Young nations—like young people—sometimes do crazy things. The Syrian Republic was 28 years old when the Golan Heights were occupied in 1967. Young, passionate, spirited—and foolish—it dragged itself, and everybody around it, into a imbalanced war with Israel. The rest...
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All Comments (39)
is aaron silverstein the messai?
July 24, 2008 3:07 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on July 24, 2008 15:07
delracordr
July 17, 2008 3:08 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on July 17, 2008 03:08
delracordr
July 17, 2008 3:08 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on July 17, 2008 03:08
http://ghjejrpyupyuptlhy.com ghjejrpyupyuptlhy
July 12, 2008 10:03 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on July 12, 2008 10:03
http://ghjejrpyupyuptlhy.com ghjejrpyupyuptlhy
July 12, 2008 10:02 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on July 12, 2008 10:02
Bring out yer dead. Mark your calendars of doom in ominous blood-red scrawl, for today is the day that American software beast Microsoft Corp. chopped the retail head off its stalwart XP operating system and held aloft (the still unpopular) Windows Vista as its now unavoidable successor.
If the post made in the wrong section, please move
June 30, 2008 2:31 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on June 30, 2008 14:31
Dragged itself? What nonesense. The Isreal leaders decided they needed more water, more land for Aliyah goals, and more cheasp labor. They executed the military aspect brilliantly. What the Syrian leadership did made no difference.
June 19, 2008 9:35 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on June 19, 2008 21:35
qopkbswt pazwt sphcvoz qdic wlucf pjat ghrdp
June 4, 2008 5:32 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on June 4, 2008 05:32
isxeh whfkdg wpsynud qyevxli frkjmlg hjtsmbld hwgzmk
June 4, 2008 5:30 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on June 4, 2008 05:30
Israel will give the Golan back to Syria when Syria can guarantee it will not use these hieghts to rain missles down on Israel. Do you see that happening?
May 27, 2008 10:16 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 27, 2008 10:16
It is rather naive for the Arabs to think that there is indeed a US plan to forge an everlasting peace in the Middle East with Israel. In point of fact, US policy in the Middle East is purely driven by one factor and one factor alone; how to always give Israel the upper hand; whether its political negotiations for peace or military conflict.
The US was fully aware that Israel was developing nuclear weapons, yet it did nothing to stop it; despite the fact that such a development will ultimately push other nations in that region to develop weapons of mass destruction as a counter balance to Israel nuclear arsenal!
Even when Israel embarked on building a Wall of Separation to isolate the west bank and make life more miserable for thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians; the US did nothing to protest the illegal operation and the clear violation of international law governing territory under foreign occupation. The US can NEVER be nuetral; its simply too engrossed in its blind and unyeilding support for Israel.
The Arabs should never rely on the US as an honest broker and should look more toward the European Union, Russia and China to broker and leverage a peace accord with what is increasingly becoming an Israel-American front bent on dominating the region and its natural resources.
May 27, 2008 2:26 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 27, 2008 02:26
Cameron:
"Also, for the record... Uh, Syria *didn't* start the 1967 War... Israel did that. Some of the readers ought to research that before they say that Syria deserved what they got for starting that war. Since, well, they didn't start the war."
They did effectively start the war. Israel did what is called a preemptive strike, and anyone who does any reading on the Six-Day War knows that an Arab attack was inevitable. Instead of playing defense, Israel went on the offensive to beat the Arabs which they did. Sometimes the best defense really is a good offense, and it was the mass mobilization and movement of the Syrian, Egyptian, and Jordanian armies that forced Israel into this action.
May 25, 2008 10:18 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 25, 2008 22:18
WP,Where is my post which I posted several our ago??
