Der Spiegel has an interview with Syrian ambassador to Germany Mohammaed Walid Hezbor. Here are some excerpts:
Der Spiegel: The Israeli government has long regarded your country as offering refuge and support to radical Palestinian organizations. How do you respond to these charges?The two follow-up questions that I would have asked, but that Der Spiegel did not, were (a) "What part of international law says that murdering children on a schoolbus is a legitimate way to resolve a territorial dispute?" and (b) "On which date will Syria end its illegal occupation of Lebanon?"Hezbor: Israeli is occupying Palestinian, Syrian and Lebanese territory. International law gives every person, whose land is under occupation, the right to strive for the liberation of his land, and to resist and defeat the occupation. Israel can't continue the occupation and demand subordination from those who are affected.
Der Spiegel: Your President Bashar Assad just recently declared in an interview with a Lebanese newspaper that there will never be peace in the Middle East as long as there is an Israel. Is that a denial of Israel's right to exist?(Translation: The answer to Der Spiegel's proximate question would be "yes").Hezbor: Israel oppresses the people in the Palestinian territories and commits massacres there every day. It tries, by blowing up Palestinian houses and by expanding Israeli settlements, to consolidate its occupation. All of these practices are aimed against peace.
Der Spiegel: To repeat the question, do you reject Israel as a state, or only certain political currents within Israel?Whatever else the Syrians may or may not be offering, as long as they still trot out the thoroughly discredited blood libels such as the one about the "Jenin Massacre", then nothing they say should be believed.Hezbor: The Madrid Conference of 1991 established the principle of "Land for Peace". The Arab summit in Beirut in Spring 2002 concluded with an initiative in which the Arabs declared their full readiness for peace if Israel withdraws from the occupied Arab territories. Yet Israel rejects the implementation of the UN resolutions. It rejects withdrawal from the Arab territories and the Arab offers that say: full peace for full Israeli withdrawal. And what was Israel's answer to what the Arabs offered in Beirut? A massacre in Jenin that took the lives of hundreds of Palestinians
Our work won't necessarily be finished when Baby Doc Assad and his gang of thieves are sent to join Saddam and Osama, but it would be an important step toward cleaning up the neighborhood.
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at April 24, 2003 02:24 PMIt was also pointed out some months ago on another blog (no I do not remember) that all but one of the UN resolutions call for action by both Arafat's political entity of Palestine and Israel, that Israel has complied with some and offered to comply with others, with resounding silence or "Never!" from Arafat.
Posted by: John Anderson on April 25, 2003 02:40 AMDid they ask why Syria didn't recognize Israel from 1948-1967 when Israel didn't control the Territories?
Did they ask about how Syrians teach their kids that Jews drink the blood of non jews for Passover?
Did they ask about why they are occupying another country for over 25 years and robbing it blind?
Did they ask why the Arabs didn't take an offer of 95% of what they asked for, according to Faysal Husseini himself?
Did they ask why Hezbullah wasn't disbanded after Israel withdrew from Lebanon as promised?
Did they ask if the Syrian public has the ability to watch Satellite TV from Europe of the US for getting a different perspective on the world?
Are Syrians learning of the government's recognition of Israel and its existence on maps, newscasts and textbooks since he has hinted that if and when Israel withdraws from territory it is "occupying" that they will engage in full recognition of it?
Should the US and the rest of the West not recognize Syria since it has been occupying another country for over 25 years with over 40,000 troops? since the Arab world doesn't recognize Israel for over 54 years?
Posted by: Mike on April 26, 2003 07:55 PM