DAMASCUS, (SANA)-
President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday delivered a speech at the Opera
House in Damascus in which he touched upon the latest developments in
Syria and the region.
The following in the full text of President al-Assad's speech:
Mr. Primer, Ministers,
Heads and members of the leaderships of popular organizations and trade unions,
Sisters and brothers,
Today
I look at your faces and the faces of the people of our country as they
are covered with sorrow and pain. I look into the eyes of Syria's
children and I don't see an innocent laugh shinning, nor do I see toys
that draw a smile on their faces. I watch the hands of elderly people
and see them open to prayer for the safety of a son, a daughter or a
grandson.
We meet today with suffering
prevailing over Syria's land leaving no room for joy in any corner of
the homeland. Safety and security have been absent from the country's
streets and alleys.
We meet today and there
are mothers who lost their sons, families who lost their breadwinners,
children who became orphans and brothers who have been parted from each
other, being martyred, displaced or missing.
If
pain is pervading like a dark cloud over the country, the emotional
state, though sublime, is not enough to compensate for the loss of the
loved ones or the restoration of security and peace to the country or
for providing bread, water, fuel and medicine nationwide.
Out
of the womb of pain, hope should be begotten and from the depth of
suffering the most important solutions rise. As the dark cloud in the
sky conceals sunlight, it also carries in its layers rain, purity and
hope of welfare and giving.
These feelings
of agony, sadness, challenge and determination constitute a huge energy
that will not get Syria out of its crisis unless it turns this energy
into a comprehensive national dynamic that saves the homeland from a
campaign, unprecedented in the history of the region, targeting it. This
national dynamic is the only balm for the deep wounds which affected
our society and were about to divide it as it is the only way that is
able to preserve Syria geographically and make it stronger politically.
Each citizen is responsible and able to provide
something even if it is simple or limited in his/her view, because the
homeland is for everyone; we all defend it, each according to his/her
capacity and capability, because ideas are forms of defense, stances are
forms of defense, construction is a form of defense and protecting
people's properties is a form of defense.
Since
the attack is launched against the homeland with all its human and
material constituents, the mindful citizen has certainly known that
passivity, waiting for time or others to solve the problem is a sort of
pushing the country towards the abyss, and not contributing solutions is
a kind of taking the homeland backwards with no progress towards
overcoming what the homeland is going through.
Because
many have fallen into the trap of what has been cast as a conflict
between a government and an opposition, i.e. a conflict over office and
power, they have kept at a distance and remained silent and neutral.
Consequently, it is our duty all to readjust our vision in the direction
of the homeland. The conflict is one between the homeland and its
enemies, between the people and killers, between the citizens' bread,
water and warmth on the one hand and those who are depriving them of
them all on the other, between a state of safety that we used to pride
ourselves on, and spreading fear and panic in people’s lives.
They
have killed civilians and the innocent in order to kill light and
brightness in our country. They have assassinated qualified and
distinguished people in order to spread their ignorance over our minds.
They have sabotaged the infrastructure built with the people's money to
make suffering pervade into our lives. They deprived children of their
schools to devastate the future of the country and express their
ignorance. They cut off power supplies, communication lines and fuel
supplies, leaving the elderly and children suffering from the cold
weather without medicine in confirmation of their savagery. They
destroyed wheat silos and robbed the wheat and flour stocks, to make a
loaf of bread like a dream for citizens and to starve people. So, is
this a conflict for power and office or is it a conflict between the
homeland and its enemies? Is it a struggle for power, or is it revenge
against the Syrian people who did not give those terrorist killers the
key word for dismembering Syria and its society. They are the enemies of
the people; and the enemies of the people are the enemies of God; and
the enemies of God will be burnt by hellfire on the day of judgment.
