Syrian support of Hamas in its current confrontation with Israel is showing no sign of faltering, as Damascus made clear to a succession of high-level visitors, reports Bassel Oudat from Damascus Since the start of the Israeli attack on Gaza, top-level diplomats have been landing in Damascus one after another, all hoping to explore ways of ending the fighting. Damascus received them with the usual cordiality, but made it clear that it wants Hamas to stop the fighting only if it is granted better terms. Meanwhile, the Syrians want an Arab summit meeting to be held. They proposed the summit at a recent meeting of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo, and were immediately rebuffed. President Bashar Al-Assad made no secret of his disappointment. "Does it make sense that we attend an economic summit [in Kuwait] in two weeks but cannot get together to discuss a humanitarian, political, and military issue?" he said. Syria didn't even insist on holding the summit in Damascus. "After the experience of the Damascus summit, we proposed to hold the summit in the Qatari capital, Doha, because it is not a controversial venue and we're hoping that those who didn't show up in Damascus would turn up for this one." Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, and other Arab countries boycotted the Damascus summit in March 2008. Speaking at a joint press conference with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, Al-Assad reiterated his call for a summit. Syria, he said, "seeks to hold an Arab summit with any number of participants". Arab foreign ministers, playing it safely, decided to ask the UN Security Council for help. Again, the Syrians were dismayed. The decision to ask the UN, "which has no history of helping Arabs or Palestinians", is unacceptable, a Syrian source said. Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Al-Muallem said it was "short-sighted" to keep asking the UN for intervention. If any international party is truly interested in a solution, they should talk to Hamas and other Palestinian groups, the minister said, explaining that the UN is only interested in talking to governments, whereas Hamas "is not a government, but a resistance movement." President Al-Assad is unwavering in his defence of Hamas. Criticising the US branding of Hamas as a terrorist group, the Syrian president asked, "How can a group that was elected in a democratic manner be labelled terrorist?" To be on the safe side, however, he stated that his country's support of Hamas is "purely political". However, the Syrian president warned that the current confrontation in Gaza is likely to increase extremism in the region. While urging new terms for a plan to calm the current situation, Al-Assad called on the new US administration to "give a serious push to the peace process." Syria has suspended indirect talks with Israel, which started in April 2008, over Gaza. The talks, of which four rounds have been held, had already come to a halt pending replacement of Israel's chief negotiator, who recently resigned. But the Syrians made it very clear that there was no way they could have gone on with the talks while Israel is carrying out an offensive against the Palestinians. One of the terms of the talks, Syrian sources said, was that Israel would refrain from military operations against the Palestinians. "We want the Golan back, but what is happening in Gaza deserves a cessation of talks, for it shows that Israel is not interested in peace," the Syrian foreign minister said. Syria is not, however, losing its head over Gaza. When some people called on Damascus to take military action against Israel, the reaction was dismissive. "Waging wars is a weighty matter that calls for preparation and transcends rhetoric. Israel may just be waiting for us to do just that. But we're ready to defend ourselves," a Syrian official source said. President Al-Assad called UN Secretary-General Ban Ki- Moon twice to discuss possible UN action to get Israel to stop the offensive, lift the siege, and open the crossing points. Two Iranian officials also visited Syria. Said Jalili, Iran's secretary of the Supreme National Security Council, and Ali Larijani, Iranian parliamentary speaker, met Syrian officials as well as Damascus-based Palestinian leaders to discuss Gaza. Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, the EU's Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana, and Russian Presidential Envoy Deputy Foreign Minister Alexander Saltanov all visited Damascus for Gaza-related discussions. Even French President Sarkozy paid a short visit to Damascus, his second in four months. Sarkozy lauded Syria's willingness to help, hinting that Damascus may be able to persuade Hamas to accept a ceasefire deal. Syrian officials, while pleased with the French attention, said they would rather let the resistance make up its own mind. According to Palestinian sources, the Syrians were hoping to mediate between President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas, but the Palestinian Authority made no request for such mediation. Syrian officials believe that the events in Gaza are likely to propel the Arab and Islamic public into a more militant mood about Israel. In Damascus, Syrian officials made no secret of their relief when Hamas dismissed UN Security Council Resolution 1860. The defiance of Hamas, the Syrians believe, is validating their own hardline rhetoric. Syria is hoping that Israel would meet the same fate in Gaza it met in Lebanon in 2006. Should this happen the regional stature of Hamas would grow, and nothing could please Damascus more.