May 25, 2008 2:23 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 25, 2008 14:23
The author has expressed many of the Zionophobia and Ameriphobia beliefs found on many Arabic web sites concerning Syrian/Israel relationships. Much of what the Hebrew tribes have done in annexing the Golan Heights could easily have been just compensation for the genocide inherent in the Charter of Omar, the destroyer of Alexandrian library knowledge. Compensatory annexation of Gaza might also be appropriate because of the billions extracted from Hebrews by corrupt mullahs enforcing the Charter of Omar for their own profit, but the Hebrews are also entitled to a square kilometer of Gaza territory for EACH genocide attack by Arabic peoples from Gaza who are again attempting to enforce a Charter that has been declared a crime against humanity by nearly all international legal organizations. Syria, as a primitive dictatorship intent on enforcing the Charter in Israel, Lebanon and Iraq, cannot engage in a ‘just’ treaty with the Hebrews.
May 25, 2008 9:23 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 25, 2008 09:23
The racist apartheid militaristic occupying jewish theocracy-israel-was created by violence,ethnic cleanesing and war on top of the ruins of Palestine and the PAlestinians,now numbering eleven million:five million endure the longest and most brutal military occupation in modern history for the past sixty years AND six million languish in refugee camps one or two bus drive from their homeland of Palestine occupied by alien jewsih illegal immigrants.
israel is an absolute evil-and only evil it begts:it was built on and by terrorism and ethnic cleanesing and is sustained by state terrorism and American tax payers' money and weapons-and a divided and corrupt Arab political system.
There will never be peace in the Arab East until this evil apartheid entity disappears:no occupation ever ended with words and roses:violence can only be confronted by violence and israel should never be allowed to continue to have monopoly over violence including nuclear power;the difference between israeli violence and Arab armed struggle is that the former is illigitimate by all standards while the latter is absolutely legitimate and sanctioned to restore a stolen homeland of all of historic Palestine or the Golan heights.
israel's so called 'peace process'is a joke:it never wanted peace with Egypt-all it wanted was to isolate the largest Arab state from its Arab brethern so it can consolidate its occupation of all of historic Palestine,the Golan Hts and southern Lebanon.We all recall that immediately after the sadat's treachery in 1979-israel invaded and then occupied southern Lebanon from 1982-2000 until it was evicted by the heros of Hezballah. The war on Iraq falls within the same context of taking the powerful Arab states one by one-it was fought on behalf of israel and this latter entity is agitating for another war on Iran.
Syria should have no ellusions at all:it should be ready for war and ,like israel has the US as an ally,it should have an alliance with Iran especially that its Arab brethern have sold their souls to devil-collective security between states is a recognized and legitimate defence mechanism.
May 25, 2008 9:06 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 25, 2008 09:06
Jews in Israel are no more than thieves. Having the power to attack and steal somebody else’s land and property does not in any way make you right. There where people living in the Middle East before you decided to build your country on top of them without even considering the consequences of your actions.
The corrupt and immoral Israeli society does not care one bit about the millions of Palestinians and the hundreds of thousand of Golan people who were forcibly kicked out of there homes.
The only reason the Jews talk about land for peace is because there are too many Arabs to kill or “transfer” not because of any goodness, humanity or guilt in them.
Ben-Gurion told Nahum Goldman (one of the prominent Zionists leaders) before he died:
"I don't understand your optimism.," Ben-Gurion declared. "Why should the Arabs make peace? If I was an Arab leader I would never make terms with Israel. That is natural: we have taken their country. Sure, God promised it to us, but what does that matter to them? Our God is not theirs. We come from Israel, it's true, but two thousand years ago, and what is that to them? There has been anti-Semitism the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They only see one thing: we have come here and stolen their country. Why should they accept that? They may perhaps forget in one or two generations' time, but for the moment there is no chance. So it's simple: we have to stay strong and maintain a powerful army. Our whole policy is there. Otherwise the Arabs will wipes us out".
