Nadene Goldfoot
The six-century rise and fall of the Ottoman Empire
Ask a Palestinian Arab in 1930 where he was from or what he was and he would say that he was a Syrian. Joan Peters shared that information with us in her book, From Time Immemorial. The reason for the answer is that the Ottoman Empire ruled over Palestine in the Middle East for 400 years and when they lost in World War I of 1914-1917 to the Allies, their land was divided. Ottoman Syria became 4 independent countries; Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel. This division and its anger over Israel having been created, had never been accepted by ardent Syrian nationalists.
Syria is one of the best examples of the Arabs' desire for unity and their difficulties in achieving it. It is the home of modern Arab nationalism. Yet they had never been able to speak with one voice before the First World War.
Anyone living in "Palestine" in the 1930s were ruled from Turkey by the Turks who were "the Ottoman Empire, and both Jews and Arabs were called Palestinians since they lived there." There was no country with a ruler called Palestine. Many types of people lived under this yoke as there were all sorts of religions, ethnicity and sectional differences. One thing united them pretty much and that was that they had 85% of the people being Muslims. Of that they were divided into Sunnis, Shi'is, Alawis, Druze, Isma'ilis, Jews and Yazidis. The smaller Christian population was divided into at least 12 denominations. 10% of the population did not speak Arabic, which included the Kurds, Turkomans and Circassians. Another 10% were roaming Bedouins who caused more devisiveness than their number would indicate. The 4 major cities with the most influence were Damascus, Homs, Hama and Aleppo.
Hafez al-Assad took power in 1970. After his death in 2000 his son, Bashar al-Assad, succeeded him as President. A surge of interest in political reform took place after Bashar al-Assad assumed power in 2000. Human-rights activists and other civil-society advocates, as well as some parliamentarians, became more outspoken during a period referred to as the "Damascus Spring" (July 2000-February 2001). Assad also made a series of appointments of reform-minded advisors to formal and less formal positions and is included a number of similarly oriented individuals in his Cabinet.
Syria was a place of arguments. During any week, a Sunni Syrian could be against the rest of the Muslims; as a Muslim, against the non-Muslims; as a pan-Arab secularist, against the religious communalists; as a Damascene against all other sections of Syria; and as a Syrian against other Arab countries. One's intense individualism could hinder their cooperation. Syria is the Arab world in microcosm; anyone who rules Syria can unite the Arabs. Basically, you can't tell a Syrian Arab what to do. He is an individualist, a leader, not a follower.
In the Bible, the land of Syria was referred to as Aram. Even back then the kings of Arab could not create a homogeneous state. The coast was settled by the Phoenicians and they had constant friction with the kingdoms of Israel and Judah until the 8th century when Syria was overrun by the Assyrians in 721 BCE. It had a Jewish population at Antioch that was important to the SELEUCID era of their rulers, but suffered from the hostility of the Greeks.
There were some Jews there in the Talmudic Period and also under Theodosius II from 408-450 CE, but their religious freedom was restricted and many synagogues were converted to churches.
The situation improved with the Arab conquest of 634 to 637 when Jews were allowed to maintain their faith but were forced to pay a poll-tax because they were considered as 2nd class citizens or Dhimmis like the Christians also were.
More Jews entered here into the Ottoman Empire after 1492's Spanish Inquisition and by the 12th century 5,000 Jews lived in Aleppo, 3,000 in Damascus, and 2,000 in Palmyra. The Jews of Spain and Sicily had found a niche in the transit trade between Europe and Asia.
Jews in recent years had been confined to their own quarter, notably in Damascus. By 1973, the number of Jews was down to 4,000 and had not changed. Syria had been consistent in their anti-Israel policy and had continued acts of hostility since it joined the Arab invasion of 1948 when Israel was re-born. "The Jews of Damascus experienced fear and discrimination after the Israeli War of Independence. In July–August 1948 the Jewish quarter was bombed and dozens of Jews were killed and injured. Its extremism was largely responsible for the SIX-DAY WAR of 1967 in the course of which Israel defeated the Syrian army and occupied the GOLAN HEIGHTS from which the Syrians had been bombarding ISRAEL communities below.
A Jewish lady from Canada, Judith Carr, a singular activist who managed to talk Assad out of letting her remove all the Jews to Brooklyn , New York since they were confined to their ghetto in Syria, and he agreed as long as she wasn't taking them to Israel. She had managed to free 3,228 Jews, mostly out of Aleppo and Damascus. Today, only a few might be left. "In an undercover operation in late 1994, 1,262 Syrian Jews were brought to Israel. The spiritual leader of the Syrian Jewish community from 1976 to 1994, Rabbi Abraham Hamra, was among those who left Syria and went to New York (and later Israel). Syria had granted exit visas on the condition that the Jews did not go to Israel. The decision to finally free the Jews came about largely as a result of pressure from the United States following the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference."
June 2, 2019, "The Israel Air Force struck several Syrian military positions in southwestern Damascus and Quneitra, killing three Syrian Armed Force (SAF) soldiers and injuring seven others, in retaliation for rockets fired earlier into northern Israel."
Syria and Russia have an alliance today. Now in its 10th year, the Syrian conflict has led to more than 500,000 deaths and displaced an estimated 13 million—over half of Syria's pre-war population. Over 6.2 million Syrians are internally displaced, and 5.6 million are refugees, predominantly in Lebanon, Jordan, and Turkey.Aug 26, 2020.
Syria's Emergency Law was in force from 1963, when the Ba'ath Party came to power, until 21 April 2011 when it was rescinded by Bashar al-Assad (decree 161). The law, justified on the grounds of the continuing war with Israel and the threats posed by terrorists, suspended most constitutional protections.
In December 2000, Assad married Asma al-Assad (née Akhras), a British citizen of Syrian origin from Acton, London. In 2001, Asma gave birth to their first child, a son named Hafez after the child's grandfather Hafez al-Assad. Their daughter Zein was born in 2003, followed by their second son Karim in 2004. Bashar is an Alawite Muslim.
Assad's sister, Bushra al-Assad, and mother, Anisa Makhlouf, left Syria in 2012 and 2013, respectively, to live in the United Arab Emirates. Makhlouf died in Damascus in 2016.
Resource:
Messages From A Syrian Jew Trapped In Egypt by Nadene Goldfoot
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/judith-carr
Middle East Past & Present by Yahya Armajani and Thomas M. Ricks
FROM TIME IMMEMORIAL by Joan Peters
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/damascus-jewish-history-tour
https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/syrian-air-defense-confront-enemy-targets-near-damascus-591333
https://www.usip.org/publications/2020/08/current-situation-syria#:~:text=Now%20in%20its%2010th%20year,Lebanon%2C%20Jordan%2C%20and%20Turkey.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Politics_of_Syria
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caucasus_campaign
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