Actions speak louder than words, and my support for Wikileaks and Julian Assange is more than a mere declaration. I am proud that WikiLeaks is now mirrored on my personal website and hope to have the time to write about the many dimensions of this huge story. In the meantime, please do continue to follow Cablegate, on my site and on others, and do continue to support the struggle for our freedom of information and of speech.

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If I were to summarize my article, it would be with this sentence: “It is not France, or Qatar, or Turkey which saved Syria from isolation. It is Hezbollah.”

A full perspective of the ten years in power of the Syrian president was not the intention of this paper, "Syria, or the loneliness of the long distance runner", but I was asked, as I usually am, to run through the foreign affairs which made those ten years so eventful for the Syrian leadership. This is the English original, written in July, but the paper was published in Spanish in the September-October edition of Tres Culturas (PDF to be attached shortly).


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To tweet or not to tweet, that is not the question. What to tweet, and what not to tweet, was not supposed to be the question either, but nobody in Washington thought that Alec Ross or Jared Cohen would commit the undiplomatic faux pas of not only liking something about a country they’re just supposed to disdain, but also of tweeting about it.

The irony borders on the comical; US officials, sent to preach about Internet freedom and to plead for the unblocking of numerous social networking sites, used the one site which isn’t banned to sing like birds about the place, putting Foggy Bottom in a cloud of ambiguous Twitterplomacy, and presenting it with a completely imaginary problem.

The real problem, of course, is that the US State Department has apparently begun to believe its own hype. After spinning the entire Iranian election protests into a gigantic Twitter-planned, Twitter-led and Twitter-reported revolution, it was horrified to read tweets of an entirely different nature from one of those other problematic countries … tweets which were not protesting an election or planning an uprising, but, horror of horrors, praising fancy beverages and passing on nice vibes about Syria, of all places.

The bosses of Starbucks and Star Wars were not amused and probably wished that Twitter would take down the network for immediate maintenance; come hell or high water, the road to Damascus would not pass through Silicon Valley, no siree, regardless of the mission's declared goals.

Alas, it was too late; dangerous tweets about Syrian refreshments had already surfaced on the twittersphere, and the damage to American interests was incalculable. With their tweets, US diplomats had already confirmed that Syrians consumed the same beverages and ate the same cakes as Americans did – and they even had a university! Hell, a few more days and the frappuccinos would have gotten to their heads and made them tweet that Americans and Syrians may even share similar values, perish the thought!

Clearly, these envoys had not been properly briefed about the nature of current US "engagement" with Syria, and rather than merely following their official goal of discussing Internet freedom and related developments, they embarrassed their own government by actually enjoying Syrian hospitality and taking engagement at face value.

Of course, a foreign policy (assuming there currently is something approximating an actual policy, let alone a coherent one, in Washington) which includes a Twitter doctrine can do little more than inspire musings on selective American Twitterplomacy and on the unbearable lightness of tweeting.


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"Today, Lebanon is the most hostile country to Palestinian refugees after Israel."

Why Palestinians are second-class citizens in Lebanon, by Ahmed Moor

Not much to add to this good piece which goes straight to the point from a personal perspective, except perhaps to say that the so-called vibrant democracies in the region have a lot of skeletons in their bursting closets.

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Every Tom, Dick and Harry in American government and media found the time to denounce a veteran journalist for saying something she is completely free to say, even though they couldn’t manage the strength to denounce Israel for illegally raiding a NATO member's ship, kidnapping, jailing and abusing 700 people, and murdering at least nine.

Even taking into account mainstream media’s default bias, hypocrisy and mediocrity, that’s pathetic. Had the same people peeped a word when Avigdor Lieberman (who definitely should go the hell back to where he came from!) and his vicious likes bark about deporting natives from Palestine, or when other journalists, writers, commentators and reporters unashamedly do Israel's dirty slandering of an entire nation and lying on a daily basis, then maybe they would not look so stupid pouncing on Thomas like that.


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The next 9 aid ships to Gaza should be named after each of the martyrs of the Mavi Marmara, and be escorted by the Turkish navy. Intercept that, Israel.

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Unmissable clip to be watched, read and spread widely. Probably the first time you're able to laugh while watching the creep speaking!

Inside the mind of Mark Regev




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These brave men were executed by Israel, with 30 bullets at close range, most of them in the head.



Rest in peace, you died heroes and will never be forgotten.




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It's been hard to follow all the commentary on the latest Israeli massacre, and to know where to start responding. When asked to contribute to the New York Times' Room For Debate (always managing to get away with double the suggested word count), I chose to focus on the fact that the siege didn't begin with Hamas, and that Israel wouldn't even hesitate to hurt its closest allies when it wants to.


The US Must Rein In Israel

Rime Allaf, a Syrian writer, is an international consultant and an associate fellow at Chatham House in London. She blogs at Mosaics.

It usually takes a high number of Palestinian deaths for the news media to deem the tragedy worth reporting. Unfortunately, regular killings of Palestinians by the Israeli army — or by Israeli settlers — are unnoticed and unmourned.

Likewise, the fate of 1.5 million Palestinians in Gaza (and 2.5 million Palestinians in the West Bank) has been all but ignored by governments too. Had it not been for the deadly Israeli raid on the Freedom Flotilla, it too would have been lost in a sea of forgotten humanitarian initiatives whose declared mission is not only to deliver aid to a desperate population besieged for the past three years, but also to break the inhuman Israeli (and Egyptian-assisted) blockade that no other government has supported as legal, let alone justified.

The killing of non-Palestinian civilians is not even close to being the worst atrocity committed by Israel; the resulting global outrage, however, is the clearest message yet that Israel’s actions have gone beyond the debatable, the justifiable, or the so-called disproportionate.

We all know that the time has come to hold Israel accountable for its deeds, that only the United States can do it and that most nations would cheer the end of Israel’s growing impunity. Forcing Israel to adhere to international law is not an option but an imperative: either Israel complies with international conventions and a regional modus vivendi, or it bears the consequences and endures sanctions like any other country.

The mantra about security and laments that Israel has no partners with whom to make peace have lost their punch. Long before Hamas even dreamed of electoral victory, Israel had already besieged the first Palestinian president. Yasser Arafat, who delivered the Oslo Accord to Israel, was under house arrest for years in humiliating and dangerous conditions, until his death, in a compound ruined by Israeli bombings. During Arafat’s tenure, Israel destroyed most of the Palestinian infrastructure (including the Gaza airport) financed by the international community and rejected a unanimous peace initiative from 22 Arab nations while continuing settlements on occupied land.

The problem, therefore, is not just Gaza, and it’s not just Hamas. Nor is it, for all its transgressions, the current Likud government, as Israel has a history of impunity even with its greatest supporters. It has often embarrassed allies when carrying out assassinations around the world (recently killing Hamas official Mahmoud Mabhouh in Dubai by agents holding fake British and other European passports). Moreover, Israel attacks its allies directly when it suits its purposes; perhaps because Congress never even asked for an inquiry, Americans seem to have forgotten Israel’s bombing of the USS Liberty in June 1967, killing 34 and wounding 171 U.S. navy servicemen.

The point is that there is a pattern to Israeli behavior that transcends governmental leanings or ideologies: for decades, Israel has been allowed to flout U.N. resolutions demanding its withdrawal from Arab territories, to violate other nations’ sovereignty and to commit war crimes — without consequences. The raid on the ships heading to Gaza was just another transgression, but the solution is not in Gaza itself.

Removing the Gaza blockade from the greater context of the Palestinian question is ludicrous and self-defeating. If Israel lived by international law, the security for the entire Levant would not be an issue anymore, nor would civilized nations be forced to renege on their own laws and principles in permitting the collective suffering of an entire nation to continue. The first step, undoubtedly, is to free Gaza unconditionally. The second, undoubtedly, is to enforce U.N. resolutions, thereby freeing Arab lands from occupation and setting the scene for a peaceful settlement.

For this to happen, the U.S. must rein in Israel.


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It's been nearly a year since I've posted on my blog, and there are reasons for that absence. Although this blog's archives only go back to September 2004, I've been blogging since 2003 (I think I'm even the first Syrian blogger, as far as I know), practically uninterrupted save for several breaks not exceeding a few weeks.

There is no denying that the ease of tweeting and of linking on social networks has increased the frequency of my Twitter and especially Facebook comments; in comparison, my blogging has mostly been composed of longer and more studied entries, which got longer over time, especially when I became a mother and had less time in between posts. In fact, a number of posts on this blog were full fledged articles which I would have normally published outside my website.

But Facebook and Twitter are not the cause for my sudden departure. The truth is that the repercussions of my last post were much greater than I imagined, on myself and on my relations with a number of people, so deep was my involvement and my commitment to the safety of the little girl for whom I wrote and widely spread the appeal.

I received countless emails, messages, questions and offers of help, for which I am grateful. I owe many answers to many people, but above all I owe apologies for having been overwhelmed by events, and for having allowed the pettiness and nastiness of quite a few individuals to affect me.

I couldn’t start blogging again without mentioning the major post-appeal developments; after that, it’s back to normal.

Suffice it to say that the behavior of some acquaintances shocked me, in their sudden quest to lead an imagined "Project Khawla" now that the story – through my appeal - had gotten the attention of the highest authorities, when in fact what was needed was speedy action. Suffice it to say that the behavior of self-described selfless activists on social networks went beyond the ridiculous as they strived to show that only they were doing anything worthy, pushing aside with contempt any other endeavor, especially one which actually got results.

Never mind all that. What matters is that the little girl is now much better, and that she has received the medical attention her situation warranted. Her convalescence was steady, and she has a very high chance of full recovery, God willing.

Five days after my appeal, the President and the First Lady of Syria paid a personal visit to the little girl and her family, in their house in Aleppo, and committed publicly to her care. This would not have happened in another country, not so quickly, not so warmly, and the presidential couple showed ultimate grace and compassion in their unique embrace of this little girl, and of the tragedy which befell her.

For this amazing development, I am indebted to Dr. Fawaz Akhras for having acted upon my appeal within hours, and for having graciously informed me of what would be done to save the little girl. Thank you, for everything!

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4-year old Syrian girl, gang-raped and left for dead, in desperate need of critical operations


This is an urgent appeal for help following a horrific crime committed on a little girl in Syria, whose survival and future lies in our collective hands. I implore you all to read carefully, to spread as widely as possible, and to help in any way possible with donations, suggestions for immediate help, medical and psychological support, and long-term treatment.


Khawla, a little girl in urgent need of our help


On June 28, 2009, 4-year old Khawla went to a wedding with her parents, near the industrial city in Aleppo, Syria. As is often the case in conservative circles, women were in one hall and men in another. Khawla asked her mother if she could go buy a fizzy drink (“kazoz”); not carrying any money, Khawla’s mother told her to go ask her father for some. As she made her way to the men’s hall on the second floor, a young man stopped Khawla to ask where she was going. When she explained, he told her to follow him and he would buy her the drink himself.

