption of the peace process on the

basis of the Madrid terms of reference and the principle

of land for peace. Let me ask here: does the Israeli

Government or the current American administration

still have that will, the will to make genuine peace?

Regrettably, actions and realities on the ground suggest

otherwise.

The current situation in Iraq presages great

dangers for Iraq and the region. Addressing that

situation requires effective cooperation among all

parties inside Iraq, in the region and the world at large.

The absence of a genuine political vision for a solution

and the exclusive reliance on a military solution further

aggravate the situation. We have always stressed the

need to preserve the unity of the Iraqi people and the

Iraqi land, the non-interference in its internal affairs,

the preservation of its sovereignty and independence,

its Arab and Islamic identity and the rejection of any

claims to divide it. We believe that the solution in Iraq

must begin with national reconciliation based on the

principle of respect for the will of all segments of the

Iraqi people to determine their political future or to lay

the foundation for a new Iraq that is built on equal

citizenship. We therefore stress the need for the

withdrawal of all foreign forces from Iraq, in

agreement with the Iraqi Government, because that

measure will contribute to curbing the violence. We

have repeatedly stressed our condemnation of all

terrorist acts committed in Iraq that claim the lives of

innocent civilians. Occasional allegations that

combatants are infiltrating into Iraq through the

Syrian-Iraqi border cannot be farther from the truth.

They fail to acknowledge the strict measures that Syria

has put in place to control those borders. We believe

that the purpose of those unfounded accusations is to

assign to others the responsibility for the failure of the

occupying Power to achieve security and stability in

Iraq.

The deteriorating security situation in Iraq has

prompted many Iraqis to flee their country. There are

over 1.6 million Iraqi refugees in Syria today. In

addition to the security and social repercussions

associated with their presence, Syria is bearing an

enormous financial burden to satisfy their economic

needs and to provide them with services. It is

regrettable that the international community has failed

to discharge its responsibility to assist Iraqi refugees

until it becomes safe for them to return to their homes

and country. The occupying Power spends hundreds of

billions of dollars on military operations inside Iraq,

but fails to allocate any resources to assist Iraqis who

have been forced out of Iraq as a result of the

occupation and its repercussions.

Official visits exchanged between fraternal Iraq

and Syria have opened broad horizons for mutual

cooperation and have identified the main areas of

cooperation at all levels. Syria, for its part, plans to

implement all the measures agreed to during those

visits.

The critical and sensitive situation in brotherly

Lebanon requires that the Lebanese act together in

order to emerge from the current state of affairs and

arrive at solutions that will serve the interest of

Lebanon and its future. Syria has consistently

supported all initiatives aimed at activating Lebanese

dialogue within the country with a view to arriving at a

consensus. We believe that the run-up to the coming

presidential elections constitutes a good basis for

consensus-building among the Lebanese to elect a

president in accordance with constitutional rules, free

from foreign intervention and in a manner that would

safeguard Lebanon’s interests and its relations with

Arab countries.

Syria reaffirms its position calling for the

elimination of all weapons of mass destruction from

the Middle East region. Allow me to recall that in 2003

Syria tabled a draft resolution before the Security

Council on behalf of the Arab Group, and we are still

looking forward to its adoption.

I would like to affirm that Syria associates itself

with the declared positions of other developing

countries, which stress the freedom and the right of all

countries to acquire nuclear technologies to use them

for peaceful purposes. We believe that it is necessary to

compel Israel, the sole party in the region that

possesses nuclear weapons, to submit its facilities to

the safeguards regime of the International Atomic

Energy Agency (IAEA) and to adhere to the Non-

Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and the Comprehensive

Safeguards Agreement.

Like many others, I wonder whether the world

has become safer many years after the beginning of the

war on terrorism. The answer is common knowledge.

Terrorism has spread to areas that have never known

that phenomenon before. Syria believes that fighting

terrorism by force alone is useless. We must address

the root causes of terrorism and firmly distinguish

between combating terrorism and the legitimate right

of people to resist foreign occupation. We call on all

States to cooperate in the fight against terrorism. At the

same time, we warn against using terrorism as a pretext

to compromise peoples’ rights and to instil hatred

among religions and civilizations instead of promoting

intercultural and interreligious dialogues in the interest

of humanity at large.

Earlier on in the debate we listened to calls

advocating interference in the internal affairs of States

under the pretext of defending human rights and

promoting democracy. Syria questions the discrepancy

between words and actions in Palestine, Iraq, Lebanon

and other parts of the world. The inhumane practices

we learned of in Guantanamo and Abu Ghraib and the

condoning of Israeli aggression against Lebanon last

year and other Israeli practices in Palestine and the

Golan constitute grave violations of human rights. That

prompts us to question in turn, and rightly so: which

human rights are they advocating?

More than ever before our world needs a

reaffirmation of our commitment to the principles and

purposes of the United Nations, in order to avoid

applying double standards and to free the Organization

from those few who try to control its decisions and

dictate their policies to its organs. The conflicts and

crises with which our world is plagued today must

prompt us to seek solutions based on enhanced

intercultural and interreligious dialogues, and to

persevere in our pursuit of the political solutions to

current international problems in a manner that would

preserve international peace and security.