May 25, 2008 2:44 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 25, 2008 02:44
Funny, I read this entire story--or should I say fantasy--and am wondering how I may acquire whatever drugs Mr. Moubayed is taking. They must be fun. Nowhere does the author mention Iran, except in a historical context. Iran has managed to make Syria its' proxy in a very short span of time. It has done no less in Lebanon. Iran is the reason we will never relinquish the Golan. We do not need the Iranians at our doorstep. Neither does the rest of the world for that matter. If peace were so important then Syria should give up its' useless demand for land which was lost to Israel fairly in several wars which Israel did not start but did roundly finish. As for fighting on behalf of "Palestine" give us a break and quit repeating useless and factually incorrect tirades. Nowhere in any radio or even televison of the time did anyone ever mention "Palestine". This is merely anti-Israel revisionism and the most rank kind, at that. As for feeling "optimism in the air" at the notion of peace, well when you harbor terrorists running terrorist groups from Damascus why would anyone believe Syria wants peace? When you stop harassing and arresting and torturing and killing your own people-namely the Syrian Kurds--then maybe someone someday will believe you want peace and know what it means to have it. Al Assad's interference in Lebanon together with Syria's approximately 15000 trained intelligence agents and spies and killers speaks volumes about the "peace" which you claim to seek. I suppose that was a garden hose factory inside Syrian territory we bombed last fall.
May 25, 2008 2:40 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 25, 2008 02:40
Turkey is now the mediator? Turkey that occupies an EU country, Cyprus? What a joke. Turkey bought from Israel the Arrow missile technology given to it by the US and in return Turkey allows Israel to use Turkish bases for Israeli airforce pilot training. Turkey is just as biased towards Israel as is the US. Have you not heard of the saying, "Talk is Cheap?" Nothing will come out of it, or you don't even believe in history!
May 25, 2008 2:22 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 25, 2008 02:22
Well, you would never know that Israel is a welfare state of the US when they decided to hold peace talks with Syria. Can you imagine this happening without getting Bush' OK! But Israel has nothing to worry about because we can always borrow the billions we pay them annually from China. We would never dare cut any of Israel's welfare payments. All the US government says is that we have a "special" relationship with them and, of course Hillary agrees. What does that mean? Our greatest ally? What did they ever do for us? What ever we didn't provide to them, they sent spies to get our military secrets and anything else they wanted. Anybody running for the US Presidency makes sure that he or she is in love with Israel and would never let them down. Why? OK, it's our special relationship with them. Does this make sense to any of your readers? Can you imagine Iraq being a threat to the US. Sorry for the cruel joke. I should have said Israel..
May 25, 2008 1:13 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 25, 2008 01:13
Difficult to see what the above contributes - confused as it is, and more confused with a title such as that.
If the writer is a close associate of the Syrian administration, then he probably is portraying to audiences here and there the official understanding of the present situation viz-a-viz Lebanon and Israel - otherwise, neither informative nor analytically coherently.
May 24, 2008 10:56 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 22:56
What a nice fairy tale.
The Syrians are dreaming og getting Golan back?
They got Kuneitra back. 37 years ago. A deserted town since. Is the author dreaming of a desrted Golan?
The Syrians might get it back, someday.
But first, they and their leaders must learn behaving. Stop killing Lebanese politicians.
Recognize Lebanon. Stop supporting terrorists.
Start showing Israel that you are wort of this beautiful land, which is a blooming garden now.
A blooming garden not made by you, Syrians.
And let´s not forget the people of the Golan, the Druze. We should ask them too.
May 24, 2008 5:13 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 17:13
Bush's America is not neutral nor passive. It supports everything the Zionist do, or aspire.
In doing that, Bush's America weakens the Israeli Interest in Peace, and rewards the Israeli governement with more U.S. made weapons, and financial assistance.
Who will that help?
Of course, The Military-Industrial Complex stands to gain trilllllions. New weapons will again be tested in the Middle East, and labelled 'Proved in Action'...
But, as the last excercise in Israel showed --according to IDF Generals-- There will be MANY THOUSANDS of Israeli VICTIMS, if a War with Syria is allowed to break out.
Some Zionists demand more concessions from the loosing part. Did Henry Kissinger get any such concessions from Vietnam? Did De Gaulle ask or receive Algerian Land?
As the Separate Peace Agreements which Israel signed with Egypt show, the formula is FULL PEACE for FULL WITHDRAWAL from OCCUPIED TERRITORIES. That is what Menahem Begin accepted!
in 2002, that formula was accepted by the ENTIRE ARAB WORLD. They oferred Israel full peace, for full withdrawal. Israel still rejects the offer.
