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.