Tear down this HOPE!

 

Officially a Republic

Syria is under Emergency Law since 1963...

 

Here's Syrian President Assad in April '08, as per the Guardian:

Assad told Qatar's al-Watan newspaper that.... there would be no secret talks with Israel. Instead, the preliminary stages of talks would be held with Turkey as a go-between.

He suggested there would be no direct negotiations with the Jewish state until a new US president takes office.

Assad said the US was the only party qualified to sponsor any direct talks, but said the Bush administration "does not have the vision or will for the peace process. It does not have anything."

And with fellow antisemite Jimmy Carter in December '08

 

And here he is again, in a speech just this past Wednesday, as quoted at israel matzav:

 

"It would be wrong to think that peace will come through negotiating. It will come through resistance."

 

 

  

 

I like this picture; you can never really tell if the HOPE is going up... or being taken down.  Some things are best left to one's imagination.