1948 Palestinians Torn Over Syria

Palestinian demonstrators shout slogans during a protest against Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad in Gaza City 21 February 2012. (Photo: REUTERS – Ibraheem Abu Mustafa)

By: Faris Taleb Al Akhbar English

Published Monday, March 5, 2012

Haifa – None of the past year’s events in the Arab world has preoccupied 1948 Palestinians as much as the crisis in Syria – specifically, what will happen and what position to take. No other issue has been as divisive as this one.

The debate over Syria begins with loaded questions. “Are you with the regime in Syria, or with the conspiracy against it?” ask the regime’s backers. Supporters of the revolution ask back: “Are you with the people or the regime? Do you support the massacres?”

The dispute is far from abating and nobody has thus far conducted a survey to determine the proportion of “loyalists” and “opposition.” But Palestinians within the Green Line clearly do not stand united on the issue.

Quarrels over it led to violence in Haifa last Saturday, when a pro-regime rally in solidarity with Syria was held. Some youth opposed to the event held a counter-demonstration, and were subject to verbal and then physical abuse coming from the pro-regime demonstrators.Supporters of the regime highlight its Arab nationalist credentials. “If Syria goes, the resistance goes, and Israel would be delighted,” one participant at the event remarked. They argue that the regime is the target of a Saudi- and Qatari-led conspiracy because of its anti-imperialist stance. But they seem unperturbed by President Bashar Assad’s response to the supposed conspiracy. Some even privately urge him to persist with his harsh security crackdown.

In the Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights, a commemoration of a general strike against Israeli occupation turned into a pro-Assad rally. But many locals had mixed feelings.

“I don’t have any problem with people supporting the regime,” said one its opponents, adding, “But what we’re witnessing today is that many regime supporters go further than talking of a conspiracy. They call for the bloody ‘security solution’ against the people. For me, this crosses a line.”

When asked about his own view, he says, “The problem is not what does America support. The issue is what do the people want. The people said that months ago when they got sick of living without dignity.”It can seem strange sometimes. People who used to be known for their opposition to the “dictatorial” regime before the uprising now support it against “the conspiracy” and “the conspirators” targeting Syria. How did this happen? Is it truly about conspiracy or dislike of those who are opposing the regime? And how can the regime’s opponents so readily be labelled “agents”? Agents of whom?

The Syrian situation is extremely complex. There is no consensus over it as there was in favor of the Egyptian and Tunisian revolutions.

Nobody knows where Syria or the region are headed. Whatever happens, neither Assad nor Qatar are any longer held in the high regard they once were.

This article is an edited translation from the Arabic Edition.





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