abu_afak
10-20-07, 11:28 PM
Introduction: A Neglected Topic
from Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition
Daniel Pipes
On first entering Syria, the observant traveler will probably be Startled to go through passport control and notice a military map of Syria on the wall, for this map contains several anomalies.
It shows the Golan Heights under Syrian control, though they have been occupied by Israel since 1967.
Syria's boundaries with Lebanon and Jordan appear NOT as international borders but as something called "Regional" borders.
Israel does NOT even Exist; instead, there is a state called Palestine.
And Palestine is separated from Syria by a line designated a "TEMPORARY border".
Finally, the province of Hatay, a part of Turkey since 1939, appears to be included in Syria; only on close inspection can one see the "temporary" border between it and Syria.
The many inaccuracies on this map reflect the Syrian rulers' profound unwillingness to accept the actual size and shape of the country they administer. They remember that until 1920, "Syria" referred to a region much larger than the Syrian Arab Republic of today, a region that stretched from the borders of Anatolia to those of Egypt, from the edge of Iraq to the Mediterranean Sea. In terms of today's states, the Syria of old comprised Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, plus the Gaza Strip and Alexandretta. This larger land, known since 1920 as Greater Syria, is what they dream of reclaiming.
Pan-Syrianism-the intention to piece together a Greater Syrian nation-is not a new phenomenon but has strongly influenced politics in the Middle East since 1918. The division of Greater Syria after World War I proved one of the worst of many political traumas experienced in the Middle East at that time.
Pan-Syrianism explains many of the conflicting aspirations among Syrians, Lebanese, Palestinians, Israelis, and Jordanians; it lies behind much of the volatility of public life in Jordan and Syria; and it partially accounts for the Lebanese civil war and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The goal of pieving Syria's parts together drove Jordanian foreign policy for over two decades, and it had nearly as great a role in Iraq. The future of the West Bank is bound up with this dream. Pan-Syrianism helps comprehend complex interactions between Pan-Arabists, Palestinian nationalists, and state authorities.
The party that has advocated Greater Syria since 1932, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), has had profound political importance in the twentieth-century history of the two states where it has been most active, Lebanon and Syria. As the first political party fully to embrace radical secular ideals, it incubated virtually every radical group in those countries, with particularly great impact on the Ba'th Party. The SSNP offered the minorities, especially the Greek Orthodox Christians, a vehicle for political action and caused several of Lebanon's worst political crises. Its ideology influenced the development of Pan-Arabism (or Arab nationalism) and defined inter-Arab relations in the Levant region. Leading intellectuals such as Abu Khaldun Sati' al-Husri and Kamal Junbalat devoted considerable energy to combating Pan-Syrianism.
Finally-and this may mark the apogee of its influence-the government of Hafiz al-Asad adopted Pan-Syrian ideas and made them Syrian state policy. Circumstantial evidence strongly indicates taht the Syrian government has since 1974 made Greater Syria the centerpiece of its foreign policy. Thus, in addition to offering an important new perspective on the events of decades past, the study of Pan-Syrianism provides a tool for understanding the policies of the Asad regime.
Despite its critical role through the twentieth century, Pan-Syrianism receives little attention. Observers tend to view it as an aberration or a historical curiosity-and therefore as a matter of little consequence. Over a period of four decades, for example, The Economist has called two of Pan-Syrianism's most prominent exponents, the SSNP and King 'Abdallah of Jordan, many names. In 1947, 'Abdallah's plans were dismissed as "wishful thoughts." In 1962, the SSNP was "an activist right-wing movement of a slightly dotty kind"; it was deemed on the "lunatic fringe," "farcical," and "idiotic."..."
Most at:
http://www.danielpipes.org/books/greaterchap.php
from Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition
Daniel Pipes
On first entering Syria, the observant traveler will probably be Startled to go through passport control and notice a military map of Syria on the wall, for this map contains several anomalies.
It shows the Golan Heights under Syrian control, though they have been occupied by Israel since 1967.
Syria's boundaries with Lebanon and Jordan appear NOT as international borders but as something called "Regional" borders.
Israel does NOT even Exist; instead, there is a state called Palestine.
And Palestine is separated from Syria by a line designated a "TEMPORARY border".
Finally, the province of Hatay, a part of Turkey since 1939, appears to be included in Syria; only on close inspection can one see the "temporary" border between it and Syria.
The many inaccuracies on this map reflect the Syrian rulers' profound unwillingness to accept the actual size and shape of the country they administer. They remember that until 1920, "Syria" referred to a region much larger than the Syrian Arab Republic of today, a region that stretched from the borders of Anatolia to those of Egypt, from the edge of Iraq to the Mediterranean Sea. In terms of today's states, the Syria of old comprised Syria, Lebanon, Israel, and Jordan, plus the Gaza Strip and Alexandretta. This larger land, known since 1920 as Greater Syria, is what they dream of reclaiming.
Pan-Syrianism-the intention to piece together a Greater Syrian nation-is not a new phenomenon but has strongly influenced politics in the Middle East since 1918. The division of Greater Syria after World War I proved one of the worst of many political traumas experienced in the Middle East at that time.
Pan-Syrianism explains many of the conflicting aspirations among Syrians, Lebanese, Palestinians, Israelis, and Jordanians; it lies behind much of the volatility of public life in Jordan and Syria; and it partially accounts for the Lebanese civil war and the Arab-Israeli conflict. The goal of pieving Syria's parts together drove Jordanian foreign policy for over two decades, and it had nearly as great a role in Iraq. The future of the West Bank is bound up with this dream. Pan-Syrianism helps comprehend complex interactions between Pan-Arabists, Palestinian nationalists, and state authorities.
The party that has advocated Greater Syria since 1932, the Syrian Social Nationalist Party (SSNP), has had profound political importance in the twentieth-century history of the two states where it has been most active, Lebanon and Syria. As the first political party fully to embrace radical secular ideals, it incubated virtually every radical group in those countries, with particularly great impact on the Ba'th Party. The SSNP offered the minorities, especially the Greek Orthodox Christians, a vehicle for political action and caused several of Lebanon's worst political crises. Its ideology influenced the development of Pan-Arabism (or Arab nationalism) and defined inter-Arab relations in the Levant region. Leading intellectuals such as Abu Khaldun Sati' al-Husri and Kamal Junbalat devoted considerable energy to combating Pan-Syrianism.
Finally-and this may mark the apogee of its influence-the government of Hafiz al-Asad adopted Pan-Syrian ideas and made them Syrian state policy. Circumstantial evidence strongly indicates taht the Syrian government has since 1974 made Greater Syria the centerpiece of its foreign policy. Thus, in addition to offering an important new perspective on the events of decades past, the study of Pan-Syrianism provides a tool for understanding the policies of the Asad regime.
Despite its critical role through the twentieth century, Pan-Syrianism receives little attention. Observers tend to view it as an aberration or a historical curiosity-and therefore as a matter of little consequence. Over a period of four decades, for example, The Economist has called two of Pan-Syrianism's most prominent exponents, the SSNP and King 'Abdallah of Jordan, many names. In 1947, 'Abdallah's plans were dismissed as "wishful thoughts." In 1962, the SSNP was "an activist right-wing movement of a slightly dotty kind"; it was deemed on the "lunatic fringe," "farcical," and "idiotic."..."
Most at:
http://www.danielpipes.org/books/greaterchap.php