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Joshua S. Weinberg

Don’t Forget the Syrian Opportunity

With one press conference, President Trump upended decades of statecraft with his Gazan relocation plan. It’s a potentially watershed moment in crafting an actually workable solution for two people.  While the focus has shifted to Gaza with President Trump’s declaration, let’s not forget about Syria.

Recently, residents of Druze villages located in (former) Syria announced their desire to be annexed to Israel, calling a potential annexation the “lesser evil.”   Simultaneously, IDF tanks rolled into many Druze border towns, such as Hader, in order to protect villagers against extremist Syrian rebel groups.  World leaders and media outlets condemned the Israeli incursion while barely reporting the Druze villagers’ call for annexation.  This is a shame because the former portends an opportunity to fundamentally alter the Levant region and the prospects of true peace in the Middle East.  If the world can listen to, and amplify, these voices, these calls for annexation have the potential to completely reshape the Middle East and bring peace to the greater levant region.

Self-determination rights of people(s) has occurred often and frequently throughout history; it was a primary factor in the collapse of colonialism.  Syria, now a land of diverse ethnic groups, is in a post-state reality.  The global community can’t expect a Sunni-Islamist to live at peace with a Druze farmer, whom he views as an infidel, and the global community certainly can’t expect that either party will change their beliefs and tolerance levels after many decades of religious indoctrination.  These faulty expectations and hopes were what led to the ultimately unsuccessful Sykes–Picot arrangement and the current chaos in the greater levant region.

The global community must begin to respect ethnic and religious divides and the faulty assumptions that predicated old geographical boundaries.  Modern-day “Syria” should be re-drawn based on these realities.  There should be a Kurdistan region, a Christian region, an Alawite region, a Druze region, and yes, a Sunni region.  If the global community can learn to respect each ethnic/religious division and give such community its rights, the greater chance for peace and tolerance.

The Druze villagers’ calls for annexation should be understood in this context.  They are also a unique case.  They are a small population and the community itself is split between pro-(former) regime and pro-rebel camps, with the latter a larger constituency.  The pro-regime populace also generally lives closer to the border with Israel, and only these villages have served as a chamber for pro-annexation voices.  The number of Druze in these villages may amount to less than 100,000 people.  This amount of people may not meet the critical mass necessary to form a defensive militia against other ethnicities in Syria, which might leave annexation as the best option to defend against possible upcoming attacks.

Ultimately, annexation takes two willing parties.  Israel would certainly need to do a great deal of due diligence prior to accepting potentially tens of thousands (if not hundreds of thousands) of Druze into their ranks who call annexation a “lesser evil”.  The Druze villagers have had little interaction with Israeli society, and oftentimes, have gone years without seeing their family members on the Israeli side. Their reference to Israeli annexation as the “lesser evil” should be understood in that context.  Given the history of the Druze in Israel and the sacrifices they have made, I imagine with even cursory education and conversations with their brethren, Druze would look at Israel as their savior, and IDF service, as a privilege.  Already, Druze are thankful to the IDF that they have prevented a massacre in the “Syrian” Golan Heights.  Israel could also make treaties that offer Syrian Druze protection and take steps short of formal annexation that hearken back to the epoch of Ancient Israel when Joshua made a treaty with the Gibeonites to advance his nation’s aims.  Israel must examine annexation with open and hopeful eyes, as potentially, it can completely reinvigorate and expand the Golan Heights as that region has the potential to become the home base of a second historically persecuted religious group and a stalwart support base for the State of Israel.

We don’t know how the future will unfold.  What we do know is that these voices for protection / self-determination, whether it be from the Druze community, the Kurdish community, the Christian community or the Alawites, must be taken seriously by the global community.  I pray the global community has the wisdom to stop sticking to arbitrary lines that lead only to war.  Calls for unity along pre-war borders are misplaced.  Calls for the IDF to leave border areas, thus leaving “infidel” Druze to their own devices against surging Sunni Islamists, are purely antisemitic that are, in fact, the opposite of protecting human rights.  The world is already condemning Israel for their incursion into the “Syrian” Golan, while, of course, ignoring identical Turkish incursions in the north.  The world must rally behind Israel’s determination to protect the Druze, and ultimately, if desired by both parties, Israel’s annexation of such areas.  Anything less could lead to catastrophe for the Druze and Syria’s other minorities and the trampling of human rights.

If the world could broaden their viewpoints beyond the Druze communities bordering the Golan Heights, there might be a chance for real peace in Syria, with each ethnic minority protected and respected.  It starts with the Druze.  I hope it ends with the greater levant region.

About the Author
Entrepreneur, proud Jew and Israeli who wants to do everything in his power to ensure Israel takes advantage of current opportunities.