Having lured Khawla to a dirt mound meters away from the wedding hall, the man (whose father owned the building) and three of his friends threw Khawla to the ground, on her back, and savagely proceeded to rape her, beating her and slapping her in an attempt to silence her screams. As the blood ran down her legs after two of the men had already raped her, they turned her over, throwing her face down to let the other two men rape her from behind. When they were done, they threw mounds of earth, dirt and garbage on the little girl, attempting to cover her fully. They then went back to the wedding hall, attempting to mislead the search party that would later be looking for the little girl.

Khawla was found a few hours later, after a long search which began when her parents realized she was missing and gave the alert, calling the police. She had been nearly completely buried, with only her head still showing; she was bleeding profusely, in terrible pain and in an indescribable state of shock.


In despair, Khawla’s parents attempted to get their wounded and traumatized daughter to hospital, but several hospitals refused to admit the girl in spite of the emergency, and even to administer urgent basic first aid. In her grave state, Khawla was shockingly turned away from Razi Hospital, University Hospital, Kindi Hospital, and Bassel Hospital. As yet, none of these have been reprimanded for their irresponsible behavior in refusing assistance to an emergency case. In the Maternity Hospital, the fifth one Khawla’s parents tried, basic first aid was finally given to the girl, but she was again sent away to the Children’s Hospital, which she reached 9 hours after the crime, and where she was promptly taken into the operating room for an initial procedure.


Khawla’s medical condition is very worrying; the savagery of the rape has left her with significant perineal injuries, and extreme damage to her digestive and reproductive systems. Already, Khawla has been fitted with a colostomy bag. Khawla will need major colostomy and reconstructive surgery later, amongst other procedures which doctors have described as being delicate and dangerous. So far, the first emergency procedure has not even succeeded in preventing urine or stools from leaking internally, putting Khawla’s life in danger. Reports have indicated that the hospital currently treating Khawla is ill equipped to deal with such dangerous conditions, with the doctors struggling to deal with the severe internal damage done to Khawla, and to prepare for the long term physical consequences.


Khawla’s psychological state is just as desperate, leaving no doubt that she will need treatment and counselling for many years. Until now, she has screamed every time someone tried to approach her, necessitating general anaesthesia even for simple check-ups by the doctors. She is still in a state of shock, unable to speak except to repeat the words “his mother sells kazoz” in reference to the man who led her to the rape. While they are struggling to respond to Khawla’s physical needs, there is no reason to even hope that any of the local doctors or nurses are trained to handle such violent cases of child gang-rape. For the time being, Khawla has received no treatment to ease her trauma.


In spite of the gravity of her condition which continues to get worse, Khawla has been taken home to rest in preparation for a further dangerous operation. The family’s very modest situation and poor financial means, added to a complete disregard of the case by concerned authorities and by most Syrian media outlets which could have led a fund raising campaign, are ill omens for her physical, social and psychological rehabilitation.

In the absence of an established, transparent society or NGO able to adopt Khawla’s case and to take over her treatment, Khawla’s father has been asked to open a bank account in his own name, so that donors who wish to can contribute to her long road to recovery. I will post the details as soon as I receive them. In the meantime, any help or advice regarding Khawla’s case will be most gratefully accepted and directed to her family, as will suggestions and offers for her repatriation to countries where relevant and experienced medical centers would be willing to welcome her.

Thank you for your kind attention, and for acting promptly on this urgent appeal for help.

Sincerely,

Rime





The site where Khawla was raped


Sources: I have written the above from all the information made available to me from various sources, and from the following articles.

Cham Press report on Khawla

Syria-Event report on Khawla

Facebook Support Group for Khawla, created and maintained by Faten Ali and Hassein Ma, both very active in spreading awareness in the Arabic online community

Orient TV interview with Khawla's father

Online Petition demanding punishment for Khawla's persecutors, who were immediately caught (3 on the same night, the 4th on the next day) and who confessed to their unspeakable crime.


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He tried to Heal The World. Now he is gone, but His Music Will Live Forever




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A lot remains unsaid in this piece, but people who know my writings and comments will already know where I stand on the regimes I don't mention here. The "moderates" are even worse than the "radicals" and I cannot respect those who claim they stand for freedom or revolution when their main backer is a regime like Saudi Arabia.

This is about Iran and Arab nationalists who praise the Iranian regime (and other "radicals") simply because it supports their main cause. From this week's Bitterlemons International, published today.


The dilemma of Arab nationalists
Rime Allaf


While the entire word is gripped with the political turmoil in Iran, its closest neighbors have been collectively pretending not to notice there really is a problem at all. At first unable to contain their enthusiasm with the opposition to a regime they've collectively hated for 30 years, various official media outlets have mellowed their tone and practically reverted to the "domestic Iranian matter" line.

And yet Iran's problem is everyone's problem in so many ways. Since the advent of the Islamic Republic in a revolution that swept the Shah from power, most Arab countries have at best been uneasy neighbors to Iran, and at worst aggressors. The Iranians had barely begun to come to terms with the fact of having dismissed the Shah when the proxy wars against them began in earnest.

Fighting the dirty war of the bloc of superpowers arming him, Saddam Hussein attacked Iran and bled both countries dry for eight years, especially once the full impact of the US's dual containment policy was felt. No wonder the Iranians didn't warm to their neighborhood. Apart from Syria, which particularly enjoyed the fall of one of Israel's greatest allies and was united with Iran in a common hatred of Saddam Hussein, Arab countries were predominantly hostile.

Arab wariness stemmed less from the fact of the Iranian revolution than the banner under which it was fought. That the powerful, well-armed and internationally supported Shah could fall so easily was one thing: that the revolutionaries did it in the name of Islam was another. For the first time in centuries, two rival blocs faced off to claim leadership of a huge global Muslim community. Both also sat on large oil resources that helped finance their new activism, supporting numerous groups with political and religious agendas. These confronting alignments have now endured for decades, creating a complex set of relations, that it is crucial to understand as an introduction to the way forward, when some Arabs are now more pro-Iranian regime than before, in direct opposition to the critics siding with the "moderate" group.

The mutual animosity between the competing Iranian and Arab regimes, seeping through their respective media outlets, has been evident for years, especially since the invasion of Iraq. Unfortunately, the animosity has filtered down to the popular level, fuelled by inflammatory rhetoric (mostly from the anti-Iranian side) and turning anti-Iranian positions into anti-Shi'ite ones, exacerbated by Iraq and Lebanon and the ongoing Arab-Israel conflict or, more correctly, the Palestinian cause.

There is no doubt that Israel plays a role in this divide, being in fact the lowest common denominator. With the Iranian regime (alongside Syria) openly supporting the so-called radical elements of the Palestinian resistance, and with Saudi Arabia having sided with the so-called moderate Palestinian Authority, Arabs actively opposing Israel have made their choice. The situation is even more pronounced in Lebanon, where the resistance to Israel is the sole domain of Hizballah, a militant group whose umbilical tie to Iran seems to trump most other considerations.

Today, tens of thousands of Iranians are protesting against their regime, officially because of a dubious election which even authorities admit had irregularities, and unofficially because many of them are vying for a relaxation of the strict rules that govern their lives. Importantly, many have expressed their specific distaste for Mahmoud Ahmadinezhad's needlessly confrontational stances, his foreign policy and his absurd habit of putting into doubt the history of the Holocaust--all of which has only made their isolation more pronounced.

For many Iranians, popular Arab support for Ahmadinezhad remains unpalatable and unforgivable. It makes little sense to them that people who support freedom and self-determination for one people (the Palestinians, for instance) would also support a leader whose domestic rule has been controversial to say the least. Increasingly, young Iranians are expressing anti-Arab sentiments based mostly on their regime's support of Hizballah (and to a lesser extent Hamas).

Arab nationalists, and Arab liberals to a certain extent, have a serious problem. With the noble causes they espouse, they should technically be equally critical of such regimes. And yet, because of the Iranian regime's staunch support for Palestinian groups and for the Palestinian cause in general, many Arabs have spared Ahmadinezhad and his regime from the stinging reproaches they extend to other rulers.

Is the enemy of our enemy necessarily our friend, regardless of other factors? Have we become so desperate for support for the Palestinian cause that we would become bedfellows with the least savory of characters? This is not the first time this would have happened. Saddam Hussein, the tyrant who oppressed his own people for decades, acted so magnanimously with Palestinians that Yasser Arafat chose to side with Iraq after its invasion of Kuwait, with disastrous consequences for Palestinians. Likewise, the farcical Muammar Qadhafi remained a vocal supporter of the Palestinian cause while his own people suffered. Many critics of Arab regimes also fall silent on Syria, precisely because of its vocal support for the various militant groups.

Arab nationalists have often explained themselves on this thorny issue, arguing that the choice of allies was dictated by the magnitude of the Palestinian problem and all the issues still touching on Israel. Unfortunately, this position has created huge resentment from the people ruled by the likes of Saddam Hussein, and anti-Palestinian sentiment was common for a long time. Similarly, the antics of Ahmadinezhad have been completely counterproductive, detrimental to the Palestinian cause and resented by many Iranians.

There must come a point when supporters of freedom for Palestinians, under a brutal military occupation and living in much worse conditions than most people, must take the same stand for others, even if the latter live in relatively milder conditions. Until then, we must not be surprised when Iranians, like Iraqis before them, stop caring about fundamental causes, no matter how righteous.- Published 25/6/2009 © bitterlemons-international.org

Rime Allaf is an associate fellow at Chatham House, London.

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My op-ed today for the New York Times online, Room for Debate, for the current edition titled The Arab World Reacts (or Doesn't). The NYT chose to call my piece "Insult to Injury," my own title being as in the blog title above.


Insult to Injury

It has practically become the norm for Arab people and the regimes that rule over them to have different reactions to big events happening in the region. This is also the case with Iran, but in very different ways.

For the most part, unelected regimes first watched, with unmistakable satisfaction, the self-claimed righteousness of their hated rival disintegrate in full view of their people and the world. Having always branded itself as being more democratic, popular and especially more legitimate than any Arab regime could ever be, the founders of the Islamic Republic were now openly challenged and exposed as frauds.

This schadenfreude comes to a tentative halt, however, with the regimes’ collective allergy to popular movements demanding freedom, especially peaceful ones in which every move and every cry is instantly transmitted in this era of digital communication. In each Arab country, people and regimes are surely wondering: Could this happen here? Is the courage of these young Iranians an incentive to follow, or does the Islamic regime’s repression curb enthusiasm for freedom?

