News Round UP (Nov 8, 2005)

Kamal Labwani was arrested at the Damascus airport yesterday when he flew back from Washington where he had met with senior American officials and asked for US support for the Syrian opposition. It was covered on al-Arabiyya.

U.N. Seeks to Question 6 Syrians in Killing of Lebanese Ex-Leader
By KATHERINE ZOEPF
Published: November 8, 2005

DAMASCUS, Syria, Nov. 7 - A United Nations team investigating the assassination of Rafik Hariri, the former prime minister of Lebanon, has formally requested that six Syrian officials travel to Lebanon for questioning, Syrian officials confirmed Monday.

Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor leading the investigation, sent the request last week in a letter to the United Nations secretary general, Kofi Annan. The Syrian Foreign Ministry confirmed Monday that it had received the demand through the United Nations in New York, but it made no immediate comment about whether Syria would comply.

The names of the six officials have not been released.

But the list is believed to include Asef Shawkat, the brother-in-law of President Bashar al-Assad and chief of military intelligence, who was identified as a prime suspect in a preliminary report on Mr. Hariri's death.

Syria has repeatedly said it would cooperate with the investigation. But Mr. Mehlis's request that the officials travel to Lebanon poses a serious problem for the government.

There are fears, for example, that the officials could be arrested on foreign soil. While Mr. Mehlis does not have the authority to issue arrest warrants, he can recommend that the Lebanese police do so. It was on his recommendation, in September, that the Lebanese authorities arrested four generals with ties to Syria in connection with Mr. Hariri's death.

Ibrahim Hamidi, the Damascus correspondent for the pan-Arab newspaper Al Hayat, which first reported on the letter on Monday, said in an interview that the demand was causing anxiety in Syrian political circles.

"At the very least, they will want a guarantee from Mehlis that these men won't be arrested," Mr. Hamidi said, adding that in addition to Mr. Shawkat, the list of six is believed to include Rustom Ghazaleh, director of Syrian military intelligence in Lebanon at the time of the Hariri assassination, and Bahjat Suleiman, a former chief of internal intelligence.

Syria had previously offered Mr. Mehlis the opportunity to select sites in Syria at which to interview officials under a United Nations flag. Parliament also ratified a presidential decree for Syria to conduct its own investigation into the killing.

Georges Jabbour, a member of Parliament, said the United Nations investigators should accept Syria's offer to allow them to conduct the interviews in Syria. But he said he did not believe the Syrian government would ultimately refuse the request to transfer officials to Lebanon, "provided Mr. Mehlis behaves in a collaborative and gentlemanly fashion."

Joshua Landis, an American historian of Syria who is spending the year in Damascus on a Fulbright research fellowship, said the establishment of an independent Syrian investigation represented a partial attempt to regain control of a process that, in Syrian eyes, is rapidly spiraling out of control.
[end]

Sharon: Israel Will Not Return the Golan By Amihai Zippor: Nov. 8, 2005 - infoIsrael

(IHC News, 08 November 2005) Prime Minister Ariel Sharon declared Israel will never relinquish the Golan Heights in a peace agreement with Syria. His statements came at the latest meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee.

“Discussions on the possibility of withdrawal from the Golan Heights in the past constituted a grave mistake,” he said. He added he has no intention of negotiating a treaty with Syria if it means giving up the Golan.

Likud Minister Yuval Steinitz described Sharon as being very adamant on this issue. “I will not negotiate with Syria,” Steinitz quoted Sharon, “because I will never leave that area.”

Also see the story in Haaretz with Syrian Min of Interior Dakhlallah's response: "Syria: Israel using pressure on Damascus to reject peace talks."

Sharaa briefs Syrian cabinet on latest political developments

DAMASCUS, Nov 8 (KUNA) -- Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk Al-Sharaa on Tuesday briefed the Syrian cabinet about the impact on his country of the latest local and regional developments.

Speaking during a cabinet meeting, which was headed by Syrian Prime Minister Naji Otri, Sharaa said that Damascus was "ready to fully cooperate" with a UN-backed investigation committee into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Al-Hariri.

In a related development, Syria re-iterated its right to liberate the Golan Heights from Israeli occupation.

Meanwhile, Syria dismissed on Tuesday Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's latest statement in which he said that his country would not enter into a peace dialogue with Syria.

President Bashar snubbed byForeign Secretary Jack Straw who said after a meeting of EU foreign ministers in Brussels on Monday that the bloc had invited Foreign Minister Farouq al-Shara instead of Assad. Britain is the president of the current EU session.

Amr Moussa arrived last night in Damascus for talks with the government aimed at clarifying Syria and other Arab nations' response to the UN Security Council's Resolution 1636. Moussa will hold meetings in Damascus with top figures from the regime, including Syria's president, Bashar al-Assad, and its foreign minister, Farouk al-Sharaa. Moussa is expected to relay the outcome of his talks earlier in Cairo earlier this week with UN secretary general Kofi Annan, and to discuss how the Arab League may be able to intervene and prevent serious political fall-out for Syria and the entire region.

Syria keen on full cooperation with UN probe
Syrian Foreign Minister Farouk al- Shara said on Monday that Syria is willing to cooperate fully with the UN probe into the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, the official SANA news agency reported.

"Syria is keen on cooperating fully with the international investigation committee and installing the appropriate mechanisms to do so," Shara said in a political report at the meeting of the central leadership of the National Progressive Front.

"Syria is concerned in achieving stability in the region and shows cooperation in all the proposed issues," he added.

US limits contact with Syrian leader
Frustration grows over border control
By Farah Stockman and Thanassis Cambanis, Boston Globe November 8, 2005

WASHINGTON -- The United States has cut off nearly all contact with the Syrian government as the Bush administration steps up a campaign to weaken and isolate President Bashar al-Assad's regime, according to US and Syrian officials.

The United States has halted high-level diplomatic meetings, limited military coordination on Syria's border with Iraq, and ended dialogue with Syria's Finance Ministry on amending its banking laws to block terrorist financing. In recent months, as distrust between the two countries widened, the United States also declined a proposal from Syria to revive intelligence cooperation with Syria, according to Syria's ambassador to the United States, Imad Moustapha, and a US official.

The new era of hostility flows from American frustration at what it considers Syria's failure to effectively control its border with Iraq and continued support for radical Palestinian groups that threaten the chances of peace in Israel.

The US-Syrian confrontation has sharpened just as Syria is also facing pressure from many Arab and European governments -- as well as the United States -- over Syria's suspected role in the assassination of the former prime minister of Lebanon, Rafik Hariri.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Oct. 31 that ''the Syrian government needs to make a strategic decision to fundamentally change its behavior" or risk becoming an international pariah.

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW: Farid Ghadry, Head of Syrian Reform Party
Manuela Paraipan - 11/6/2005