Ediblog.com
Israel Should Support The Kurds Against Syria
By Ariel Natan Pasko
In 1982, the Syrian government carried out mass murder against it's own
citizens, killing over 20,000 people in the Syrian city of Hama. Since 1976,
Syria has occupied its neighbor to the west, Lebanon, viciously suppressing
any sparks of freedom. Now Syria has carried out a new massacre, murdering
almost 100 Kurds and arresting thousands. Israel should speak out loudly
about these Syrian atrocities, and support the Kurdish minority against
Syrian Arab violence.
It all started as riots between Arabs and Kurds at a soccer game in Qamishli
- in the northern Kurdish region of Syria or what Kurds call Western
Kurdistan - but quickly spread to several northern cities. Pro-Assad, Baath
Party loyalists responded by murdering Kurds in several towns. It's been
reported that Syrian security services conducted mass arrests. Kurdish
sources claim that some 2000 people have been detained in Damascus and
Aleppo, and that in Damascus, almost every male Kurd over the age of 16 has
been arrested.
The Kurds in Syria, Iran and in Turkey are severely repressed. In Turkey,
even their identity as Kurds is still denied; they are called Mountain
Turks. In Syria, they are denied most civil and political rights. About 2
million Kurds live in Syria. But the seething anger that exploded in
Qamishli is generated most, by the fact that almost 200,000 Kurds are denied
citizenship outright. They cannot vote, own property, go to state schools or
get government jobs. Kurds in Iran live under similar repressive conditions.
With the rise of an autonomous region in a post-Saddam federated Iraq, the
question of Kurdish rights in other parts of the region looms large.
As the discussion of "democratization" of the Middle East
continues, an important point that must be made time and time again, is the
importance in building structures that liberate the minorities of the region
from oppression. Non-Arab and Non-Muslim minorities live throughout North
Africa and the Middle East. Contrary to the propaganda that the region is
Arab/Muslim, these minorities are remnants of the indigenous peoples, before
the great Arab imperialist wars of the 7th century, and "Islamicization
process" that followed. Non-Arab Muslims like the Kurds in Iraq, Syria,
Turkey, and Iran; the Berbers - known as Amazighes - in Morocco, Algeria,
Tunisia, and Libya, have all resisted "Arabization" for over 1,000
years. Non-Muslims like the Assyrian Christians in Iraq - who argue that
they are not Arabs - the Copts in Egypt, Christian Lebanese - many who claim
not to be Arab but Phoenician - the Christians in Sudan, and other
Christians throughout the region, have been persecuted minorities, since the
rise of Islam. Others like the Druze and Jews have also been persecuted by
Arab/Muslim regimes throughout history. And we can now see, from the recent
Sunni terror attacks on Shiites in Iraq - and Bin Laden's recent statements
that Shiites are heretics - that even some Muslims - Shiites and other
non-Sunnis - are persecuted minorities in parts of the Middle East.
Only Israel, the Jewish State, has fully liberated itself - in the political
sense - from this Arab/Muslim oppression, although it still suffers from
physical violence against her people. Israel should take the lead - in it's
foreign policy - to support "democratization" and "regime
change" throughout the region. Israel shouldn't wait until countries of
the region "reform," but should pro-actively support the
legitimate aspirations of the oppressed minorities of North Africa and the
Middle East, and build alliances with them.
Kurds were brutally suppressed by Saddam's Baathist regime through his
"Arabization" program, expelling Kurds from their traditional
areas and replacing them with Arab settlers. It's no secret that close
relations existed between Israel and the Kurds throughout most of the
sixties and into the seventies, until the collapse of the Kurdish revolt in
Iraq, in 1975. Reflective of this, and that Moledet Party founder and
former leader Rechavam Ze'evi was involved in Israeli-Kurdish relations, the
1996 Moledet Party Platform, Chapter 9: Foreign Policy, paragraph 17, states
"Israel will act against the oppression of peoples like the
Kurds..." Ze'evi - as a military officer - had been to Kurdistan and
Iraqi Kurdish leader Mustafa Barzani had even been to Israel. With this in
mind, Israel should actively revive the former policy of support for the
Kurdish people.
The idea of reviving this relationship hasn't been missed by Kurds
themselves, as Kawa Bradosti wrote - in Kurdish Media - back in Sept. 2003,
"...the potential is there for Israel and the Kurds to have a much
closer relationship especially when considering the often hostile attitude
of the neighboring countries in the region both to Israel and to the Kurds.
It would be good common sense for the two nations to support each other and
to forge an alliance together."
Some might ask about Israel's relationship with Turkey, and how will active
support for the Kurds, be seen in Ankara - since Turkey also oppresses
upwards of 15 million Kurds. I believe that Israel's relationship with
Turkey is mature enough to weather the storm. I don't see Turkey throwing
tantrums at the US for its role in Iraq, helping the Kurds there. Turkey, I
believe in the long run, will come to see the benefits of a re-structured
Middle East, where the threat of Islamic radicalism and terror - also
directed at Turkey - is greatly reduced.
Turkey also has its problems with Syria. If the Kurds, Israelis, and Turks
(along with a democratic Iraq?), could come together, Syria - the bad boy of
the neighborhood - could be put in her place for good.
For a while now, I've written about Syria's oppression of the Lebanese (see
my article, "Lebanon's Real Economic Woes Are Syrian Induced").
I've written about Syria's help for the former Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq
(see my article, "Syria, UN resolution 520, and the Security
Council"). I've written about how Syria has pushed drugs, supported
terror, and needs to be forced back to its "natural" size and
influence in the region (see my articles, "Free Lebanon Now" and
"Israel, Don't Hit Hizbollah, Hit Syria!"). And in a recent
article, I've called on the Israeli government to say ("It's time for
Syria to get out of Lebanon"). Now we need to turn a magnifying glass
onto their behavior towards their Kurdish minority.
In the past I've written a survey article, "Democracy in the Middle
East," about the oppression of minorities in the region. Now I'm
calling on the Israeli government to make a policy decision to actively
support the Kurds and other minority groups, to build a non-Arab and
non-Muslim regional alliance for change.
Till now, I haven't mentioned the so-called "Palestinians," and I
won't beyond saying, that they are part of the problem, not part of the
solution. Aren't they an oppressed minority? No, as Arabs, they are part of
the greater Arab Nation who since the 7th century has conquered, oppressed,
and occupied everyone else in the Middle East and North Africa. As radical
Muslims, everyone can see that Hamas, Islamic Jihad, and the other terror
groups are continuing down the same path as Bin Laden. In fact, recently
Hamas "spiritual leader" Sheikh Yassin, has begun speaking about
the "Global Jihad" in Bin Laden and al-Qaeda type terms. Hezbollah
has also been working in the "Palestinian" administered
territories for a while already, as evidenced by Israel's recent capture of
a Hezbollah cell in Gaza. So, they are part of the regional oppression
network, not the future liberty and freedom alliance that Israel should work
to build with other minorities in the area.
Israel's Foreign Policy toward Syria should be built on the demands that it
leave Lebanon unconditionally, end it's support for Hezbollah and
"Palestinian" terror groups, dismantle it's Weapons of Mass
Destruction, and keep it's hands off the Kurds. Israel's greater regional
policy should be based on supporting the rights of minorities in the area.
Only that way, based on democratization, liberation from oppressive regimes,
and encouraging freedom, will the Middle East and North Africa be
transformed into a region worthy its millennia old history.
A pre-Arab and pre-Muslim history I might add!