The negative atmosphere that followed the eighth round of Geneva has not lasted for more than a few days, as the Russian “dynamo” moved, and the wheel of the political process was hastened, spinning with a new acceleration. The overall political process has been mobilized, through three channels together: (Geneva – Sochi – Astana). The three meetings were scheduled to be held within the next two months, which strikes out the predictions of the “oracles” of the various kinds, who rushed to write obituary notices of Geneva and the political solution.

Despite the negative atmosphere preceding and during the eighth round of Geneva in its first and second stages, and despite the emerged difficulties, and the tentative date set for the next round (as stated in the final press conference of the international envoy), the holding of the round itself was an additional evidence confirming that the option of political solution has become a firm and irreversible option that no one can ignore or reject.

According to the latest news from Geneva, a new qualitative progress has been made in the negotiation process. SNC [Syrian Negotiating Committee of the revolutionary forces and the Syrian opposition] issued a press release today (Tuesday, 12/12/2017) in which the preconditions were set aside, as is clear from the text of the press release:

The SNC of the revolutionary forces and the Syrian opposition

The fate of the eighth round of the Geneva negotiations still seems uncertain up to now, indicated by the delay of the government delegation to catch up with Geneva, and the extremists of the Riyadh platform being in hurry to recall and insist on the preconditions on the eve of the second half of the round, which was the pretext of the government delegation in the first half of the round, and served as a justification for its delay to the scheduled date, so that it returned early to Damascus.

Mr. Trump appeared yesterday, with all his arrogance and folly, to declare Jerusalem as the capital of the Zionist entity.

People’s Will Party condemns the decision of the US administration to transfer the US Embassy to Jerusalem, and to recognize this Palestinian Arab city as the capital of the State of the Zionist entity, as this city is a symbol in the struggle of the Palestinian people, and all the peoples of the region.

There is no doubt that the preconditions in the negotiations for a political solution have been - and are still - rejected, because they are contrary to the international resolution and obstruct the political process. But on the other hand, the response to these conditions should not be a position of seriousnessness toward the urgent political solution, like the position taken by the Syrian government delegation toward the eighth round of the current Geneva negotiations, where they delay in timing, and hesitate in agreeing on extending the negotiation, and insist on not running direct negotiations.

Last week witnessed an unprecedented political and diplomatic mobilisation, both qualitatively and qualitatively, in the context of pushing forward the political process of solving the Syrian crisis: from the meeting of the leaders of the troika (Russia – Turkey – Iran), to the opposition meetings in Riyadh and preparations for the Syrian dialogue in Sochi, in addition to the various international and regional reactions and shuttle visits made by the international envoy. These developments taken together constitute an integrated package, confirming the beginning of a qualitative shift in the course of the Syrian situation as a whole.

Our representative at the Riyadh meeting, Mr. Alaa Arafat, who was present as an observer for the reasons we had previously mentioned, objected to two paragraphs of the final communiqué of the meeting, namely, the departure of Assad at the beginning of the transitional period, because this is a precondition that undermines the negotiating process. He also objected to the paragraph concerning Iran, which neglects the fact that this country is one of the guarantors in Astana, and this paragraph only serves to aggravate the situation and results in making the Syrians lose more blood in favour of narrow interests.