Shall the State, which claims to represent **CHOSEN PEOPLE**, become an exception to every Law and even to Jewish Moral Codes?
Shall the Zionists be The Sole State EXCEPTED from CONFORMING to UN Security Council Resolutions? Does Israel want to be the single country which REJECTS INTERNATIONAL LAW, and disregards the 4th Geneva Convention?
How much longer can the World accept that?
IF ISRAEL REJECTS PEACE with ALL ITS NEIGHBORS, WE MUST REJECT IT, and apply INTERNATIONAL BOYCOTT on this UNHOLY STATE.
May 24, 2008 4:46 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 16:46
some jews want to biuld a man made island over by haweii and make it a new israel.....jewish state yes .......in israel why when we jews can build a jewish state on mars or some other planit or on a man made island by haweii......
May 24, 2008 4:40 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 16:40
this negotiation is really between iran and israel. imagine assad coming to speak to the knesset like sadat did...he would be a dead man unless given permission by iran. unfortunately syria cannot make peace with israel until iran calms down and judging by hezbolah's actions in the past month...this is not to be. unfortunately, syria needs iran more than she wants peace.
May 24, 2008 4:26 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 16:26
Syria continues to do crazy things, like conspire with the North Koreans to build a nuclear reactor (or nuclear warhead assembly plant), as well as play solicitous host to headquarters for Hamas and Islamic Jihad and serve as enabler to Iran and Hezbollah in Lebanon. So what can Syria give Israel in exchange for the Golan? Will Syria withdraw its countenance to terror groups in the heart of Damascus, or serve as a beneficial presence in Lebanon? I have no confidence in the ability or strength of Assad to deliver the kind of difficult compromise that would be required to induce the Israelis to part with the Golan. Syria has only itself to blame, both historically for conspiring with the Egyptians, Jordanians and Palestinians in 1967 to invade and destroy Israel, for the attendant and justified loss of the Golan, and presently for its support or tacit countenance of Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, and the terror state of Iran.
May 24, 2008 2:11 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 14:11
"The Golan Heights was never considered part of the State of Israel. Had we not been attacked from the Golan Heights we would never have gone up there." Shimon Peres
Syria controlled the Golan from 1949 until 1967. If indeed Syria had not joined Egypt and Jordan in 1967 in a second attempt to wipe Israel off the map they would not have lost their lands. Despite all the romantic rhetoric about a war for Palestine and the "nostalgic" yearning for the Golan, this is a war about water. Wars are almost always about basic human needs. Religion and moral causes run a feeble second. Wars are historically about land and oil and rice and yes water. There are two distinct versions of this particular war. Replete with statistics and maps going all the way back to Biblical times.Most readers know this tale only from the middle. And I must remark that even in this intelligent and thought provoking article the writer praises James Carter and excoriates George Bush. Halos and Horns. Very much mirroring the conflict itself.
May 24, 2008 1:51 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 13:51
Apparently the author can not see the threat has continued to present to Israel in the form of attacks, supporting radical elements that don't want Irael's existence and developing Nuclear capability
Israel has been under attack since 1948 - wake up
May 24, 2008 10:16 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 10:16
I think this is a pretty interesting article from the Syrian point of view. As someone who is pro-Palestinian, I generally have to agree with the author, as well. I think what Israel is doing in Gaza, the Wet Bank, and the Golan Heights is absolute insanity. I mean, the fact that they have captured land that isn't theirs... and then they start to settle on it?
It's really disturbing what the West will let Israel get away with. To us, they have some special status... they're part of our 'guilty concience'. They're allowed to just cut off electricity, water, heating, and anything else they want to over a million people at any give time for no reason what-so-ever. What other nation has the ability to do this, and get away with it? Only super-powers like the United States. And they are allowed to act as if they are in charge through our consent.
Honestly, if Syria bombed an Israeli facility, they would be the bad guys, wouldn't they? Israel bombs Syria and they're doing us all a favour? Why should that be?