Images like the distressing video immortalizing Neda Agha-Soltan as she lay dying in Tehran, inexplicably murdered, have also triggered conflicting emotions and sad questions on whether she died in vain. With so many people not actively espousing the position of any side, reluctant to shake a status quo, which, for all its problems, remains safer than the alternatives seen from Iraq to Afghanistan, the burden of experience is heavy. Dissent of any kind — even mild civil disobedience — has been brutally repressed throughout the Arab world replete with its own religious rulings, kangaroo courts and sham elections.

To add insult to injury, not only has people’s self-determination never received the backing of the international community, it has also been suppressed with the blessing of the world’s superpowers, eager to keep friendly regimes in power.

This is perhaps why Arab reactions to Iranians’ turmoil have been somewhat subdued. If the Iranians are so strongly supported in their quest for freedom, they wonder, why have Arabs’ own struggles been ignored, their own suffering been dismissed and their own Nedas been nameless? Why were Arabs’ own cries invoking God incessantly reported, in English, as calls to “Allah” in a perceived attempt to further alienate them, as if they believed in a different god, while Iranian cries of “Allahu akbar” have been correctly translated as “God is great” and repeated in unison by twitterers around the world?

With the wounds of Israel’s war on Gaza still open, many Arabs are particularly stunned that the indifference with which Palestinians deaths were received has turned into an international solidarity campaign for Iranians throwing rocks at their oppressors and shouting “we have become Palestine.”

For all the similarities joining the fate of Arab and Iranian people, the general occidental approach, including by mainstream news media and now by social media outlets, has been to differentiate between them. But if anyone can empathize with Iran’s frustrated youth, it is those who continue to live nearby with broken dreams, stifled by oppressive regimes that, with minor exceptions, need not worry about international condemnation. While the Arab and Iranian people continue to share aspirations, some regimes remain more equal than others.

Rime Allaf is a Syrian writer, an international consultant and an associate fellow at Chatham House in London. She blogs at Mosaics.


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Israel is abusing and torturing hundreds of jailed Palestinian children, some as young as 12! Many were jailed simply for throwing stones at the occupier.

Where is the international community's outcry?



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Please watch, distribute, and pray for all the innocent babies, children, women and men left to die a slow death in their Gaza ghetto, held prisoner by Israel and Egypt as the world ignores them.

"Collaborate or die!": Gaza: No Right to Life

“I put these curtains up to decorate the tent and to give my kids a sense of home”: Gaza: The Destitute and the Forgotten

Thank you to The Guardian for allowing the truth to be shown on its site.

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A short, and quick reaction to Barack Obama's speech in Cairo today. (The title is the choice of the New York Times.)


For Syria, a Disappointing Speech

The chorus of self-congratulatory and mutually satisfied remarks is already growing loud across the Atlantic, but the essence of Barack Obama’s promised truth-telling speech has been less than historic and rather selective.

Even if we were able to contain “the Muslim world” into specific cultural, social or geographical parameters, it is unlikely that President Obama’s intended audience was swept off its feet. Charismatic and eloquent on his own merit, and certainly in comparison to his predecessor, President Obama has yet to veer very far from the policy path taken by the Bush administration.

Granted, President Obama had a delicate task in trying to satisfy contrasting audiences: friendly regimes, including his hosts, were reassured that democracy would not be imposed, but the masses were given small consolations with reminders on human rights. Presidents of superpowers, however, should not expect praise for stating the obvious, for recounting historical anecdotes or for paying respect to the world’s big religions; Islam’s tremendous contributions to Western thought and development are not a matter of opinion, and quotations from its holy book, the Quran, are unimpressive.

Unfortunately, the double standards of American foreign policy, especially in the Middle East, have remained at the crux of official rhetoric. Many will have heard a patronizing address, with an American president preaching, again, about what they must do and about the facts they must accept. The reference to Iran’s nuclear ambitions, for example, would have resonated more strongly had President Obama dared to speak of Israel’s extensive nuclear arsenal. Remorse about Iraq, instead of dubious claims of achievement there, would have earned him some credibility.

In the Arab world, there was much hope that the carte blanche the Bush administration had given Israel would be withdrawn. While President Obama does speak of the generic suffering of Palestinians, he does it without committing to anything not already approved by his predecessor and merely reiterated his demand that Palestinians alone (and not Israel) renounce violence. He speaks of a Palestinian state, but not of U.N. resolutions defining its basic formation, nor of the central issue of Palestinian refugees and their right of return, granted by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. In effect, the only real problem Barack Obama seems to have with Israel is that of “continued settlements” and not actual occupation or disposession. Even the Arab Peace Initiative was deemed insufficient, and he admonished Arabs for their “self-defeating focus on the past” without offering a comprehensive solution.

It is especially from Damascus that disappointment will be felt by those who expected differently. The long-awaited outreach to Syria would have been a perfect component of the speech, and a lucid demonstration of the U.S. president’s promised change. As a key party in the Arab-Israeli conflict, its Golan still occupied by Israel, the half a million Palestinian refugees and two million Iraqi refugees crowded within its borders, Syria surely should have been part of President Obama’s new beginning.

It’s a pity Barack Obama didn’t truly make a historical break with past American foreign policy while the entire Arab and Muslim world was listening, and willing to reciprocate.

Rime Allaf is a Syrian writer, an international consultant and an associate fellow at Chatham House in London. She has her own blog.


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There has been mounting dissent, by email and in person, about my relative silence on the blog after so many years of active writing, and I even get complaints about only posting articles and not real blog entries! Tough crowd. In my defense, apart from the delights of mothering a very active toddler and the other things that make days fly, I have also been busy on other forums: if you roam on Facebook or chat on Twitter, for instance, your posting propensity tends to decrease after a while. I didn’t want to succumb to the multiple posting tools, but I may just do that – and then my gems on the evil Facebook would be readable even in banned places. Now that I like.

Speaking of bans, one of the paragraphs in the following article did not meet the approval of the censors in Syria, even though it merely mentions a reality which itself has been ridiculed in numerous televised comedies, from Maraya to Spotlight. Feel free to check the link to compare, it’s not really worth it.

The point I was trying to make is an important one, and I’ve been making it privately for years. There should be more Syrians in reputable think tanks, and they should be encouraged to speak independently, because toeing the line actually does Syria no favors. I cannot begin to count the number of times I have found myself facing not Israelis, but Arabs attacking anything having to do with Syria. It is often my regional peers (well, from Lebanon mostly, and from Egypt as well) who expend the most energy on the subject, trying to explain that the only problems in the region are Syria and Iran. It sometimes shocks me to discover they have come prepared, using some of my articles as ammunition against me, turning statements about a given Syrian situation into "proofs" of my seemingly misguided opinions.

They simply cannot fathom the novel idea that someone in a prestigious think tank (like me) who is an ardent critic of regimes in the region (like me) and a supporter of numerous civil society positions (like me) and a passionate defender of the Palestinian cause (like me) can also calmly argue about the position of a state like Syria, its interests, its rights, and its concerns. Imagine that.



Thinking inside the tank: Syria should join the club

Rime Allaf - May 2009
Syria Today

“Peut-on désirer sans souffrir?” was not a mere lament about the possibility (or not) of desiring without suffering, but an important illustration of the phenomenal tradition of logic, or perfecting the art of thinking, in France.

Every year, for that most distinguishable of French institutions, the Baccalaureate, thousands of students start their set of written exams with a good dose of philosophy, a compulsory subject for all branches. For four hours, choosing one of three questions, they attempt to respond in the manner they hope will merit a high passing grade – not by giving a correct answer, but by presenting correct reasoning and logical argumentation.

The selection of questions is announced on televised news and published on front pages, provoking nationwide debates over the next days and reinforcing the strength of France’s Cartesian tradition. Last year, choices included the questions “Does art transform our conscience of reality?” for scientific students, “Is it easier to know another than to know oneself?” for economic and social studies students, “Can one love a work of art without understanding it?” for technology students and, for literary students, “Is a scientific knowledge of the living possible?” Regardless of their opinion on the various matters, or even of the degree of their interest, many students easily write dissertations of more than 10 pages, explaining their thought process and why they arrived at a particular answer.


I think, therefore I am

Years of studying how to think have armed these students with tools supposed to take them through their academic, professional, social and personal life. Having learned how to think independently, exposed to a multitude of sources and given the opportunity to make educated arguments, they become better able to detect, diagnose and deal with issues facing them. They also become better communicators.

What the French take for granted, however, remains the realm of the unknown for most of their peers elsewhere, especially in our region. Following an educational regimen that favours memorising over understanding, that rewards conformity over initiative and that penalises independent thinking and deviations from the straight path, they will never be as well-equipped to think about situations or to solve problems.

This is exacerbated by an even worse phenomenon: the exaggerated praise of superiors, or of would-be superiors, and the practice of simply saying what they think (often rightly) the latter want to hear. With so much time and effort spent on preparing to say what others want to hear, there is hardly any time or desire left for thinking and acting on these thoughts. This is bad enough when considering the personal dimension of this sorry habit, but it takes the magnitude of a plague when taken on the social and national level.


Filling the tanks

Actions speak louder than words, goes the proverbial saying, but the word, and the thought behind it, have been receiving prime-time attention in recent years. Never since Plato’s Academy – thought to have been the world’s first think tank – has there been such interest in the institutions that gladly label themselves as such. Flourishing over the world, with preponderance in Europe and the United States, they cover the spectrum of political positions from left to right, with varying degrees of independence and varying degrees of influence over coveted circles.

Whether they were thinkers in the time of Plato and Aristotle, trying to influence the workings of society and therefore of the state’s politicians, or whether they are actual political activists driving for tangible change, they and their think tanks aim to make a difference. To this end, they follow, analyse, write about and discuss the ideas and events they want, through publications, meetings, conferences, lectures and media coverage.

Respected institutions have no fast track to respectability, and influential fellows no quick way to influence; positions of authority come with patience and ideologues have spent much time, effort and money over the past decades to seep through the mainstream political arena and overtake their opponents’ argumentation. It’s not necessarily a labour of love, but it is labour and it is necessary. It’s uncertain, however, that the Arab world has understood this.


Arabs in search of influence

On the bright side, many Arab countries have joined the think tank club, managing to spread some papers, market some conferences and present some researchers. On a less bright side, most of these tanks are mere spokespersons for the people or for the entities sponsoring them and paying their salaries. This would be problematic enough in a domestic context, but it becomes much more serious on a worldwide scale if credibility is tainted by association to various authorities or institutions. In order to make a difference where it matters, the Arab world has a lot of work to do.

Firstly, there is a distance that it is nearly impossible to bridge while established institutions spread a general anti-Arab (and pro-Israeli) rhetoric. This is especially difficult in the aftermath of 9/11, where the Arab-Islamic world has been thrown into a contrived civilisation clash. Secondly, there are too few Arabs in the think tanks strong enough to make a difference. For the time being, even with the scarcity of think tanks in the region, there are more think tanks in the Arab world than there are Arabs in the think tank world.

