SALHANI: Rumors of peace and war

Claude Salhani is incorrect in attributing the Middle East conflicts to an Israeli-Palestinian issue independent of the controversy over the Golan. In fact, all these conflicts were manifestations of the Syria’s mythical “Greater Syria.” aspirations. In 1918 the former Ottoman province of Syria declared independence, but the Allies aborted this initiative and divided the province into French zones (present day Lebanon and coastal Syria and the interior part of Syria), and a British zone (present day Israel, Jordan and the Palestinian Authority), which was to be a homeland for Jews. In 1928, the British separated the area east of the Jordan River from its mandate in Palestine to create a mandate for Transjordan. The term “naqba,” or “catastrophe” was first used in 1920 to describe the division of the former Ottoman province of Syria into these separate mandates. Syrian nationalists continued to aspire for its former Ottoman territory, obtaining support from the Germans in World War II and from the Soviet Union afterwards. In 1948 Israel successfully defended its independence against an invading force of Arab armies, but large portions of the former British Mandate were taken by Egypt, Syria and Transjordan. There was no attempt by the Arabs to establish a separate state for the Palestinian Arabs. The new Kingdom of Jordan created a Jordanian citizenship for all residents in the kingdom including the area of the present day Palestinian Authority. In the early 1950s, after nationalists took over, Egypt seized the Suez Canal, threatened to militarize the Sinai, and began sending terrorists across the border into Israel. In 1956, Israel joined with Great Britain and France to take back the Suez Canal for France and Britain and form a buffer zone in the Sinai. Under U.S. and Soviet pressure, Britain, France and Israel withdrew and Egypt continued to occupy Gaza. Egypt and Syria eventually formed the United Arab Republic (UAE), and after fighting a war with Israel in 1967, Israel wound up controlling the Sinai, the West Bank, Gaza, and East Jerusalem. A new Federation of Arab Republics (Syria, Egypt and Libya) again unsuccessfully tried to conquer Israel in 1973, this time with the help of Soviet arms and pilots. Neither these wars nor the war between Syria and Jordan were fought over the Palestinian Arabs. Contrary to Salhani’s contention, Syria’s claim over the entire Golan and their continuous attempts to infiltrate Lebanon are continued manifestations of the Greater Syria concept, which has been the real seed of the Middle Eastern conflicts. Syria and Lebanon opening embassies is extremely significant in that it appears that Syria is finally backing away from the Greater Syria concept and recognizing the sovereignty of Lebanon, which the Syrian nationalists had considered an intrinsic part of Syria.