Syria, 2008

Allow me to congratulate the President and

his friendly country, Nicaragua, on his election to the

presidency of the General Assembly at its sixty-third

session. I wish him every success in his mission and

express our satisfaction with the message of his

introductory remarks at the opening of the general

debate. I would also like to thank his predecessor,

Srgjan Kerim, for successfully steering the work of the

previous session. I extend to Secretary-General Ban

Ki-moon our best wishes for success in the realization

of the purposes and principles of the Charter of our

international Organization.

The Middle East region is one of the most

volatile regions of the world, and it continues to face

mounting challenges. Daunting as those challenges

may be, they must not deter us from moving forward

towards the light at the end of the tunnel and from

seeking better conditions. Syria is an essential part of

the solutions sought by the peoples of the region, by

virtue of its geographic location and the aspirations of

its people.

For that reason, President Bashar Al-Assad took

the initiative to convene the Damascus Quartet

Summit, attended by President Sarkozy of France, the

Emir of the State of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa

Al-Thani, and the Prime Minister Recep Tayyip

Erdogan of Turkey. All of those States have a stake in

the security and stability of the Middle East region.

Each and every one has made constructive

contributions, despite differing perspectives and

positions. The four leaders probed the issue of peace

and stability in the Middle East and stressed the need

for consultations and coordination and joint pursuit of

those objectives. They recognized that inaction, the

suffering resulting from the Israeli occupation of Arab

territories that has continued since 1967 and disregard

for the Palestinian people’s rights have driven the

people of the region into a state of despair. Under those

circumstances, attaining a just and comprehensive

peace becomes untenable and the region becomes a

fertile ground for anger and turmoil. In the final

analysis, that situation does not serve the best interests

of the world or of the countries of the region.

By convening the Quartet Summit, Syria stressed

that a just and comprehensive peace is its strategic

choice and that it is striving to attain it in cooperation

with regional and international partners who share its

vision. The realization of peace requires all of those

who have a direct stake in the matter, or those who

have the power or who can influence the outcome, to

evince the necessary political will.

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Years after the will to build peace lost its priority

status in the policies that influence the situation in the

region, we were asked to go to Annapolis. We all went

to Annapolis, despite the ambiguity of the undertaking.

We wonder what Annapolis achieved. Where exactly

do we stand? Have the Annapolis promises to establish

a Palestinian State before the end of the current year

been fulfilled? Has Israel stopped building settlements

in the occupied Arab territories?

Despite all that, given that the withdrawal of

Israel from our occupied Golan to the line of 4 June

1967 and making peace are Syrian national priorities,

and notwithstanding the circumstances to which I just

referred, we entered into indirect negotiations with

Israel, with commendable mediation by Turkey.

As President Al-Assad said, we wanted the

negotiations to establish the grounds and pave the way

for direct negotiations that would ultimately be

sponsored by many international parties. Peacebuilding

requires, however, genuine Israeli will that is capable

of accommodating the exigencies of peacemaking. It

also requires the American will to include peace in the

Middle East on its list of priorities after years of

deliberately ignoring and dodging the question, which

has exacerbated the situation in the region.

Syria stresses once again its firm and consistent

support for the Palestinian people’s rights to recover

their occupied land and establish their independent

State with Jerusalem as its capital. Syria underlines the

need to restore Palestinian national unity through

national dialogue and is working towards that end in its

capacity as the current Chair of the Arab Summit.

The Iraqi situation is a matter of prime concern to

Syria because Iraq is an Arab fraternal country and

because, as a neighbouring country, we are affected by

the negative and positive developments there. We have

always stressed the need to preserve the unity of the

people of Iraq, its territorial integrity, non-interference

in its internal affairs and the need to preserve its

sovereignty, independence, its Arab and Islamic

identity, and to oppose the calls to divide it. We have

repeatedly declared that the solution in Iraq begins

with national reconciliation built on the principle of

respect for the will of all Iraqis. We have reiterated the

need for foreign troops to withdraw from Iraq in line

with agreements reached with the Iraqi Government.

We have always condemned all terrorist acts

committed in Iraq, resulting in the deaths of many

innocent civilians. We believe that the stability that

Iraq longs for requires an Iraqi consensus to overcome

the obstacles barring its realization.

It is regrettable that the abnormal circumstances

that prevailed in Iraq as a result of the United States

invasion in 2003 have prompted a great number of

Iraqis to leave their country in pursuit of safety and

security. Syria hosts many Iraqi brothers and sisters.

Therefore, we are deeply aware of the humanitarian

crisis that has forced Iraqis from their country and

exacerbated the situation in their country. We hope that

an improved security situation will permit all Iraqis to

return to Iraq.