Syria’s particular case is worthy of study, and of improvement. While a number of Arab countries have managed to produce research centres, think tanks and various other societies and centres, Syria remains practically invisible on the think tank map. More importantly, while neighbours are found abundantly in institutions around the world, the number of Syrians there could be counted on one hand – with fingers to spare.

As a fellow in one of the world’s most reputed think tanks, I have often met peers from Arab countries, but rarely from my own. In fact, it has been easy for a discourse antagonistic to Syria to spread in think tank circles, with papers and meetings expanding on a general Neocon/pro-Israeli approach, disregarding the big picture of Syria’s regional interests.

Such a limited presence is not conducive to much influence and it calls for decisive action by Damascus to promote various nationals who could also compete in the world. There are times when differences of opinion on internal affairs are best left aside in order to confront a bigger problem coming from outside; consequently, various Syrian thinkers, academics, intellectuals, researchers and other national assets should be getting greater exposure on the think tank circuit, joining the outnumbered Syrians there and offering a considered, cogent and coherent perspective.


Don’t think of an elephant

In his seminal pamphlet on the power of framing (fantastically titled Don’t Think of an Elephant) and numerous writings on cognitive linguistics and metaphors, George Lakoff has explained how conservatives in the US worked for decades on spreading their ideas, having framed the debate with careful language, and even invested in building the infrastructure (the think tanks) and filling it with people picked from graduate schools. With time, funds and consistency, they reached the pinnacle of political influence as their opponents struggled to gain traction with more liberal agendas.

This is the kind of serious discipline needed for a country like Syria, which needs a long-term approach to alter fundamental opposition to its interests, and which needs to accept and embrace the voices already doing this independently. Added to changes in educational practices, instilling a French-style thinking process in new generations, there is no reason why Syrians themselves cannot frame the debate, or at least be trained to ignore the elephant while convincingly arguing their case. It’s a tough job, but somebody’s got to do it.

Rime Allaf is an international consultant and an Associate Fellow at London's Chatham House. She blogs at www.rimeallaf.com/mosaics/index.php


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Our Nakba, 61 today.

Everyone's been talking about tracks: Syrian track, Palestinian track, which track first, track this, track that. Suddenly, we're supposed to be hopeful about Obama's plan, which he will apparently bestow on us in a few weeks from Cairo, and which Abdullah of Jordan has begun marketing. 57 state solution? 57 minus one, of course.

Obama's alleged plan is a disaster. The only solution is to Get off the beaten tracks and back into the matchbox. That's the UN, and that's where the only international community that counts has repeatedly supported the Palestinian cause.


Get off the beaten tracks and back into the matchbox

By Rime Allaf

Only a few decades ago, it would have been relatively simple to explain the Arab-Israel conflict to the most uninformed visitor: Arab land had been invaded, occupied and even annexed by Israel (the latter claiming ever more loudly to be acting in self-defense with every act of aggression), even though UN resolutions clearly defined the legal parameters of the admissible and set the date of June 4, 1967 as the starting point of redemption. It was obvious that land had to be returned in exchange for peace, an idea put to practice in the Camp David agreement between Egypt and Israel.

Today, it is difficult to know where to begin explaining how things went wrong and why the alliances of yesteryear have morphed into the strangest partnerships of "moderate" Arab states (notwithstanding extremist clerics laying down the law) opposing "radical" ones (that happen to remain vocally anti-Israel) supporting different Palestinian parties. The equation of land for peace, as inadequate as it may have been for implying a concession from Israel, has given way to peace for peace, with a growing list of prerequisites and guarantees demanded from Israel's victims who now wait on separate tracks.

Before Israel and its allies started linking all regional events to Iran, they had marketed their obsession with Iraq, making it the lowest common denominator in these equations. Working up from the war of 1991 (the liberation of Kuwait), the men who would be kings planned the steady process meant to provoke a clean break for securing the realm, a model presented to the current Israeli prime minister, Binyamin Netanyahu, during his time in office in 1996.

Today, with the invasion and occupation of Iraq, the attempted isolation of Syria and two destructive wars unleashed by the Israeli war machine on Lebanon and Gaza, it seems that securing the realm has been the one on track, at the expense of all the peace tracks that were supposed to be explored, mostly at Israel's convenience. Having nearly reached the declared destination on the Syrian track in 2000, Israel quickly retraced its steps and jumped with wild abandon onto the Palestinian track, navigating the perilous stages of due "painful concessions" through emergency exits, thoughtfully provided in the American roadmap bestowed after a vision by Bush.

Years of a peace process with no due process have taken their toll on the most wretched of victims, standing by the tracks and watching the stationary peace train gathering dust. The very fact that the word track has become an integral part of "peace talk" should alert us to the absurdity of the situation. It doesn't take an expert to realize that the concept of tracks is at odds with that of a comprehensive peace settlement; nor does it take an expert to conclude that the partition of interlocutors into more manageable teams--in the true spirit of divide and conquer--speaks volumes about intentions.

Israel has spent the last decades, alas mostly successfully, dividing Arabs. In its defiance of every legal and moral restriction imposed by man or God, Israel enforced separate tracks to foil a comprehensive peace agreement, lest it be cornered into actually ceding Arab land it acquired unlawfully, into accepting Palestinians' right of return and compensation that it has negated despite every universal declaration or binding resolution, and into recognizing Jerusalem's position as Palestinian also.

There is nothing Israel has disdained more than international agreements, or, even worse, reconciliation proposals. In 2002, in response to the Arab Peace Initiative adopted by all Arab League members during their summit in Beirut, Israel unleashed its fiercest assault yet on Palestinians in the West Bank, killing hundreds, destroying millions worth of infrastructure and brazenly putting the Palestinian president under a siege from which he would only emerge on his deathbed. Having delivered the Oslo accords, Yasser Arafat had outlived his usefulness and Israel needed a constant enemy.

This is why one should only feel suspicion and alarm at the sudden re-emergence of a comprehensive peace plan about which Israel seems receptive, regardless of the official declarations of a government that refuses to recognize Palestine's right to exist, or of the racist aspirations of a foreign minister wined and dined in Europe's capitals.

In a second address inside a Muslim world he seems eager to convince, but to which he has not yet delivered a coherent message, President Obama is to announce a new Middle East initiative, one even worse than all its predecessors. From Cairo, Obama will peddle a peace proposal offering Israel normalization with the Arab and Muslim worlds (an idea that the Jordanian king has dutifully marketed as the 57-state solution, whose alternative is war, presumably by Israel, in the next 18 months), but more importantly a normalization that would not depend on negotiations on the Palestinian issue. In other words, as Palestinians continue to despair, alone, and as Gaza struggles under an Israeli blockade, Israel would be offered a ticket for a smooth ride with current foes.

This would be a disaster for the Palestinian cause, which has continued to decline with each peace agreement Israel has deigned accept. Sixty-one years after the catastrophe of Palestinian dispossession, it beggars belief that the world's only superpower still needs to cajole the country in breach of the most United Nations resolutions and in contravention of every law on weapons of mass destruction. Likewise, it beggars belief that the UN itself daren't even publish a full report about Israel's attacks on its own sites and personnel, let alone on the civilians it is supposed to feed, shelter and protect. If there is one place that should have retained credibility, and that should be regarded as the most honest of brokers, it is the United Nations.

Until now, discussions hovered between two main tracks: the Palestinian and the Syrian. With Obama's entrance into the peace game, for it seems to be nothing but a game to Israel and its friends, these tracks will merely give way to one superhighway, and one miserable side road that Israel will be free to continue ignoring, thereby pushing dispossessed Palestinians into a point of no return. Bringing the added injustice of total desertion of the Palestinian cause, the Obama doctrine seems destined to failure.

The Arab-Israel conflict will not be solved in the Oval Office, but in the matchbox, under the protection of the real international community, the General Assembly. For now, however, despite the guiding principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, some states at the UN remain more equal than others.- Published 14/5/2009 © bitterlemons-international.org

Rime Allaf is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House, London.


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Aren't they adorable together? You have to wonder why they're being so shy about it.




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They have hasbara, of varying quality, and we have maskhara, in more than one way, including (but not limited to):

Egypt invites Lieberman to visit, despite threats boycott threats

Jumblatt seeks to appease Christians After 'Insulting' and 'Unintentional' Remarks on Maronites

A million Arab journalists

The list is long and can be updated on a daily basis, especially with certain official "news" agencies and holier-than-thou ministries. I couldn't be bothered to go beyond the million Arab journalists, but please do not feel restrained in ridiculing Saudi media yourself (as long as you also ridicule media in Syria, Egypt, Jordan, etc.).

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Having followed her plight, towards its last stages, and read Laila El-Haddad's "I was born Palestinian" post, this is what I wanted to say:

As a mother who was pained to read about your children’s situation, as an Arab who never imagined such disgraceful conduct could be possible in “oum el dounia” until the Egyptian regime’s behavior during Israel’s savagery in Gaza, as a compatriot in spirit who was never subjected to such shameful treatment, as a human being distraught by your experience and by the silence of the free world paying lip service to human rights, I express my solidarity with Palestine and Palestinians, and my admiration at your dignified behaviour.

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Here's my monthly column in Syria Today, where I criticize pretty much every media left and right for not having the upper hand on credibility or professionalism. I didn't even bother getting into the details of Syrian media, not even with my legendary subtlety which ruffles absolutely no feathers on any official or responsible in any way, no siree. I thought Syrian media already underlined itself quite efficiently and needed no additional highlighting at all, as evidenced by the marvellous official and diplomatic communication, online and off, on offer to the world today.

Anyway, it seems that when I criticize the others I'm good, but when I criticize Syria I'm simply bashing, in times of crisis no less. Go figure.

Not to digress, but has anyone tried the link http://www.sana.org/ lately? To which it had been changed from sana.sy ages ago, and which bookmarked with the letters BBC? Where today's main headline (on the old URL) actually (and, as luck would have it, rightly) says that Bouteflika re-elected himself? Just saying.


Look who's talking in the Arab world

By Rime Allaf

It is often in times of severe crisis, or of war, that the vast gulf separating media on either side of the Atlantic, and on either shore of the Mediterranean, becomes most visible, audible and practically touchable. Indeed, it becomes obvious to the degree of ridicule that the same event or incident can be presented in manners that are not only different, but opposing. Israel’s assault on Gaza, for example, was a typical case highlighting the fact that regardless of their political orientations or sympathies, Arabs and Americans were watching different wars. Such a statement would have been largely sufficient only a few years ago to summarise the main problem of us versus them: we supported one side, they the other.