Also, for the record... Uh, Syria *didn't* start the 1967 War... Israel did that. Some of the readers ought to research that before they say that Syria deserved what they got for starting that war. Since, well, they didn't start the war.
May 24, 2008 10:01 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 10:01
For Israel to return the Golan would be suicidal. To believe Syria truly wants peace is to believe in the tooth fairy. Just ask the Lebanese mourners and the people in the Syrian city that was destroyed by the current dictator's father. Ask the Jordanians who some years ago were threatened by an invasion of Syrian tanks that were turned back by the threat of Israeli retaliation.
And what exactly were the peace-seeking North Korean comrades doing in Syria?
The Syrian author should first be writing poems on behalf of the brave Syrian political prisoners languishing in Syrian jails.
May 24, 2008 9:41 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 09:41
Israel understands that Syria has only one asset to offer; stability in Lebanon. You have nothing else to trade except peace. So before berating Israel, consider that your policies of killing your own people (Hama) or assasination of Lebanon leaders does not contribute to anything of value.
Instead, end your bigotry against Jews and Christians, end your scorpion-like posturing toward the west and live in peace.
May 24, 2008 7:25 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 07:25
I stopped reading as soon as I came across the word "Gulf". So I can not comment on the article.
Just that it is called the PERSIAN GULF, not Gulf or any other (Fat Nasser) invented name.
The author is either ignorant of history, and historical names, or anti Iranian.
May 24, 2008 4:10 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 04:10
Dear Sami,
Invading another country has consequences.
Germany invaded Poland and then the Allies bombed Germany into pulverized dust.
The Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan and disappeared from the face of the earth.
Iraq invaded Iran and ultimately succumbed.
What makes you think that your government's invasion of Israel would go unpunished. Because your country was "young"? Young at 28 years of age?
Your article is agonizingly trite without being contrite for your country's efforts to destroy Israel.
Shame on you for not accepting responsibility for your country's actions.
May 24, 2008 1:44 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 01:44
You conveniently forget to mention that Assad is no Sadat... and that's the key problem.
May 24, 2008 12:19 AM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 24, 2008 00:19
The 1967 war was unblanced, alright. In it, three well-equipped major Arab armies (Syria, Jordan, and Egypt) representing about 50 milion people attacked Israel representing 6 million.
To suppose that, "The Syrians did go to war in 1948 or 1967 for the Golan Heights. They went to war for Palestine." is at variance with the obvious. In 1948 and 1967, Palestine was still in Arab hands. Rather, Syria went to war in 1948 and 1967 for another reason. It's the same reason that informs Syrian intransigence today.
The 1948 and 1967 wars were aggressive religious wars meant to remove the 'najis blot' of Jews living freely within the sight of muslims, and so to restore the ritual purity of the dar al-Islam. And the dar al-Islam is merely a facade for the real impulse, which is the worldwide ascendance of the dar al-Arabiya.
At its base, the Syrian-Israel conflict is jihad. And at the core of that impulse to jihad is irridentist racism.
May 23, 2008 11:23 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 23, 2008 23:23
And what painful concessions are the Syrians willing to make for peace? None!
Face it, Syria started the 1967 war, Syria lost the war and lost the Golan, Syria is not getting the Golan back.
May 23, 2008 11:21 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 23, 2008 23:21
Facinating perspective from the Syrian side. In US, we are mostly subjected to the western view of what transpires in the mideast.
May 23, 2008 11:05 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 23, 2008 23:05
Peace is a daily chore and choice.
Not a thing that someone can hand to you.
Wake up and smell the lack of gunpowder.
May 23, 2008 9:23 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 23, 2008 21:23
You know, I'm pretty sure that Norway wasn't very powerful in 1993, yet Oslo was signed. I encourage you to read Scars of War, Wounds of Peace, which points out that negotiations away from major powers are much more successful.
The fact that Syria didn't make an issue of the bombing is confirmation of it being warranted.
May 23, 2008 9:06 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 23, 2008 21:06
aaaaahhhh yes. It's ALWAYS Bush's fault.
May 23, 2008 8:56 PM | Report Offensive Comments
Posted on May 23, 2008 20:56