Courrier international (Al-Hayat) – 10 juillet 2008 On parle à nouveau de l’éventualité d’un accord [de paix] entre la Syrie et Israël. Celui-ci normaliserait leurs relations bilatérales et permettrait le retour de la souveraineté syrienne sur le plateau du Golan, tout en permettant aux Israéliens de contrôler ses ressources aquifères. Par ailleurs, un calendrier de…
Political Reform and the Reconfiguration of National Identity in Syria
Arab Reform Initiative, 14 June 2007 Is it necessary for a conversation about cultural or social diversity in Levantine or Arab societies to be tied to another conversation about the disintegration of these societies and the risk of allowing powerful western powers a firm foothold in the area? Is there not a way to…
From Damascus, an appeal for salvation
The Daily Star, 28 October 2005 On October 16, four days after the violent death of Syrian Interior Minister Ghazi Kenaan and five days before Detlev Mehlis released his report to the United Nations on the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, several Syrian parties and individuals signed a historic document titled the…
Don’t Rush the Revolution
The New York Times, 4 June 2005 On Monday, Syria's Baath Party will begin its 10th party congress, the second since President Bashar al-Assad took power in June 2000 and the first since the only other Baathist regime, that one in Iraq, was overthrown by American forces. In many respects the outcome of the gathering…
Assad’s Forgotten Man
Reason, 5 May 2005 Syrian writer and dissident Yassin al-Haj Saleh has been one of the most daring and interesting voices coming out of Syria in recent years, and is regularly published in the weekly cultural supplement of Lebanon's daily Al-Nahar (as well as in the English-language Daily Star). It is hard to imagine that…
Was Algiers a dictators’ graveyard?
The Daily Star, 1 April 2005 Thirteen unelected Arab rulers and representatives of another nine held a "summit" in Algeria last week. The United States, the real elector of many Arab regimes, described the meeting as a "lost opportunity" and underlined there was nothing remarkable about it. For once Washington was not alone in its…
Some thoughts on the ‘American party’ in Syria
The Daily Star, 8 January 2005 Syrian attitudes toward the American election last November initially seemed contradictory. On the one hand many in the country displayed a greater than usual interest in the election itself; on the other, they displayed an inappropriately low interest in its potential results. But a closer look reveals that there…
We want to elect the American president
The Daily Star, 2 November 2004 We ought to take seriously the findings of a recent global opinion poll in 23 countries and consider joining the citizens of the world in electing the next American president. Making this proposition a reality should be very simple since it rests on a fundamental and democratic tenet: decisions…
Make counterfeit brotherhood real
The Daily Star, 13 October 2004 While Syrian democrats cannot but rejoice at the prospect of a Syrian troop withdrawal from Lebanon, they regret that the partial withdrawal that took place recently from areas south of Beirut occurred as a result of heavy American and European pressure, not in response to the wishes of the…
Explaining Syrian apathy toward Lebanon
The Daily Star, 26 August 2004 The debate currently taking place in Lebanon over the renewal or extension of the presidential mandate, and whether to amend the Lebanese Constitution to bring this about, raises only minimal interest in Syrian political circles. With the exception of a very small number of people at the very top…