In some ways, those were the good old days of the pan-Arab message, in all its simplicity and homogeneity. The stations sounded nearly identical, the newspapers carried similar variations of headlines, and the television channels could hardly bother to compete. To each his own, and ours was simply a fact of life, a droning, yawn-inducing necessary interlude to endure while waiting for the weather projection and the main movie. Little comfort came from knowing that their freedom of the press vanished when reporting Israel-related news and it took the advent of satellite television, followed by digital and virtual communication, to take things to another level.

It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of Al Jazeera, a revolutionary medium which shook the Arab world and made the West sit up and take notice. People (and officials) either loved it or loved to hate it, but were not indifferent. Even so, many years after the birth of the mother of all Arabic news channels, serious disagreements remain about its achievements. One by one, Arab countries found fault with its journalists or took offense with its programmes, while commentators who neither watched it nor understood Arabic accused it of being inflammatory, spectacular and biased.

But what defines the parameters of the acceptable, or the ideal? And while all media are expected to apply full impartiality, objectivity and neutrality, can even a single media outlet pretend to lead by example? It takes a lot more than a declaration of ethics to qualify, and it would seem that for all its shortcomings, Al Jazeera has lessons to take from no peer.

Debunking the myths of Western media
Before satellite and the internet allowed proper evaluation and comparison, textbooks remained unchallenged in their descriptions of journalism. Western media was presented as a bastion of ethics following a stringent code of conduct, letting investigative journalism uncover the massacre of My Lai, the scandal of Watergate or the abuses in Abu Ghraib. There was supposed to be a clear cut between fact-checked news and opinion; the latter was clearly distinguished as being either the view of the media itself (editorial) or that of other commentators, opposite the editorial (op-ed). Broadcast journalism followed the same strict divisions between fact and opinion, between reporting and editorialising, and prizes such as Columbia University’s Pulitzer Prize were honours for which all strived, celebrating the sacredness of free, objective and impartial media.

If it could be found, this media would certainly be worth defending in full. In reality, most self-proclaimed fair and balanced media are deficient in more than one factor, usually revolving around the notion of freedom from bias, from censorship, or from giving a complete picture.

Unlike Al Jazeera, which can confidently support its claim that it airs a spectrum of opinions in its coverage, most other media only really have the one basic opinion and not much, if any, of the other opinion. Like the most austere official media of old, they automatically invite guest opinions which are more royal than the king, sometimes admitting opposing views by quoting them, making them sound ridiculous or dangerous, or by giving harried guests mere seconds to respond to a barrage of accusatory questions.

Faltering institutions
Giving only part of the story is bad; peddling lies, propaganda and knowingly falsifying the facts is even worse. Unfortunately, the media institutions which should have been the solid rock of reliability have proved as flimsy as common tabloids and as untrustworthy as communist era agencies.

The New York Times’ mea culpa one year after the invasion of Iraq, admitting some guilt in publishing the Bush administration’s stories without checking them, proved that not all the news was actually fit to print. Its very incomplete apology only skims the surface of the damage done by free media ‘reporting’ big lies and passing them off as facts, including the scourge of Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction or Israel’s self-defence in disputed rather than occupied territories.

Integrity has waned in the media we were supposed to uphold as examples, with language degenerating into convenient ambiguity at best and outright deception at worst. Israel’s hasbara is one of the oldest propaganda machines serving as a thesaurus to media accomplices who continue to demonstrate that there is no such thing as media without an agenda. The recent refusal of the BBC to broadcast the Gaza emergency charity appeal, on the preposterous claim that it would compromise its impartiality, merely confirmed its submission to powerful agenda setters, a feat already demonstrated with its disgraceful backtracking after the British government’s fury over the infamous “sexed-up Iraq dossier”.

The good, the bad and the pretty
Such shortcomings should be of no comfort to today’s Arab media, a generic term joining public and private media whose own deficiencies are legendary and hardly worth rehashing. Sadly, the ‘free’ Arab media cited as example amounts to nothing more than channels and papers belonging to competing Lebanese warlords and politicians, although a surge in various Arab networks (such as in Egypt) has added businessmen to the lucky club of agenda setters which was previously limited to governmental channels.

The fact remains that red lines are difficult to cross in the region, especially after the Arab League’s adoption of a media charter which can stifle the most resilient professionals. While Western media could eventually take risks and venture into principled independence, Arab media will never rise to the challenge under such rigid laws, even though it has made great strides in the recent past, thanks mostly to Al Jazeera which paved the way.

Many Arab channels can be considered professional and manage relative degrees of objectivity – as long as the subject does not touch red lines – and sleek, modern and technically advanced studios have multiplied across the region, manned by polished presenters and efficient reporters. But for all these good broadcasters and publishers, bad examples continue to roam the airwaves, stuck in a time warp and disinclined to even change form or content, guaranteeing job continuity to stiff newsreaders in the most rudimentary of facilities.

There is also, alas, the category of the pretty faces, the attractive designs, the cool graphics and the fashionable gear, pleasing to the eye if not the ear, and with no effort to camouflage the unbearable lightness of their being. Sadly, with varying degrees of penetration in public and private media, they make absolutely no contribution to the development of media in their respective location and are copycats of the ignorant kind.

The missing frame
Despite being regularly dismissed as impotent and uninfluential, Arabs are being courted by an impressive array of foreign media networks, eager to follow on the footsteps of Al Jazeera, and Al Arabiya to a lesser extent, and to reach the proverbial hearts and minds in the region.

After the US’s useless attempts with Al Hurra, France’s France 24, Britain’s BBC Arabic, Iran’s Al Alam, Germany’s Deutsche Welle Arabia and Russia’s Rusiya Al Youm have joined the race to conquer Arabic speakers, with negligible results. For the time being, Arabs seem settled with their local providers, but an interesting development could see more ventures into foreign lands. With the slow but steady progress of Al Jazeera English, there is clearly room and indeed urgent need for Arab perspectives to cross borders and to be communicated directly without the selective and destructive translations of MEMRI-style Zionist outlets.

Arab media has a high hill to climb and many tricks of the trade to learn. In particular, it must impose coverage of Arab affairs, in all their abundance and diversity, to be made within an Arab-designed frame, rather than the frames (including “Israel’s right to exist” and “anti-Semitism”) which enemies have successfully set as default for the last decades. Unlike the easing of the Arab media charter, this is not mission impossible.


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Posted a bit late with the summit already under way, this was commissioned for and supposed to be published on Thursday, but only made it online on Sunday (because of AJ's backlog). The central premise remains that I think all this Saudi fuss about unity and reconciliation is really about pretending to be the Arab/Muslim leader again after its pathetic position during Israel's savagery in Gaza, and about not letting other countries which think they actually may matter take credit for anything.

I am very interested by Qatar's approach on things and by their rather impressive success in punching above their weight. I think it has been the only country in the region taking a real (and actually constructive) proactive role, rather than the reactive and contradictory positions of others. Let's hope nothing ruins Al Jazeera in the process.


Shifting sands and Arab unity

By Rime Allaf

Following reports that six heads of Arab states - including Egypt - will not attend the Arab League summit in Doha this week, it appears the proverbial saying about Arabs' agreement on disagreement, and more specifically that of their leaders, still holds.

If Arabs finally do agree on certain questions this week, however, even with the increasingly low expectations that these summits now generate, dreams of Arab unity on the major issues are unattainable under the present circumstances.

Deteriorating relations between several regional powers have been dubbed the Cold War, but with so much hot air, fiery speeches and proxy fights, it has been everything but cold. On most thorny files, two main camps faced each other, with several undecided fluttering in-between, trying not to alienate any of the countries on either side.

It is not yet clear whether the demise of the Saudi-Egyptian-Syrian axis was for the better or for the worse, but its repercussions have demonstrated that Arab states are interdependent in spite of (or perhaps because of) differences of opinion. Since attempted isolation and communication freezes simply made matters worse, the new modus operandi has evolved into an admission that consultations and agreements got better results, and, in Sun-tzu terms, that you keep your friends close and your enemies closer.

The official mood of reconciliation follows the mini summit organized by Saudi Arabia earlier this month, ostensibly to bury the hatchet but in a puzzling manner. If Saudi Arabia and Egypt are now considered to be the “moderate front” while Syria has been paired with Qatar as the “rejectionist front,” shouldn’t the latter have been invited as well? Instead, the Saudi ruler hosted his Egyptian, Syrian and Kuwaiti peers, unable or unwilling to suppress his displeasure with the emergence of unexpected new forces in the Arab world.

Indeed, Qatar’s position has been a source of considerable irritation for Saudi Arabia, as it watches a country many times smaller play pan-Arab counsellor and broker successful pacts, such as the Doha Agreement last May between opposing Lebanese factions. Qatar’s initiative in hosting an emergency Arab summit as Israel smashed Gaza gave the most distressing testimony of regional power plays and the damage they brought on the Palestinian cause, assuming one can still speak of this cause on an Arab level. With the “moderates” boycotting the meeting and pressuring the Palestinian president to stay away, the platform was left for Khaled Mishal, political head of Hamas, to show a leading role at the expense of Mahmoud Abbas.

The Israeli war on Gaza was lived with anguish and rage in most of the Arab and the Muslim world, irrespective of the positions of the rulers. It is apparent that Saudi Arabia, with hindsight, feels the need to regain control of a role it had allowed to slip, and appear to speak in the name of a somewhat cohesive Arab world, and an Arab cause beginning with Palestine. As popular grief turned to anger while footage from Gaza filled television screens, Saudi media was eventually pushed into a more extensive coverage of the war, and a more public response. Regaining the cloak of Palestinian defense is the next logical step for the Saudis, hoping they can seal the unity deal between Fatah and Hamas which Egypt has repeatedly promised, but failed to achieve. Obviously, such a deal also needs the collaboration of Syria; while hopes of weakening its relations with Iran may also be on the distant agenda, no serious observer believes it’s feasible in the short term.

With Gaza possibly having served as a political wake-up call, especially after Hamas remained unbroken, the Riyadh meeting was set up for several purposes, one of them being to insure that Qatar could not take credit for this rapprochement, and that it be made on its own turf. Saudi Arabia also wishes to reach a collective position on the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002, declared dead by the Syrian president during the mini-summit in Doha. If, however, there are plans to affirm that rumors of its death have been exaggerated but that a time limit will come into effect, Saudi Arabia needs the consensus of all Arab leaders, and the Riyadh reconciliation is also a step in that way.

Saudi Arabia and Syria still see Lebanon from very different perspectives, and the appointment of a Syrian ambassador to Beirut this week should be seen as a public gesture of goodwill or cooperation, even though both Damascus and Riyadh know that this will change next to nothing in dealings with Lebanon. With elections scheduled for June, there is a declared wish to keep things as civil and orderly as possible.