At the beginning they wanted it a fake revolution but
the Syrian people rebelled against them; then they tried to impose it
secretly through money, the media and arms; and when they failed, they
moved to the second phase through dropping the masks of a "peaceful
revolution" and unveiled the cover of the weapons they were using
secretly to use them openly, starting their attempts to occupy certain
cities in order to attack other cities. Their brutality didn't
intimidate our people, thanks to their awareness and steadfastness; so
our people rejected them and unveiled their lies. Therefore they decided
to take revenge on the people through spreading terrorism
indiscriminately everywhere.
They call it a
revolution, but in fact it has nothing to do with revolutions. A
revolution needs thinkers. A revolution is built on thought. Where are
their thinkers? A revolution needs leaders. Who is its leader?
Revolutions are built on science and thought not on ignorance, on
pushing the country ahead not taking it centuries back, on spreading
light not cutting power lines. A revolution is usually done by the
people not by importing foreigners to rebel against the people. A
revolution is in the interest of people not against the interests of
people. Is this a revolution? Are those revolutionaries? They are a
bunch of criminals.
Takfiris were working
at the back rows through bombings and mass killing, leaving the armed
gangs at the front line, but the unity of the Syrian people and army
forced them to move to fighting at the front lines where they led the
rudder of a ship of blood, killing and mutilation. Because takfiri
thought is alien to our country, they had to import it from abroad,
whether through terrorists or thought. Thus, takfiris, terrorists,
al-Qaeda members calling themselves Jihadis streamed from everywhere to
command the combat operations on the ground. The gunmen, having failed,
retreated to the backlines as aides in acts of kidnapping, pillaging and
sabotage, as servants, and at best, guides who spy on their fellow
citizens to serve criminals takfiris who only speak the language of
slaughtering and mangling.
We are fighting those, most of whom are non-Syrians,
who came for twisted concepts and fake terms they call Jihad, but
nothing can be farther from Jihad and Islam. Most of them are terrorists
instilled with al-Qaeda thought, and I believe that most of you know
how this kind of terrorism was fostered three decades ago in Afghanistan
by the West and with Arabs' money. After the mission of these
terrorists ended with the disintegration of the Soviet Union and its
departure from Afghanistan, terrorism broke loose and started hitting
everywhere in the Arab world, the Islamic world and then moved to the
West. They tried to get rid of it through Afghanistan War and in the
aftermath of Iraq's War, but this terrorism was unyielding and
pervasive, and started to infiltrate Western societies. So, the events
in the Arab world, especially in Syria, presented the Western powers
with an opportunity to transfer as many terrorists as possible to Syria
to turn it into the land of Jihad, hence dispensing with two troublesome
rivals at the same time through getting rid of the terrorists and
weakening Syria which is a nuisance for the West.
An
organization specialized in terrorism issued a month or so ago a report
on the decrease in terrorist acts in general, especially in the Middle
and East Asia, which is true, because most of the terrorists came to
Syria from these countries and some even come from the Western
countries. Those terrorists' infiltration into any society is a security
threat, but it is possible to vanquish them when we have the will to do
so. The most dangerous still is a social and intellectual infiltration.
When this kind of thought infiltrates into a society, it becomes
deformed unless this issue is seriously tackled regardless of the crisis
in Syria. We have to be above differences. Otherwise, we would bequeath
blood to our sons and grandsons. Syria, as we know it, won't be there,
not necessarily geographically speaking, but Syria as a society, because
this thought incites sedition and destroys geography and the political
meaning of any society which it invades. This is a great responsibility,
and we have to unite in order to shoulder it.
The crisis has other dimensions, not only internal ones as it became clear to
all
who want to see. Regionally, there are parties who seek to divide
Syria, others to weaken it, and some parties are providing the criminals
with funds and weapons, while others are providing them with support
and training. We were not surprised at what some neighboring countries
have done to weaken and control the Syrian people, and the countries who
sought a place in a history they don't have, writing it instead with
the blood of innocent Syrians, but Syria and the Syrian people are
strong, and they vow that they will not forget.
