The Opening of the Golan!

Slowly but surely, the conflict in Lebanon is beginning to spread as all sides fall victims to their rhetoric, their pride, their ambitions and their schemes. The latest chapter in this is not the meaningless operation that took place in the occupied Golan Heights a few days ago itself, but the fact that the party that tookcreditfor it, the previously unknown Free Homeland Party, claims to be an independent Syrian organization acting against the government will. Continue reading →

Diversity and Turmoil

First posted on my short-lived blog Tharwalizations.

Diversity in our region creates certain dynamics that are simply too complex to be tackled through some facile generalizations. In this regard, and while Arabs across the region and the world seem to stand in solidarity with Hezbollah, the Bedouins in Israel seem to have a different opinion on this matter. Indeed, the Bedouins seem to “bitterly resent Hezbollah,” since of its Katyusha rockets tend to fall at them. Also, and contrary to how many Arabs feel with regard to the US, the Bedouins of Israel “don’t think the U.S. is engaged in a war against Muslims in Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and elsewhere. They think Arab anger around the world can be laid at the feet of dictators who spread misinformation to distract people from inept rule.” Continue reading “Diversity and Turmoil” →

Interview on Fresh Air with Terry Gross

Broadcast Date: August 1, 2006

The New York Times Foreign Affairs columnist Thomas Friedman and Syrian dissident Ammar Abdulhamid on this edition of Fresh Air. Friedman’s just returned from Syria. He is a three-time recipient of the Pulitzer Prize. In 2002 he won for his “clarity of vision, based on extensive reporting, in commenting on the worldwide impact of the terrorist threat”. Friedman was awarded the 1983 Pulitzer Prize for his international reporting from Lebanon and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for international reporting from Isreal. His most recent book is The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century. He’s also the author of From Beirut to Jerusalem and The Lexus and the Olive Tree: Understanding Globalization. Ammar Abdulhamid is a visiting fellow with the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution.

The Pawns of War!

If even the generations that have witnessed firsthand and lived through the dark days of the 70s and 80s in Syria, and that have vivid memories of how oppressive things were at the time and how hypocritical and tiring all that patriotic song-and-dance about Israel and America and our intervention in Lebanon was, if even these generations who should be eyeing the current developments in the region through the disquieting prism of déjà vu, déjà entendu, déjà everything, can still disagree on everything that has taken place in their lifetime, can still offer a variety of interpretations and explanations thereof, and can still carry on with their ideological and personal differences to this very moment in time, how would the 75% of Syria’s inhabitants, who are below the age of 25, who have no memories to guide them in this regard and who have been brainwashed at home, at school and in the streets, and rendered absolutely apathetic, fearful and compliant with regard to the existing authority, be it political, social, economic and/or religious,how would they feel and think about the current going-ons in Lebanon, in Syria, in Palestine? Who should they blame? Who would they support? How would they show it? And what would they make of the heretical dissenting writings of someone like me? Continue reading →