The Saudi king seems keen on keeping the big files under control, and under a general consensus, especially as the region adjusts to a new American administration and a forthcoming Israeli government whose agenda leaves little to the imagination regarding its plans for Palestinians. Without influence on all Palestinian parties, Saudi Arabia cannot pretend to play a leading role, a situation not suited for its credentials as Arab and Muslim power.

It is important to try to interpret Saudi (and Egyptian) behavior outside the narrow parameters of relations with Iran, on which the vast majority of media have been focusing even in their analysis of the Palestinian problem. Iraq, of course, remains the biggest problem to hit the area since the dispossession of Palestine, and its impact on neighboring countries has yet to be properly felt. Talk of the limited American withdrawal has done little to improve even the political situation; the US and the UK had hoped recent municipal elections would bring a secular group to share the power, but they have merely confirmed the force of religious (and Iran-friendly) parties

While the Bush administration simplistically blamed all the violence, chaos and discord on Syria and Iran, the Saudis know full well that it has been impossible to control the outpouring of anger, and the increase of radicalization, within their own borders. Iraq is nowhere near a peaceful epilogue, no matter what is being said (or rather not said) on most mainstream media. On the contrary, having added fuel to the fire with sectarian discourse in its own media for some time (relating to Lebanon, Iraq, Iran and beyond), the “moderates” are now facing the inevitable backlash.

With explosive situations in Palestine and Iraq, unresolved issues in Lebanon, uncertain futures in the political leaderships of countries preparing for a change, a hint of worsening conflict in nearby Afghanistan, and a global recession hitting the financial stability of even successful oil states, Saudi Arabia has a lot of catching up to do if it is to regain a perception of leadership, and the power to influence multiple regional parties, even when counting for the damage that can’t be undone, and for the personal animosity that has developed between certain leaders.

The fact remains that new alignments will undoubtedly continue to change the shape of regional politics, and that the days of the Saudi-Egyptian-Syrian axis are definitely over. Qatar’s apparition as a power broker, benefitting from a multitude of good connections regionally and internationally, is not going to be an easy act to follow, even assuming that it were about to relinquish its post. Just like Turkey, which has emerged on the scene extending a hand of partnership in its own neighborhood while simultaneously cultivating its ties outside the Arab world (including with Iran), Qatar has found itself on a political pedestal, using its ties wisely and truly developing a new vision for the region after setting the pace in the media sphere. No matter how little real progress happens in the upcoming Arab summit, and with the expected vague statements assuring unity, it seems that this vision is here to stay.


Rime Allaf is an international consultant and an Associate Fellow at London’s Chatham House. She blogs at www.rimeallaf.com/mosaics/index.php.

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I think most people enjoy a specific part of their profession, or their expertise, to a greater degree than the remaining aspects of the discipline in question. In my case, it's positioning, a marketing communications concept which fascinates and engages me to incredible points, and which I find myself applying frequently in various projects.

Nation branding (or place branding) is a logical and hugely beneficial endeavour when done well, because it inevitably centers the communication and the messages emanating from very different quarters in the nation being branded. However, there are countless examples of sloppy branding and marketing which have barely made a difference in the country's image. Contrasted to the impact of campaigns of exceptional quality for certain countries (such as Spain's immaculate "Passion for Life"), and for certain cities (including my beloved Vienna's "Vienna Waits for You"), third rate marketing, including branding, will never be better than no marketing at all.

In my opinion, Syria is not ready for nation branding, not only because it first needs to work hard to get to a "neutral" position from which branding can begin, but also because I dread to think of the qualifications of the branders and communicators who will be designing the campaign, the slogan, or the brand. God help us if they stick with the ubiquitous "road to Damascus" or "cradle of civilization" lines without bothering to undo years of negative imaging. Hence the need for re-positioning before branding, hoping it results in an image more evocative than ruins. All covered in my monthly column for Syria Today.


Syria on their minds: the re-positioning battle

Rime Allaf

In a world where nation branding has become the order of the day for most governments, Syria has a lot of catching up to do and faces challenges on several dimensions. It would normally be reassuring to hear the terms “marketing”, “public relations” and “image” being mentioned hesitantly in official Syrian circles, but there is a real danger that this sudden awakening may result in a sloppy and simplistic campaign of no strategic depth, supported by non-expert contributors with no background in these disciplines. This would be a sure recipe for spectacular failure at the most sensitive of times, when Syria needs to attain an image commensurate to its reflection and ambition.

Communication, as an umbrella of all these marketing branches, is too serious a matter to leave to amateurs. It’s a subject about which I have been preaching for years, in the hope that Syria, and Syrians, would recognise its impact in the age of technology driven information. Alas, the understanding of marketing has come to include every retail or communication activity under the sun, while people with dubious degrees of qualification claim professional positions in that field. A cursory glance at numerous ads in the private sector would reveal that Syria is full of marketeers, in the modern sense of the word, working in a business environment that utilises the full scope of the principles of marketing communications. In reality, the discipline is still in its infancy, and it needs to be developed to allow Syria a competitive chance with even the simplest of product ranges, let alone the intangible business of image.

On a national level, in the public domain, marketing communication is even more of a sensitive issue, as it puts Syria at a disadvantage in contrast to opponents (and even allies) whose discourse, spin and self-marketing is more sophisticated, reaching more influential parties and the all-important opinion makers. Of all of Syria’s shortcomings in this domain, the following are the most significant, and have been the most detrimental to its perception in the world.

Cumulative challenges

First, positive connotations with Syria, if at all known, are mostly historical or socio-cultural, and therefore rather irrelevant to an improvement of its current image and perception. This includes allusions to the country’s richness in historical relics, the language of Christ still being spoken in Syria, Syrian hospitality and cuisine, and similar nice notions of little import on the overall perception.

Second, negative connotations are mostly political, having managed to grab headlines and become spontaneously associated with Syria over time. This includes the usual accusations of radicalism, rejectionism, support for terrorism and even pan-Arabism (currently considered confrontational by some sources), and a long list of complaints constantly re-edited by American and Israeli scribes.

Third, a lethargic ‘laissez-faire’ attitude in all media communication matters has allowed Syria’s critics and enemies to spin freely and to paint the country in the worst possible light. Being secure in the self-knowledge that our critics are lying or giving half-truths does not safeguard us from the sting of their active discrediting of all things Syrian.

Fourth, a sporadic and mediocre approach to public diplomacy by various Syrian institutions, inside and outside the country, has possibly done more harm than good, considering that it was the only outlet communicating a Syrian position. This includes exaggerated and outdated communication efforts (in style and in content) by official media and by some embassies which neglected even the most basic of tools, such as the official website.

Fifth, actual infrastructure supporting Syria’s tourism, exports, and foreign direct investment (FDI) are severely lacking, a fact that is not a secret to those considering any of these activities, or to those advising against them. For all our claims that we are ready to welcome more tourists, to export more goods, and to provide FDI opportunities, there is much to improve before that can be done.

With such examples setting the parameters of the challenges awaiting Syria, which has remained impassive for too long, it is clear that action is urgently required if only to keep up with a majority of countries attempting to refine their own image, and embarking on nation branding in a crowded planet.

Positioning before branding

The urgency facing Syria’s communication needs is itself dangerous, as it opens the door to careless haste when the contrary is needed. Indeed, it will take serious deliberations and strategic planning to go through the necessary process: before we get to nation branding, we need to undo the damage done by years of detrimental coverage and self-exposure. Syria must first and foremost undertake an expert exercise of positioning, or re-positioning.

There are problems with this approach. For one, branding is much easier, and technically more adapted to a situation where time is of the essence, and where a relatively quicker branding exercise may yield results sooner, assuming it is done professionally. One can only imagine how tempting it must be for Syrian marketing enthusiasts to mould a nation brand, rework the slogan and start advertising it through various channels; at this stage of its 'product life', however, it is inadvisable to brand before damage control is undertaken.

Indeed, the comfortable clichés, repeated ad nauseam over the years, must be slowly reworked and not simply pasted as slogans over the same old photos. This has been the modus operandi until today, and it doesn’t work. Syria’s multifaceted identity has been lost in a sea of tired slogans and needs redefining: cradle of civilisation, land of diversity, conversion on the road to Damascus, oldest capital in the world and beating heart of Arabism are all still applicable, but they mean nothing to recipients of negative propaganda, or to seekers of less grandiose thrills. Syria needs to stop trying to be everything to everybody and to overextend the range it presents; instead, it must focus on more tactile perceptions and credible associations.

Nation branding is hard enough in a saturated world where most governments have now set up task forces to construct their brand, making differentiation challenging. It becomes much more difficult when branding does not begin on a clean, neutral plate, but rather on a mostly negative footing. This is why positioning is the first exercise needed for Syria, to attempt correcting its image independently, and in comparison to countries considered similar in their culture and history, but without the drag factor that years of negative publicity have created. It will be a long process.

Changing minds

Whereas branding concerns itself with the attributes of the product (or object, service, nation, etc.) as presented, positioning is truly a battle for a place inside the mind of the consumer, the critic or the future supporter. With positioning, one can aim to manipulate perceptions, in the mind of the recipient, through various means, vis-à-vis several reference points. For example, what makes Syria “radical” in the mind of given respondents who find some of its neighbours “moderate”? What makes it “closed” while others are “open”? Or what makes it “rigid” while others are “flexible”? These questions may have an obvious answer to those who already know Syria, but the picture is not so clear for the uninitiated, or the indoctrinated.

Syria needs to choose its message and its messengers carefully as it manoeuvres into a new global positioning; simplicity, subtlety and sincerity are essential. The battle for the mind must be fought on many fronts, and it entails a change of attitude on Syria’s part: we must become proactive in addition to reactive, convincing in addition to self-assured, enticing in addition to picturesque.

A positioning endeavour would be the first serious public diplomacy, international media or communication campaign undertaken by Syria. Many of the required steps may sound like basic textbook tasks, but it would be a grave mistake to underestimate their sensitivity. As we begin to tackle the challenges ahead, it is imperative that we take it one step at a time, perhaps beginning by setting up a Syria Image Management Unit (SIMU), a Syria Positioning Taskforce (SPOT) or simply Syria Marcom Support (SMS). Whatever the acronym, it needs to have the means and the freedom to research, to debate, and to create, and to allow the respective professionalism and dedication of the team members to be committed to an ideal: Syria, the country, as it deserves to be seen.

Rime Allaf is an international consultant and an Associate Fellow at London’s Chatham House. She blogs at www.rimeallaf.com/mosaics/index.php.

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From this week's Bitterlemons International. May I add that the more I see some things in my own country, the more I see the need for some Ataturk-style impositions. Not very democratic, but these are desperate times!


