حزب الإصلاح السوري

Petition the U.N. to Establish an International Tribunal
for the Prosecution of Terrorists
 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 8, 2004 

Media Contact: media@reformsyria.com
(301) 346-5000

In cooperation with the liberal Arab website www.metransparent.com, the Reform Party of Syria joins the writers of a manifesto written by Arab liberals such as Al-'Afif Al-Akhdhar, Pierre Akl, and Dr. Jawad Hashem in which they petition the U.N. to establish an international tribunal which would prosecute terrorists, as well as people and institutions, primarily extreme religious clerics, that incite terrorism.
  
The idea to petition the U.N. with this request was raised by the Jordanian writer and researcher Dr. Shaker Al-Nabulsi in early September 2004, in response to the fatwa issued by Sheikh Yousef Al-Qaradhawi - one of the leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood movement and one of the most important religious authorities in Islamist circles - which called for the abduction and killing of U.S. citizens in Iraq.

During the first 24 hours since the manifesto was published on the Internet, it was signed by approximately 2,000 people worldwide, including intellectuals, authors, poets, and journalists. The authors of the manifesto hope that within a week the number of signatures will reach 10,000, at which point it will be presented to the U.N.

We encourage all of our supporters to log onto this link to sign the petition.

The US Mistrusts Syria's Intentions

Washington DC, November 8, 2004 /RPS News/ - The latest decision by Iraq and the US to close the Iraqi

 borders with Syria demonstrates the mistrust both countries have for Syria's Ba'athists even though the most recent diplomatic flurries indicate that Syria is complying with the wishes of a determined US administration.

The border was closed on Saturday when several marines delivered pamphlets on the border crossing of Abu Kamal without any warnings. This was preceded by a warning the Allawi government in Iraq delivered via the media to Syria and Iran on November 4 and in spite of a border agreement that Syria wants to sign with Iraq and the pledges Syria made publicly to help stop the insurgents from crossing into Iraq. Nonetheless, Iraq and the US do not trust Syria to deliver on its premises.

Journalists visiting the borders on Syria's side were exposed to the added border 24 hour security. Syria wants to demonstrate to the world that Syria is complying with the wishes of the Iraqi government. 

This mistrust comes from the fact that Iraqi perpetrators of violence residing in Syria, and who were close to Saddam Hussein, remain well funded and determined to continue supplying Fallujah with well armed insurgents.

According to well placed sources in Washington, Syria's support for Saddam Hussein's loyalists inside Syria remain strong and Syria has not mentioned, through its government-controlled press, of what Syria intends to do with the old Iraqi Ba'athists residing in Syria.

Syria is Desperate for Peace with Israel

Washington DC, November 8, 2004/RPS News/ -- According to Majed Abed al-Fatah, the official spokesman of the Egyptian government, Syrian foreign minister Farouq al-Shara'a told Egypt's Hosni Mubarak that Syria wants to conclude a peace treaty with Israel. This happens to be the fourth time that Syria extends its hand in peace to Israel ever since the Iraq war without any results.

Israel has withstood the overtures because Israel feels that Syria is trying, in the short term, to use a powerful card it holds to offset with it temporarily the international pressure that is bearing down on the Ba'athist regime in Damascus. In the long term, the Israelis feel that Syria is not really ready to conclude a peace treaty because the Syrian government is ill-equipped to handle the responsibility of real peace on many matters that either affect Israel directly or influences its security.

"How can we make peace with a state that teaches its children to hate us?" was the most common argument heard when RPS contacted a prominent Jewish community leader in Washington. "The country needs to fundamentally change before we provide them the comfort they seek".

Many Israelis have come to the conclusion that peace with any other Arab country must be accompanied by more than a ceremony and a signed peace of paper. Their experience with Egypt since they have signed the Camp David Accords has been one of caution and disappointment. The most voiced argument heard on this issue is that Israel wants to make peace with the citizenry of the country and not its authoritarian leadership run usually by a corrupt family whose future is unknown.

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