Syrian Ambassador Speaks at CPAP

By Rob Swanson

According to Syrian Ambassador to the United States Walid Al-Moualem, Israel is not ready for peace. By expanding settlements, occupying all of Jerusalem, most of the West Bank, south Lebanon and the Golan Heights, Israel has provided “tangible proofs” that it is not interested in a “comprehensive peace,” Al-Moualem told an audience at the Center for Policy Analysis on Palestine in Washington, D.C. on Feb. 3, 1999.

“If we look today at the prospects for the future, we see they are more gloomy than they were eight years ago,” Al-Moualem said, referring to the period of the Madrid peace conference in 1991.

But for the long term, Al-Moualem is more optimistic. “I think we can achieve peace for our younger generation,” he said. “Peace has to prevail for the prosperity of the whole region.”

Turning to means for achieving a settlement, “There is a very simple equation for peace,” the Syrian envoy said. “The Arab land has to return to its owners.”

Although Syria and Iraq have had long-standing political differences and were on opposite sides during the Iraq-Iran war and the Gulf war, Ambassador Al-Moualem said his country opposes the present U.N. sanctions against Iraq. “We are for the lifting of sanctions according to the Security Council’s timetable,” he said. “We are for the territorial integrity of Iraq from the north to the south.”

Al-Moualem also addressed Syria’s regional role, especially with respect to neighboring Turkey, “We have a strong interest in having good relations with Turkey, and currently have a joint security committee working on the security of our border with them,” he noted. Concerning the sensitive topic of Kurdish minorities in Syria as well as in Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Armenia, Al-Moualem made it clear that the Kurds in Syria enjoy the same rights as any other Syrians.

On the issue of the more than 500,000 Palestinan refugees in Syria, Al-Moualem noted, “We are treating them equally with Syrians, and we hope that they will be given the right to return home.”

When asked about the status of democracy and succession in the Arab world, Ambassador Al-Moualem took the opportunity to defend the recent referendum in which a reported 98.8 percent of Syrian voters approved a fifth seven-year term for President Hafez Al-Assad. “Even if Assad did not want to be president, we [Syrians] would oblige him to be president,” the envoy said. “Assad brought stability and prosperity to us; he fills a need for Syria.”

Throughout his speech, Ambassador Al-Moualem kept returning to Syria’s regional concern—a just and lasting peace with Israel.

“I am still hopeful that the Israelis will see that peace is in their interest and is good for them and their future generations, and that they will have the political will to pursue a comprehensive peace,” Al-Moualem concluded. “If they feel that this is in their interest, they must take the initiative, and when this happens, they will find us ready.”