Syria and Turkey: A burgeoning courtship
Rime Allaf

Arab nationalism and Alexandretta notwithstanding, a Turkish-Syrian affair is currently in full bloom, joining the proverbial hearts and minds across the border, letting bygones be bygones and picking up from where things were last left. This is a courtship in which people and regime are in full agreement, in contrast to certain marriages of convenience with other partners found less palatable by many Syrians. For all the noted rise in religiosity in Syria, as in other mainly Muslim countries, the easygoing Turkish balance of "secular Islamism" sits much better than the Iranian clerics' sternness.

There's a lot to like about Turkey that Syrians hadn't noticed for a long time, centuries of Ottoman occupation having dampened the appetite for most things Turkish. But Turkey has become a new example to follow, showing it can be modern, secular, developed, simultaneously western and eastern in its socio-political outlook and still hold on to oriental and Islamic values found endearing. In fact, even the television soap operas of both countries will confirm that customs on either side are still incredibly similar, increasing mutual approbation.

Of course, most of these factors were there a decade ago, but in very different circumstances. Years of political animosity had reached boiling point over the presence in Syria of PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. With Turkish troops poised to take action in 1998, Syria finally relented and arranged for Ocalan's speedy departure from its territory. The hostility didn't vanish immediately, however, with one of the biggest issues remaining the dams built on the Turkish side of the Euphrates, squeezing Syria into an even tighter--and dryer--spot as water became scarcer. Under successive Turkish governments, the alliance with Israel had continued to consolidate, driving Syria into a more dangerous isolation.

It's hard to believe that the outlook was this bleak just a few years ago. But things did improve, even before the arrival of Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Turkish President Ahmed Necdet Sezer had already made a point of taking a new approach with Syria, and the two countries found themselves increasingly joined by their opposition to the invasion of Iraq, which the Turkish parliament refused to facilitate by denying the US military the use of its territory for any related action.

In Turkey, just as in Syria, there had been a strong popular rejection of American policies in the region and Iraq was but one case. In 2006, the antiwar Turkish movie "Valley of the Wolves" broke attendance records, even in the Turkish community in Germany. And in 2009, there was no question that popular sentiment strongly supported the position of the Turkish government in relation to Israel. For Erdogan, there was nothing to prove to a supportive populace.

Yet, the commotion following the famous Davos panel would have us believe that Erdogan's "emotional outburst" was merely a product of his "renowned temper" and a calculated maneuver for upcoming election campaigns in order to win more Islamist votes. Such ridiculous and condescending attitudes conveniently avoided the real issue of the Israeli president's own disrespectful behavior, his raised voice and his outright lies about Gaza. It was most telling that while Erdogan matched his actions with his words by walking out, the secretaries general of the Arab League and the United Nations, both wronged repeatedly by Israel, were practically nailed to their seats, unable to make a move or state a case.

These distinctions are not missed in the countries south and east of Turkey, as it continues to extend a hand to friendly neighbors in direct proportion to the determined rejection of an eventual Turkish adhesion to the European Union. For Syria, this is a win-win situation: there can be great benefits to having the first direct border with the EU should Turkey eventually make it there, but the status quo is just as attractive as Turkey continues to consolidate its position as an important regional player and an unavoidable Islamic leader.

The more Israel has demonstrated its violent treatment of Palestinians, the more Turkey has found that its denunciations were eagerly accepted at home and in the neighborhood. Erdogan had a great deal of influence on these developments, but to give him the entire credit would be unfair to the people of Turkey in their quest to be closer to their neighbors and more involved in their affairs. Erdogan will certainly continue to be instrumental, alongside a political environment that encourages such positions.

In turn, this is a position that the Syrians are finding increasingly attractive, both in their friend's policy and in their own. It is easier to face the critics when not alone, and similarly easy to make friends when accompanied. It would have been impossible to imagine, even just a few years ago, that Turkey would be the active matchmaker between Syria and Israel; today it seems that no other partner will do.- Published 5/3/2009 © bitterlemons-international.org

Rime Allaf is an associate fellow at London's Chatham House.

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The New York Times' online opinion forum asked me to contribute (with others like Andrew Tabler) a short op-ed under the big umbrella of "talking to Syria," following Hillary Clinton's announcement that two envoys would soon be sent to Damascus.


Sending Mixed Signals

One of the strangest cases to argue, and the easiest problem to solve, is that of United States-Syria relations. Despite highs and lows since Syria’s inclusion on a list of states “sponsoring terror” since 1979, there had been unbroken official communication until the Bush administration’s cold shoulder — well before the invasion of Iraq and the assassination of Rafik Hariri.

Today, it’s difficult to calibrate the needed level of optimism, or the belief that the change heralded in Washington will seep across the Syrian border. Even with the erratic actions of the Bush administration, Syria knew where it stood for most of the last eight years; with President Obama, it’s not so clear.

Secretary of State Clinton’s handshake with her Syrian counterpart in Egypt is not groundbreaking diplomacy; in fact, a similar handshake (generating similar rumors of a thaw) joined Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem with her predecessor, Condoleezza Rice, nearly two years ago. The Annapolis conference of November 2007 could have indicated a warming of U.S.-Syrian ties, but things degenerated when the Americans bombed what it claimed was a training camp for al Qaeda in Syria in October 2008.

Envoys going to Damascus aren’t a sign of hope either. Had President Obama wanted constructive dialogue, he could have chosen people with less baggage than a person instrumental in the drafting of the Syria Accountability Act, or a previous ambassador whose tenure in Lebanon can be used, even by allies, to demonstrate the perils of blatant undiplomatic interference. With messengers like Daniel Shapiro and Jeffrey Feltman, President Obama seems to be warning the Syrians that he is more willing to play by George W. Bush’s rules than to turn over a new page.

Syria would be ill-advised to consider a mere return to the status quo in 2005, and the appointment of an ambassador to Damascus, as progress. Dialogue and ambassadors should not be the end in themselves, but a way for both Washington and Damascus to build bridges. While Syria is correct to stick to its cards, it should become a better promoter of its own interests and positions. After its popular stance during Israel’s war on Gaza, it needs to explain how it can rekindle negotiations aiming at a peace treaty, and act as mediator with groups like Hamas and Hezbollah, when both Israel and the United States are demanding the latter be shunned by Damascus. Perhaps it has not been made clear enough that unless peace is comprehensive, it is not peace.

Syria’s relations with the United States precede the ups and downs of peace negotiations with Israel, and they should not be contingent on the latter. No matter how close Washington remains with Tel Aviv, President Obama should separate the two; after all, the United States is very close to Saudi Arabia, a country that has always claimed it would be the last to float an Israeli flag on its soil. Likewise, Syria’s relations with Iran can’t possibly be the deal breaker, even if the policy of isolating Iran were ever to be proven effective, or beneficial.

Syria, under any regime, should be the most obvious point of contact in the region for any American government meaning business, and it beggars belief that Washington would want to alienate a party that has the keys to unlock several closed doors in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon, to mention a few.

Rime Allaf is an international consultant and an associate fellow at Chatham House in London. She has her own blog.


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My personal account below merely skims the surface of a few intense weeks; published in February, it was actually written just over two weeks after the creation and posting online of the song “We will not go down". A huge thank you to all the people, especially fellow bloggers, who helped spread the song and the message, turning it into a phenomenon in record time.

YouTube flagged the video when it hit 1 million, but it still refuses to go down. May it continue to spread the world over, becoming an eternal song of hope for the Palestinians, and a chant for the determination of their supporters.


We Will Not Go Down; How a Song Stood Up to Israel

A personal account by Rime Allaf

On the twelfth night of the Israeli onslaught on Gaza, as I settled down to my distressing nightly ritual of news watching, frantic writing and weeping, I received an email which would turn someone’s life around, giving some people a small ray of light when they needed to know they were not alone, and sending a message across the globe like no mass campaign could have hoped to achieve.

It was 10 pm in London; six hours later, a small team had taken the first of many steps which would take our collective grief, anger and frustration to a new platform in the fight against Israel; a song of hope for the Palestinians in Gaza debuted on YouTube, and we were going to make sure that it resonated around the world. In a matter of days, ‘We will not go down’ was chanted in demonstrations around the world, its lyrics were printed on signs, and hundreds of thousands of people watched the clip and downloaded the song. There had never been such a rallying cry for the Palestinian cause, and it all began on a mild January night, half a world away in a studio by a California beach.

It started with a song
Michael Heart saw little of the massacre in Gaza, ignored by US media. Through the internet, especially through links emailed daily by his sister, he got increasingly touched by the magnitude of the catastrophe. On day 10 of the attack, he picked up his guitar and started strumming while looking at the horrible casualties; before he knew it, he was writing a song about it and had finished in a couple of hours.

The next day, not yet knowing what he would do with it, he recorded it in his studio, playing all the instruments, singing the vocals and producing it himself, as usual. By the following morning, he gathered some photos and created a clip, carefully mixed to match images and lyrics. It was mostly an emotional outlet, but realising it could spread awareness about the cause, he emailed it to immediate family in London, Vienna and Damascus, asking for feedback.

London responded first. In tears, I called my brother (known professionally by his artistic name, Michael Heart, but remaining Annas to family and friends) practically shouting: "this must go online now, Annas!"



Michael Heart (courtesy of www.michaelheart.com)


Technicalities of activism
Michael Heart’s support team (MH/T amongst ourselves) came together as naturally as the song; we acted as a management task force, bringing needed respective expertises our family happened to have. My husband Samawal, the best computer scientist we could want, converted it into a simpler YouTube format, fixing glitches which threw photos out of sync with the soundtrack. He also posted another file online circumventing YouTube blockage in some places.

As dawn came, we launched on YouTube and on Michael Heart's website. I posted it on my blog as The Gaza Anthem, quoting the chorus which thousands would later chant around the world. Over the next days, I spread it virally in several languages, posting it on specific blogs, websites, media and social networking forums like Facebook and Twitter.

In Vienna, MH/T was handling another important objective: donations to the Palestinian people in Gaza. Through his professional contacts in UN agencies around the world (also spreading the campaign through hundreds of friends), my brother Salim investigated possibilities for selling the song and donating proceeds. After we realized legal and technical issues were overly complicated, Michael decided to give it for free while asking everyone to make a donation to UNRWA (especially as PayPal didn’t even acknowledge the existence of Syria, Lebanon or the Palestinian territories from where many wanted it).

MH/T hit the ground running, working in shifts to control logistics, and even to monitor comments on YouTube as they swelled into the thousands. This was not going to be a platform for pro-Israelis to spew their gleeful propaganda and play the victim, nor were extremist positions on any religion tolerated.

Portrait of the artist as a messenger
We all knew it would be a success and worked tirelessly for it; still, we were astounded by responses to ‘We will not go down’. Within hours, viewings on YouTube were shooting up and feedback was pouring in. Daily messages to Michael Heart quickly rose to hundreds, and he struggled to read as many as possible and to respond when needed, a task which took over his life for the next two weeks.

