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| Syria-Lebanon-Iran |
| Druse state? |
| 2015-06-20 |
| [Jpost] ...Twice in the past 90 years, the Syrian Druse had the potential for independent action. In 1921, when the French established their mandatory rule in present-day Syria and Lebanon, they divided the territory into six "independent," or autonomously ruled, "states." The Druse received a state of their own centered in Jebl Druse -- the Druse Mountain. The area under their control stretched across the Syrian side of the tri-border area with Israel and Jordan. The Druse state existed until 1936, when the French reorganized the mandate and set up a central government in Damascus. The possibility of establishing a Druse state arose again, fleetingly, in 1967. During the Six Day War, then-labor minister Yigal Allon put together a plan to establish a Druse state, again centered on Druse Mountain. He tried but failed to convince then-defense minister Moshe Dayan to send the IDF units that had just taken over the Golan Heights south to Druse Mountain rather than eastward toward Damascus. In 2007 the transcripts of a series of taped memoirs Allon recorded a year before his death in 1980 were made public. Of his plans regarding the Druse, Allon explained, "I had visited Sweida [the capital of Druse Mountain] several times and I dreamed a dream of a Druse Republic that would stretch across southern Syria...that would be in military alliance with Israel. I had great expectations from the Druse in Israel, that were already serving in the IDF. I believed they could serve as a bridge between us and the other Druse." Today Allon has a strategic heir in the government of Israel -- and he is a Druse. Deputy Regional Cooperation Minister Ayoub Kara is probably the most powerful Druse in the world today. The Druse of Syria and Lebanon take him seriously. We should too. Like Allon before him, Kara views the Druse of Israel as a bridge between Israel and the Druse of Syria. Like Allon, he views his brethren across the border as potential allies for Israel. Over the decades, the Druse of Syria were just as loyal to the Assad regime as the Druse of Israel have been loyal to the Jewish state. Their loyalty to Bashar Assad has continued apace during the civil war. As a result, now that the regime is on the verge of military collapse, all the forces that have been fighting the regime -- from Islamic State and the Nusra Front to the Free Syrian Army -- view the Druse as their enemies. Yet while they have maintained their ties to the regime, the Syrian Druse have also been quietly reconsidering their views of Israel. This revised attitude has reverberated among their brethren in the Druse villages of the Golan Heights. Like their Syrian kin, the Druse of the Golan Heights have publicly rejected Israel and upheld their Syrian ties. Despite the fact that they have had the right to Israeli citizenship since 1981, until the Syrian civil war began, few applied for it. As the political situation in Syria unraveled, and as the Syrian Druse began taking a second look at Israel, a significant number of Druse from the Golan have applied for citizenship. Today, the plight of the Druse grows more dire from day to day. With the regime on the verge of collapse, the government ordered the units that had been securing the Druse villages along the border with Israel on the northern Golan to return to Damascus. Some 30,000 Druse centered around the village of Hader are surrounded by rebel forces. In a conversation with The Jerusalem Post on Wednesday evening Kara promised in the name of the Israeli Druse, "We will not allow them to die. We will take care of them. "Over the past few weeks," he added, "the Druse of Israel have raised and transferred $3 million to supply humanitarian assistance to our brethren in Syria." While Kara refuses to discuss the types of assistance he is asking the government to provide them, Israel's options are fairly obvious. First, in the humanitarian realm, Israel can set up refugee camps on the Syrian side of the border. We can arm the Druse villagers. We can protect them from the air. As for the nearly three-quarters of a million Druse at Druse Mountain, according to Kara, they wish to defend and govern themselves in an autonomous region for the foreseeable future. But to fend for themselves, they need weapons. Without arms, with the regime's collapse seemingly imminent, it is possible that the Druse will be unable to survive. It is also possible that if Israel doesn't provide them with weapons, someone else -- perhaps Hezbollah -- will arm them and so buy their loyalty. As Kara sees it, if the Druse are able to secure autonomy, their area would stretch along 150 kilometers of Israel's border with Syria, from the tri-border area with Jordan in the south to the northern Golan Heights. "Israel and Jordan have an interest in a strong Druse presence," he argues. If the government decides to act along these lines, it doesn't mean that we'll be in a position to start making long-term strategic plans that rely on Druse support. Ariel Sharon's greatest mistake during the First Lebanon War in 1982 was that he overestimated the capabilities of Israel's Lebanese Christian allies. The Druse of Syria today are extremely week. It is unimaginable that they will be able to accomplish anything other than survive -- with outside assistance -- for the foreseeable future. On the other hand, even in their weakness the Druse present Israel with a great opportunity. By helping them we can signal to others -- for instance the Kurds -- that we can be trusted. |
| Posted by:g(r)omgoru |