We in Syria are pleased that the situation in

Lebanon is being resolved after the conclusion of the

Doha Agreement, which enabled the Lebanese to elect

a consensual President, establish a Government of

national unity and initiate a national dialogue. Despite

unfounded claims to the contrary, we have consistently

supported all measures that could assist the Lebanese

in arriving at consensual solutions built on dialogue

and the affirmation of national unity. During the recent

visit of the Lebanese President Michel Sleiman to

Syria, we declared that we had jointly decided to

establish diplomatic relations between our two

countries with a view to maintaining and supporting

mutual, deep and wide-ranging relations and interests

between our two fraternal peoples. We also agreed to

resume the work of the joint Lebanese-Syrian border

demarcation commission in accordance with

mechanisms and priorities to be agreed upon by the

two parties. The two countries also agreed to entrust to

their respective authorities the task of continuing to

work together to control their common borders, fight

smuggling, undertake the necessary measures to

promote trade, create the conditions for economic

integration and establish a common economic market.

Syria supports efforts aimed at guaranteeing the

Sudan’s unity and territorial integrity and promoting

peace and stability in that country. In that context, we

are completely opposed to the decision of the

Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and call

on the Security Council to suspend it with a view to

creating favourable conditions for pursuing the

initiative endorsed by the Council of Ministers of the

League of Arab States on 9 August 2008. The initiative

called for establishing an Arab ministerial committee

under the chairmanship of Qatar and entrusting it with

overseeing comprehensive peace talks between the

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Government of the Sudan and the armed groups in

Darfur. The committee would sponsor those

negotiations in cooperation and coordination with the

international mediator of the African Union and a

United Nations representative. It would also seek to

improve the humanitarian situation and to promote

development in Darfur.

Syria, a member of the committee, calls on all

States concerned and on the international community to

support the committee in its efforts to fulfil its

mandate. In that regard, Syria welcomes the

normalization of relations between the Sudan and Chad

as a positive contribution to the solution of the Darfur

question.

The Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear

Weapons (NPT) guarantees the right of all States to

possess nuclear technologies for peaceful purposes.

Much has been said about the Iranian nuclear issue,

with some advocating a diplomatic solution while

others promote the use of force. Meanwhile, Iran has

time and again stressed that it is solely dedicated to the

peaceful uses of nuclear power. Deep mistrust between

Iran and its interlocutors complicates matters and

prevents the stakeholders from reaching an

understanding. We seek a political understanding of the

Iranian nuclear issue. Any other option is not in the

interests of any of the stakeholders and will only inflict

catastrophic losses on the region and the world.

In that context, and in line with our principled

position, we call for declaring the Middle East a zone

free from all weapons of mass destruction. Similarly,

we recall the draft resolution that Syria submitted to

the Security Council on 29 October 2003. At the same

time, we stress the need to compel Israel to dismantle

the hundreds of nuclear warheads in its possession, to

submit its nuclear facilities to the safeguards regime of

the International Atomic Energy Agency and to accede

to the NPT.

The crisis that erupted in the Caucasus region

was an extremely ominous event. It is impossible to

ignore its dimensions and repercussions on

international relations. By now, we know who sowed

its seeds and are aware of the provocative acts

associated with it, prompting Russia to exercise the

option it chose. We appreciate Russia’s positive

response to the efforts of France in its capacity as

President of the European Union to arrive at a

settlement of the crisis that will guarantee regional

stability and spare the world a revival of the

international relations that prevailed in the past.

Much has been said about the war on terror. Years

after waging that war, some issues still prompt us to

ask: Is terrorism less widespread today than it was

before? Can we claim to have prevailed over that

extremely dangerous phenomenon? Accusing countries

of sponsoring terrorism for ulterior political motives is

a desperate attempt by those promoting those claims to

justify the failure of their approach.

The right approach requires us to address the root

causes of terrorism. How can we overcome terrorism if

we continue to conflate terrorism with the right of the

individual to live on his land, free from occupation or

threat of war and aggression? We call upon all States to

cooperate in the fight against terrorism. We particularly

stress the need to avoid confusing terrorism with

fundamental rights, because doing so gives terrorism

an opportunity to strike.

Experience demonstrates that unilaterally

dictating the world’s political agenda is wrong. The

wars and the financial and food crises raging

throughout the world today require us to work together

to address that malfunction by seeking to engage all

regional and international stakeholders through active

diplomacy and dialogue as the means to settle

controversial questions.

Closing the door to dialogue and imposing

isolation, unilateral sanctions and diktats have never

been successful tools in the exercise of sound

international relations. Contrary to claims made from

this very rostrum a couple of days ago, all attempts at

isolation are doomed to failure. Respect for the

principle of democracy in international relations that

takes into account the vision and interests of all States,

large and small, will contribute to the realization of

security and stability in the world and help it solve the

problems it faces.

The Charter of our international Organization, in

which States of different perspectives and interests

enjoy equal membership, has set forth formulas that

remain valid and could be used to build a world in

which justice reigns supreme, based on mutual

understanding — a world free from the threat of terror

and in which there is no place for inciting hatred

among cultures and religions. Promoting those values,

principles and objectives and using them as guidelines

for our work will serve the interests of peace and

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stability in the world and contribute to the good of

humanity at large.