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The
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The next war, Israel, Syria and Kurds
23.4.2007 |
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April 23, 2007
Today, Syria's Kurds are inspired by their brethren
in Iraq to work to achieve their rights. Like the
Iraqi Kurds, the Syrian Kurds, who have good
relations with their Arab compatriots, do not demand
independence. Rather they seek to transform Syria
from a centralized totalitarian state into a
federated democracy.
Two weeks ago a conference of Iraqi, Syrian, Turkish
and Iranian Kurds took place in Irbil, Iraq. Massoud
Barzani, the President of Iraqi Kurdistan, spelled
out the Kurdish view of Israel in an interview with
Al Arabiya.
In his words, "If [Iraq] establish[es] relations
[with Israel] we will do so publicly. There is no
reason for these relations to be kept secret,
because we are neither afraid nor ashamed of such
relations."
Barzani attacked the Iranians, Hizbullah and
Palestinians for supporting Israel's destruction,
explaining, "I am against driving Israel into the
sea…. This policy is wrong, illogical, and
unreasonable. Why annihilate a people?"
Sherkoh Abbas, who heads the Kurdistan National
Assembly of Syria from his home in the US,
participated in the conference. In a recent
conversation he explained, "Most Syrian Kurds…have
views similar to President Barzani. As Kurds we can
say that we have no issues with Israel; in fact we
are against the desire of the Ba'ath party, the
Muslim Brotherhood or terrorists to destroy Israel…
"The Kurds did not suffer by the hands of Israelis
or Jews. All or most of their sufferings were caused
by Arabs, Persians and Turks. In Syria, the Ba'ath
regime Arabized the Kurdish region, stripped 300,000
Kurds of Syrian citizenship, and killed many
Kurds.…. We do not want to fight for the Syrian
regime."
The Kurds' desire to replace the current regime with
a democratic federal government is backed by the
Syrian Reform Party, an exile group with strong ties
to the population in Syria. Farid Ghadry, a
Washington-based Syrian exile who heads the party,
believes that the Kurdish federal plan is the best
way to bring freedom to Syria.
The interests of the Kurds and the other regime
opponents align with Israel's interests in many
ways. First, Israel will benefit greatly if they
achieve their aim of democratizing Syria and
protecting minority rights by decentralizing
authority while maintaining the territorial
integrity of the country.
Centralized governments throughout the Arab world
are the primary fulminators of Arab hatred of
Israel. These regimes require a constant drumbeat of
incitement against Israel to deflect their people's
attention from their failure to provide basic
services. Decentralized governments would have
difficulty blaming the Jews for their failures.
There is widespread fear in Israel that if Assad's
regime is overthrown, it will be replaced by the
Muslim Brotherhood. This makes sense given that for
the past 30 years, the Ba'athists ensured that the
Muslim Brotherhood is the only other force in the
country with organizational and financial means. But
even so, strengthening the Kurds - who oppose jihad
- will counterbalance the Muslim Brotherhood,
whether or not the regime falls.
Turkey, too, fears Kurdish separatism. But Israeli
support for the advancement of legitimate Syrian
Kurdish rights through the cultivation of democratic
federalism rather than secession, should not concern
Ankara.
One of the reasons the Olmert-Livni-Peretz
government is taking the Arab "peace plan" seriously
in spite of the fact that it is inherently hostile
to Israel is because the government is desperate to
find allies against the Iran-Syria-Hizbullah axis.
The trouble with this gambit is that the Sunni
countries involved in the initiative act as the
Iranian-Syrian-Lebanese-Palestinian axis's support
network against Israel. The Saudis and their
colleagues have no interest in helping Israel.
In contrast, the Kurds are natural allies for Israel
with overlapping interests and values. They would be
happy to receive Israeli media and financial
support. And, if at the same time as Israel helped
broadcast Kurdish language television and radio into
Syria, it also provided the Kurds with arms to
defend themselves against Syrian aggression, the
move could potentially alter Syria's cost-benefit
analysis of war with Israel.
Even if the Syrians open hostilities, arming the
Kurds would likely muddy the waters in a manner that
would cause serious harm to Syria's war-making
capacity. How well would Syria contend with the IDF
if it were simultaneously trying to put down a
popular rebellion? And how long would the regime
survive in the aftermath of such a war?
Studying past wars is always worthwhile. But today
we must prepare for the next one.
There is an Israeli strategy for victory. If we
conduct a military strike that degrades Syria's
ability to harm us while economically weakening the
regime still further and politically supporting an
oppressed, large, pro-Israel minority, perhaps we
could avert war altogether.
At the very least, if war comes, we would win.
jpost com
** Kurds are the largest ethnic minority in Syria
making up 10% of the country's population i.e. about
two million.
Kurds in Syria often speak Kurdish in public,
unless all those present do not. Kurdish human
rights activists are mistreated and persecuted. No
political parties are allowed for any group, Kurdish
or otherwise. Suppression of ethnic identity of
Kurds in Syria include: various bans on the use of
the Kurdish language; refusal to register children
with Kurdish names; replacement of Kurdish place
names with new names in Arabic; prohibition of
businesses that do not have Arabic names; not
permitting Kurdish private schools; and the
prohibition of books and other materials written in
Kurdish.
More about Kurds in Syria - (Kurdistan-Syria)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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