Syria has always been, and will remain, a free and
sovereign country that won't accept submission and tutelage. That is why
it has been a nuisance for the West, so they sought to take advantage
of internal events to drive Syria out of the political equation in the
region to get rid of this irksome problem and to strike at the culture
of resistance and turn us into subordinates. But the West is not the
entire international community, as there are world countries, namely
Russia, China and the BRICS countries, and many other countries which
won't agree to meddling in the internal affairs of countries and
destabilizing the region based on their principles, interests and care
for the people's freedom in determining their destiny. To those
countries I extend my thanks, namely to Russia, China and Iran, and to
all those who stood by the Syrian people to determine their own destiny.
In light of this, there cannot be talk
about a solution unless we take into consideration these factors: the
internal, the regional and the international. Any measure that does not
change these factors is not a real solution and has no impact. Let's
start with the internal front: if some tended to see the disagreement in
the beginning as one between loyalists and the opposition, this
disagreement in a civilized world should be over the way to build the
homeland not destroy it, over developing it rather than taking it
decades back. When part of the people becomes tied to foreign powers,
the conflict becomes between the homeland and outside powers, between
the country's independence and hegemony over it, between staying free
being politically occupied; and hence the issue becomes defending the
homeland and all of us unify against the outside aggression which is
aided by some internal tools.
So, when we say external opposition or any such words we don't mean the place
where
these people live; rather we mean the place where they set their hearts
and minds, their affiliation and bondage, and most importantly their
funding. This is what we mean by outside, whether they live inside or
outside, as there are people living outside but they defend their
country.
It is not a matter of loyalists
against opposition, nor an army vis-à-vis gangs and criminals. We are in
a state of war in the full sense of the word. We are repelling a fierce
outside aggression in a new disguise, which is more lethal and
dangerous than a traditional war, because they do not employ their tools
to strike us; instead, they have us implement their projects, and
target Syria using a bunch of Syrians and a lot of foreigners.
Such war is confronted through defending the homeland
in parallel with a reform that is necessary to all of us, which may not
change the reality of war, yet it strengthens us and reinforces our
unity in the face of the war. Some may believe that herein lies the
solution or that reforms will solve the problem, which is not true.
Reforms is an influential factor but it is not all the solution.
Reform
without security is like security without reform. Neither will be
successful without the other. Those who keep parroting that Syria has
opted for a security solution do not see or hear. We have repeatedly
said that reforms and politics go in one hand and eliminating terrorism
in the other.
And to those who twist facts
we say: when someone is attacked and he defends himself, do we say that
he defended himself or he chose the security solution? Why when a state
defends its people and when people defend their homeland, they say that
they have opted for the security solution?
Defending
the homeland is a duty that isn't up for discussion and is a legal,
constitutional and religious duty and is the only choice. The security
solution is no choice. Here there is one choice, which is self-defense.
If we chose the political solution and sought it since the first days,
this doesn't mean not to defend ourselves, and if we chose the political
solution since the first days, this means that we need a partner that
is capable and willing to move in a political process and enter a
dialogue process on the national level. If we chose the political
solution and didn't see a partner, that doesn't mean that we didn't
desire one; this means that we didn't see a partner during the past
stage. To be clearer, for instance, if someone wants to get married and
sought a partner but didn't find someone to desire and accept them, this
doesn't mean that he doesn't want to be married. Therefore, any
proposition that the state in Syria chose the security solution is
incorrect and wasn't proposed at any time; and no state official
announced that we chose the security solution.
When
you're under attack and you defend yourself, it's called self-defense,
not choosing a security solution. We didn't choose war; war was imposed
on Syria, and when the state defends the people and we defend ourselves,
no reasonable person can call that choosing a security solution.
Defending the homeland is a duty and an only choice, ad accepting the
political solution doesn't mean not defending ourselves, but also
accepting the political solutions means the existence of a political
partner that is capable of dialogue and willing to engage in it.