Human suffering had been the trigger that inspired the song, not politics, and he said all he needed to say in the song. For him, it was not about resistance in a political sense, but resistance in a human sense, and thousands of people understood this and thanked him precisely for having given Palestinians a face and a voice in a universal message, and a universal language.

Many people were amazed that an American had done what Arabs hadn’t (not noticing his bio mentioned his Syrian heritage), praising his courage in the face of the Israeli machine. Palestinians and Arabs the world over related similar sentiments of sadness, anger and despair, many telling personal stories of loved ones in Gaza. Some messages eventually came from Gaza itself, triggering a storm of emotions in us as we read about people dashing to the internet when electricity briefly came, to connect with the world and wonder if they were noticed; their words about the song overwhelmed us in their intensity and in their gratitude.

Countless people confessed to having cried while hearing the song, and to crying while writing the email; we cried too, wishing we could reach out to every one of them. Of the thousands of messages received, many will forever stick in our minds, like that of the Gazan father whose five-year-old daughter would sing ‘We will not go down’ whenever she heard Israeli planes approaching, or of the Palestinian professor whose beautiful young son was killed by an Israeli missile as he sat helpless in the US, writing to Michael Heart to say thank you. We broke down every time, and determinedly continued to work.

Israeli response and Arab ‘moderates’’ abstention
Israel supporters were clearly taken aback by the phenomenal success of the song. Most Israeli media and blogs adopted a lame self-righteous position, wishing Michael Heart had spoken of the “rockets raining on Israel”. Some were more vicious, like the blogger promising “they would go down in the day” if the night didn’t suit. Some, in typical Israeli fashion, derided what they couldn’t achieve (“the song is bad anyway”) or boasted they would do better (“Madonna will sing our song”).

Self-styled hi-tech Israelis were no match for our Syrian-born techie, who like Apple’s Steve Jobs, we like to remind them, had a Syrian father. Mere days after the song went global, an exuberant Israeli emailed Michael Heart informing him he hacked his website, taking it down. “Nobody messes with Sam” were the only words in the email I sent in response. Indeed, it was immediately back up, backed up and moved to ultra-powerful servers capable of handling the deluge of mp3 downloads.

Israeli annoyance at this success was a pleasure to see, but the abstention of so-called moderate Arabs blaming the Israeli onslaught on “provocation” was less palatable for me, especially as images from Gaza continued to haunt our nights. My initial flurry of posts had begun with fellow Syrian bloggers and sites; some neither acknowledged nor posted the song, perhaps considering, as Israelis had done, it was “one-sided” and that not going down seemed too aggressive. Such attitudes are anathema to an activist like myself, when the entire world had been moved to action by Israel’s crimes in Gaza.

‘We will not go down’ still going up
In four days, YouTube’s counter hit 100,000. In one week, it hit a quarter of a million. At two weeks, over 700,000 had viewed the original song, and well over a million saw different clips with the song (of which over 100 were posted). 250,000 people had downloaded the mp3, and over 10,000 had responded via emails or comments. Many people wrote to confirm they had donated to UNRWA.

It was, and still is, played on radio stations and television channels in several countries, and chanted in protests and rallies all over the globe (like here in London's Trafalgar Square). Messages informed us of ringtones for mobile phones and of school children painting pictures of the artist. To his shock, Michael Heart was being called a hero and a brave heart fighting the Zionist propaganda machine.

Most significantly, ‘We will not go down’ reached people in Gaza and conveyed to some of them the world’s support of the Palestinian cause, and the determination to take action.

The way forward
We had a great “product” to spread the word about Palestinian suffering; without the beautiful and relevant song, there would have been nothing. But without the expert viral campaign, technological support and numerous tricks of the trade, the song would have remained unknown to most.

We succeeded because it was good, because we knew what to do, and because we did it in time. We succeeded in pushing a rallying cry to the forefront of the media battle, where Arab rhetoric was unnoticed (at best) or counterproductive. We succeeded where Israeli narrative failed, beating the enemy at their own game.

It started with a song, but it will not end with it: we're still working on it, but see you soon on www.wewillnotgodown.com.

Rime Allaf is an international consultant and an associate fellow at London’s Chatham House. She blogs at www.rimeallaf.com/mosaics/index.php.


I add a few related links out of many, too numerous to list (I do not link to any of the blogs which posted it, as they number in the thousands):

SongForGaza YouTube Channel (to see numerous links related to the song, including different videos, demos, etc.)
Facebook Group "We will not go down" (The first such group on Facebook, created by me, 2,400 members so far)
Facebook Michael Heart Fan Club (nearly 10,000 members)
Michael Heart interview in VIVA magazine
Rally for Gaza, Trafalgar Square, London, January 17 - "We will not go down" played full blast!
Facebook Group "In appreciation of Michael Heart's song"
Facebook Group "Shocking new video - We will not go down" (including translations of the lyrics into more than 20 languages!)
Let's sing for Gaza - student demonstration in Mainz, Germany
Facebook Group "Song of the Year - We will not go down"
MySpace Page - Michael Heart
Los Angeles musician composes song for Gaza
Requests to spread the song, in support of Palestine
"Every movement has an anthem; the revolution is happening on Facebook and YouTube" (on Arabisto)
Michael Heart interview on Jordanian radio

Do please let me know if I should add a link you find of interest.


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Update: I have already been emailed, skyped and facebooked with messages about this entry, and it seems I was not clear enough about why this piece was poor; it's because of Ian Black's clichés, and because he missed the importance of the peace statements, focusing on Syria's wish to engage with the Obama administration - hardly exclusive news.

The examples I give in the first part are meant to be sarcastic about Black's opinions, his style and his inuendos! I find it amazing that the Middle East editor of The Guardian needs to make allusions to unclenched fists, that he describes Syria's position in the region as "an inherited view," and that he needs to write "but" in reference to resistance. In other words, he is heavily qualifying Assad's words and putting them in a context which I find passé and needless.

My criticism about the Syrian position is about the apparent volte-face vis-à-vis Israel, not about the positions quoted as examples. I hope this now clarifies it for those who were concerned about my message. I am certainly disappointed that a better article did not come out of this interview.

End of update.


I have little desire, and little time, to comment on empty words and pointless articles, but I was astounded by this "exclusive interview in The Guardian" and can't let it pass. I don't see how this very poor piece can claim exclusivity, and I shudder at several descriptions, of which here are some examples.

"... his fists visibly unclenched ..." Geddit?

"Relaxed and thoughtful in a dark ­business suit, Assad seems keen to send out positive messages and to underline his view, inherited from his father Hafez, that Syria is indispensable." Syria's indispensability is a view? An inherited view? Which was underlined? (Now we know who SANA has been badly copying.)

"But Assad is quick to defend its right of resistance to Israel" Oh dear, doesn't that, like, contradict the unclenched fists above?

"Overall, his view is that violence is a symptom, not the cause of the Middle East's problems." Well imagine that.

I can't even begin to understand - nor do I wish to - the last paragraph dealing with our brave prisoners of conscience (of which Ian Black only mentioned Michel Kilo and Riad Seif, may they come out soon, safe and sound), and what Iraq or Gaza have to do with that. But even that is not new, nor exclusive, and has been heard before.

The only exclusive piece of news I see here is the president's statement that "I will be very happy to ­discuss peace." Excuse me? What about "an eye for an eye"? What about "the peace initiative is dead"? What about the speech in Doha? In another part of The Guardian, he is even quoted as saying "we never clenched our fist" and that "we still talked about peace even during the Israeli aggression in Gaza." That is definitely an exclusive. And I am stunned.

On January 22, just before ending an article by saying that Israel deserved nothing less than the 3 nos, I wrote the following sentence, hoping these words in Doha weren't just words: "Assad designated Israel as the terrorist state that many (Arabs and others) now openly proclaim it is and requested that all ties with Israel be broken (including the indirect Syrian-Israeli negotiations), giving many hope that Syria is committing to more than lip service to the Palestinian cause and the Arab-Israel conflict."

Not only were our hopes short lived, but there are serious issues here with the image and the position being projected. It can't be two drastic opposites, in such short time spans, and Syria is in serious need of real communication advisors who can explain how things work in the media, what's acceptable, and what is detrimental. There is a lot wrong with Ian Black's coverage of the Middle East, and a lot wrong with how he covered this interview, but it matters little when considering the real message coming across here: apparently, land for peace was never off the agenda.


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I wrote the following piece before the war on Gaza, but I haven't felt like writing or talking about anything else since then. But there are still papers and deadlines looming on other subjects, and we all have no choice but to pay some attention to the rest. Here's my commentary on what's on TV, for those interested in the subject. Since the Syria Today website is being revamped, I only include the link to my own Articles page.


Syria's sociable spectators and solitary surfers

Rime Allaf

In America, the country where most television production originated, TV has gotten a lot of bad press over the years, generating derisive vocabulary to describe the device itself (idiot box), the material it broadcasts (brain mush), and even its lethargic viewers (couch potatoes). Such scorn is certainly deserved for much programming on American television, and for copycats around the world, but remains absent from nostalgic references to shows and programmes that have defined eras and even shaped social and political agendas. Indeed, the spread of American popular culture, with all its delights and its horrors, is much indebted to an array of television programmes which entered the living rooms of households the world over and turned their stars into icons for successive generations.

Those were the golden years of the big networks on the little screen, symbolised by the phenomenal success of detergent-sponsored soap operas (many of which are still running after decades), of big-money game shows and of early morning and late-night chat sessions around sofas and ubiquitous logo-bearing mugs. While certain sitcoms and adult series have continued to break records and apparently run in a loop on every channel in the world, it has been difficult to recreate hits in the current media jungle, where various communication tools compete for the audience’s attention and loyalty in a saturated market and where cable television packages can be tailor-made to customer preferences. This challenge is becoming greater with the advent of digital television, allowing viewers to interact with their sets and to choose the time they watch their selected shows, in effect driving programming and the concept of “prime time” (and with them the essential advertising windows) to a premature grave.


Broadcasting to millions

In the Arab world, the picture is not so bleak, and it is not (for once) because the region lags behind in given areas. The habitual coverage about Arabic television in Western media has merely scratched the surface, and reporting has mostly consisted of clichés about Ramadan serials and supposedly incendiary news reporting. What has escaped critical analysis is that pan-Arab television still seems set to enjoy years of profitable glory, and that many characteristics of Arab society continue to grant it a unique position in the audiovisual world.

Seen from afar, the rooftops in most Arab cities resemble one another, showing little distinction between affluent neighbourhoods and poorer ones. With countless rusty dishes turned to the sky in a single direction, as if supplicating in unison the gods of free entertainment and information to beam non-stop broadcasts, there is little doubt that pan-Arab television has become the true opium of the masses – a conveniently inoffensive addiction which most governments are not keen to cure.

Continue reading the rest of the article ...


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