We
never rejected the political solution as we have adopted it since day
one based on dialogue as its main pillar as we lend our hands to those
who have a national political project that moves Syria forward. But who
do we conduct dialogue with? With those who are carrying extremist
thinking, and do not believe except in blood, killing and terrorism.
Should
we conduct dialogue with gangs that receive their orders from abroad
and follow a foreigner who orders them to reject dialogue because it
believes that dialogue will foil his schemes aiming at weakening and
undermining Syria?
The leaders of some regional countries know that if
Syria came out of the crisis, it will undermine their political future
after they were involved and drowned their peoples with lies, spent
their countries' potentials in supporting terrorism and involved in the
bloodshed and the killing of the innocent.
As
for the west, the descendant of colonialism and owner of the first seal
in the policy of division and despicable sectarian strife, it is the
one who closed the door of dialogue not us, because it's used to giving
orders to the submissive, and we're used to sovereignty, independence
and freedom of decision, because it's addicted to hirelings and the
subjugated and because we're raised on dignity and pride, and so shall
we remain. So, how can it hold dialogue with us, and why would it hold
dialogue with is? Therefore, those who talk about the political solution
only and ignore these facts are either ignorant of the facts or are
weak. They delivers their country and the people of the country as a
tender morsel to criminals and those who stand behind them, selling
their people and the blood of their martyrs for free, which we will not
allow.
Some speak of the political solution
only, and some speak of combating terrorism only, and this discourse is
imprecise, as the solution should be comprehensive and must contain
several axes: the political axis, combating terrorism, and the third
axis that is very important which is the social solution. We have
examples in Homs and Daraa in particular where the situation improved
significantly because of this social solution, as patriotic people with a
patriotic sense and national affiliation and morals made initiatives
between the state and some of those who were misled among gunmen and
terrorists, producing very important results in reality. These people
don't belong to parties nor do they have a political program; they only
have national affiliation; and this type of initiative is very
important, particularly since any crisis in any country, even if it were
a normal crime, will exacerbate; therefore, we must always return to
the social roots.
I salute those who made
national achievements, each according to his/her capability. I know some
of those and met with them directly and there are some others whom I
heard of. There are unknown soldiers to whom we extend greetings and say
that we count a lot on their initiatives.
It might seem from all we have went through that there
is no one for us to have dialogue with, but this is incorrect. We will
always extend our hands for dialogue. We will have dialogue with all
those who don't agree with us in politics and who have stances contrary
to ours providing that those stances are not based on affecting the
national principles and basics.
We will
have dialogue with parties and individuals who did not sell the homeland
to strangers, and with those who dropped weapons to have the genuine
Arab Syrian blood running back in their veins. We will be real honest
partners with every honest patriotic citizen who works for Syria's
interest and for its security and stability.
Accordingly
and out of our firm principles, on top being the sovereignty of the
state and the independence of its decision, and based on the principles
and goals of the UN Charter and the international law which all stress
on the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of countries
and non-interference in their internal affairs, and out of our belief in
the necessity of having a Syrian-led dialogue among the people of Syria
and restoring the atmosphere of security and stability, the political
solution in Syria will be as follows:
Stage 1:
First:
the concerned regional and international countries commit themselves to
putting an end to funding, arming and harboring armed elements. On
parallel, armed elements stop their terrorist operations, which will
facilitate the return of displaced Syrians to their original residential
places safely.
Immediately afterwards, the
Armed Forces halt the military operations but preserve the right to
respond in case the homeland, citizens and public and private facilities
came under any attack.
Second: Finding a
mechanism to make sure that all are committed to the aforementioned
item, particularly with regard to border control.
Third:
The current government immediately starts making intensive contacts
with all the spectrums of the Syrian society with all its parties and
bodies to conduct open discussion to pave the way for holding a national
dialogue conference in which all the forces seeking a solution in Syria
take part, whether they are inside or outside the country.
Stage 2:
First: The
current government calls for holding a comprehensive national dialogue
conference to reach a national pact that adheres to Syria's sovereignty,
unity and territorial integrity as well as to rejecting interference in
its affairs and discarding terrorism and violence in all its forms.
The
government's call upon the parties and the spectrums of the society is
aimed at setting the criteria for this conference which is to be held
later.
As for the pact, it will draw the
political future for Syria and propose the constitutional and judicial
system and the political and economic features, as it will also include
agreement on new laws for the parties, elections and local
administration, etc.
Second: The pact will be put to referendum.
Third:
An expanded government will be formed to represent the components of
Syrian society, which will be assigned with implementing the provisions
of the national pact.
Fourth: The new
constitution will be put to referendum, and after it is approved the
expanded government will adopt the laws agreed on at the dialogue
conference according the new constitution, including the elections law.
Afterwards, new parliamentary elections are held.
We
may put the word 'if' as far as everything related to the constitution
and laws is concerned because everything will be contingent on reaching
agreement regarding the contribution and laws in the dialogue
conference, which will be then presented by the government once they are
agreed on.
Stage 3:
First: A new government will be formed according to the constitution existing at the time.
Second:
A general conference for national reconciliation will be held and a
general amnesty will be granted to those detained due to the events
while preserving the civil rights of plaintiffs.
Third: Working on infrastructure rehabilitation and reconstruction and giving and compensating those affected by the events.
As
for the amnesty, the civil rights of the complainants will be preserved
as the state can waive its right but has no right to waive the rights
of the plaintiffs.
I believe though that
when we have reached that stage, it will be an amnesty granted not only
by the state but also by those who have rights. Then we will have
practically reached the national reconciliation when everybody would
forgive everybody else.
These main features
of the political solution as we view it are only titles that need
details. The government will be in charge of this issue as it will be
tasked with drawing out the details and expanding on these titles so as
to later present this vision in the form of an initiative in the coming
few days and follow up on all these stages according to the
aforementioned items.
Let us put each issue
in its context, since we are living now in an age of falsification and
misinterpretation. It's not us who are interpreting things, but this is
the general case, that is to interpret things contrary to their
meanings. Therefore, let us place things in their context and correct
the ideas and terms being proposed.
First,
regarding this vision, some will be worried and feel concerned,
considering it a step backwards in terms of security, but I reassure
everyone that when it comes to combating terrorism, we will not stop as
long as there is a single terrorist in Syria. What we started, we won’t
stop. Anything we do in this initiative doesn't mean at all that we will
neglect combating terrorism; to the contrary, the more we make progress
in combating terrorism, the more there's a chance for the success of
this vision.
Second, this vision, whether
they want to call it an initiative or a vision or ideas, is directed to
all those who want dialogue and all those who want to see a political
solution in the near future in Syria. It isn't directed to those who
don't want dialogue and thus we’ll hear as of today much rejection by
parties you know well, and we tell them in advance: why reject something
that isn't addressed to you in the first place. So they don't need to
waste their time.
Third, any initiative
proposed by any party, figure or country must be based on the Syrian
vision; meaning that no initiative can replace what we view as a
solution to the crisis in Syria. In clearer language, any initiative is
an initiative to help what the Syrians will do and doesn't replace that.
After posing the ideas by the government, any initiative that comes
from abroad must be based on these ideas and assist them. There's no
need to waste our time and others' time with initiatives that deviate
from this context.
At the same time, if we
wonder how foreign initiatives can help us, there are two axes: the
political work axis, and the counter-terrorism axis. In the first axis,
we don't need help, and we as Syrians are capable of carrying out an
integrated political process, and those who want to help Syria in a
practical actual and honest manner and want to succeed can focus on the
issue of stopping the entry of gunmen, weapons and funds to Syria. This
is a message to everyone working from abroad to know where to focus. We
don't want someone to come to Syria and tell us what to do in a
political process. A country that is thousands of years old knows how to
manage its affairs.
The fourth point,
supporting helpful foreign initiatives doesn't mean in any way accepting
its interpretation if it doesn't match our vision. We don't accept any
interpretation of these initiatives except in a manner that serves
Syrian interest. In this framework I'm talking about the Geneva
initiative which Syria supported but had an ambiguous article which is
the transitional stage article.
Of course,
it isn't explained for a simple reason, because when we speak of a
transitional stage then the first thing we ask is transition from where
to where, or from what to what. Is it a transition from a free,
independent country to a country under occupation, for example? Do we
make a transition from a country that has a state to a country without a
state and a state of utter chaos? Or do we make a transition from
independent national decision to handing this decision to foreigners?
Of
course, opponents want all three together, and for us in such
circumstances, a transitional stage is transition from instability to
stability, and any other interpretation doesn't concern us. In other
situations if there hadn't been a crisis, a natural transition would be
from a state to a better state. This comes in the context of the
development process, and any transition in terms of any transitional
stage must be through constitutional means. For us, what we're doing
now, these ideas; for us this is the transitional stage.
Fifth,
any initiative we accepted, we did so because it is based on the
principle of sovereignty and the people's decision. Indeed, the
initiatives that were proposed and we dealt with, focus on this point
from the beginning. Therefore, things agreed upon within Syria or
outside it must be by the people's decision. Thus, even the national
pact which could be approved by the national dialogue conference will
not pass without a referendum. This means that there must be a popular
referendum on anything, particularly in these difficult conditions. We
told everyone we met that anything or any idea that comes from outside
or inside my pass through popular referendum, not through the president,
government, dialogue or any other thing.
This
constitutes a type of guarantee to always take steps that actually
express popular consensus and national interest. If we understand these
simple and clear words, then all those who come to Syria and leave it
know that Syria accepts advice but doesn't accept dictations and accepts
help but doesn’t' accept tyranny.
Based on
all that, all you could have heard or did hear in the past of terms,
ideas, opinions, initiatives and statements via the media and from
officials don't concern us if they're terms of a "spring" origin. They
are soap bubbles as the "spring" is but a soap bubble which will
disappear.
Any interpretation of any issue that deviates from Syrian
sovereignty for us is but mere dreams. They have the right to dream and
they can live in their dreaming fantasy world, but they can't make us
live in their realistic world, and we won't make any initiative or
action except based on Syrian reality and on the interest and desire of
the people.
Sisters and brothers,
The
homeland is above all, and Syria is above all. We can strengthen Syria
through political initiatives and defending every single grain of its
soil. Syrians abound with forgiveness and tolerance, but pride and
patriotism run in their veins. The majority of people have risen against
terrorism. Some have helped through providing the competent authorities
with valuable information which enabled them to abort terrorist attacks
against citizens. Others have risen against terrorists and deprived
them of a support base, whether through defending their areas or even
taking to the streets in protest against gunmen, many even fell martyr
while doing so, and others have defended the cities, districts and
infrastructure hand in hand with the armed forces.
I
will mention one example of a small village in the farthest north of
Syria in al-Hasaka province named Raas al-Ein where the valiant young
men of this village, which lies directly on the Turkish border,
confronted over several days repeated terrorist attacks and were able to
force out the terrorists who came from Turkey. So, we give our salute
to this village.
There are others who
argued, convinced, forgave and were forgiven through national
reconciliation initiatives on the local level, which blocked the road
before the terrorists and shifted the general situation from escalation
to calm.
Those citizens have demonstrated
deep awareness. The aspired-to security does not come through
fence-sitting, watching, escaping or groveling to the outside. If we are
not fine in our country, we won't be so anywhere outside it. The
homeland is not for those who dwell in it, but for those who defend it.
The homeland is not for those who enjoyed its blessings and shade but
were not there when it called for them.
The
homeland is for those who rose from all walks of life and affiliations
when their homeland needed them, even though they were wronged at times.
This is the time for giving and their giving has been without bounds.
Some were honored with martyrdom, and their blood had punctured the fake
'Spring' and shielded the people from deceit that was about to bear
fruit in the beginning. Their blood has punctured what the West falsely
dubbed Spring, but was a vindictive fire that sought to torch whatever
came its way through an abominable sectarianism, blind hatred and
loathsome partitioning. It was a Spring only for those who planned it
and tried to make it a reality, which is now collapsing.
The
blood of martyrs protected and will protect the homeland and the
region, and will protect our territorial integrity and reinforce accord
among us, while at the same time purify our society of disloyalty and
treason, and keep us from moral, human and cultural downfall, which is
the strongest victory. When the homeland triumphs, it does not forget
those who sacrificed for its sake.
I'd like
to extend my salutation to those who deserve it most: the Syrian Arab
army who are shedding blood and sweat for Syria which they see
uppermost. Greetings to our armed forces who are fighting the fiercest
of wars and are determined to restore security and stability to the
homeland through uprooting terrorism.
The
armed forces have wrote down the epics of heroism thanks to their
cohesion, steadfastness and national unity which reflected those of the
people, thus doing citizens proud and keeping them safe. Glory to every
soldier who is completing the mission of his colleagues who passed away.
I salute every single citizen who did his
national duty through standing by the armed forces, each from his
position. Those are the pride of Syria whose names will go down in
history, for they are writing history with their blood and valor.
Sisters and brothers,
I
know as you all know that what the homeland is going through is painful
and difficult, and I feel the pain which is felt by most of the Syrian
people over the loss of loved ones and the martyrdom of sons and
relatives as the fire of the grudge has reached everyone, the pure
coffins of the martyrs have entered the houses of many and I am one of
them because I come from the people and will remain so. Offices of state
and government are transient but the homeland is everlasting. The tears
of bereaved mothers will refresh the pure souls of their departed loved
ones and burn the criminals, who stole the laugh of our children and
here they are trying to steal their future in a safe, strong and stable
country.
Syria will remain as it is and
will return, God willing, stronger. There is no ceding rights or giving
in on principles. Those who placed their bets on weakening Syria so that
it might forget the Golan and its occupied lands are mistaken. The
Golan is ours and Palestine is our cause for which we offered every
precious thing, blood and martyrs. We will remain the supporters of
resistance against the one enemy. Resistance is a culture, not
individuals. Resistance is a thought and practice not concessions and
seizing opportunities.
The people and state
who bore the brunt of standing with the Palestinian people in their
just cause for decades, despite all the challenges and costs that every
Syrian citizen has paid materially and emotionally in terms of pressures
and threats, cannot be but in the same place towards Palestinians.
Any
attempt to implicate the Palestinians in the Syrian events is aimed at
deflecting attention from the main enemy, and is stillborn. The
Palestinians in Syria are doing their duty towards their second homeland
like any Syrian. We are responsible, as Syrian people and state, for
doing our duty towards them as towards any Syrian citizen. I salute
every honest Palestinian who valued the Syrian stances and did not treat
Syria as a hotel which he leaves when conditions get a little tight.
Sisters and brothers,
In
spite of what has been planned against Syria and what has been done to
us by those who are near before those who are far, they could never
change us. Patriotism runs in our blood and Syria is the most precious
of all. Your steadfastness over two years tells the whole world that
Syria is impervious to collapse and the Syrian people impervious to
humiliation. Steadfastness and challenge is deeply rooted in the Syrian
body which we have inherited over generations. We will always be like
that. Hand in hand we will move ahead despite all the wounds, taking
Syria to a brighter and stronger future. We will move forward and we
will not be frightened by their bullets or panicked by their hatred
because we have rights and God is always with the right.
