Bashar's Syria: The Regime and its Strategic Worldview Shmuel Bar ...

Bashar’s Syria 429118. The Political Program speaks of the model of the “Medina Constitution” that was implementedby the Prophet in his Medina period, which enfranchised all residents of Medina notonly Muslims. Radical Muslims tend to dismiss this paradigm as one that derived from the periodof weakness of the Muslims and being superseded by the exclusivity of the Muslim Ummah. Thedocument also refrains from the anti-Jewish rhetoric that characterizes Jordanian and Egyptian MuslimBrotherhood. See al-Ikhwan al-Muslimun, al-Mashrou’ al-siyasi li-Suriya Mustaqila—RawiyatJam’at al-Ikhwan al-Muslimin fi-Suriya (The Political, Program for an Independent Syria—Positionof the Association of the Muslim Brotherhood in Syria). The program received the backing of anumber of Salafi scholars, including Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi. In a recent interview, Bayanouniis cautious on all these issues. He distances his movement from the Salafis, skirts the issue of theAlawites by saying that “as they say they are Muslims, we do not contest that” (alluding to a traditionthat if someone greets you as a Muslim, do not say that he is not one) and restricting his referenceto Israel to a statement that “Israel is occupying Palestinian and Syrian lands and these should bereturned. It would be preferable to secure their return through peaceful and political means,” leavingopen the question of whether the occupied “Palestinian lands” are the West Bank and Gaza or thewhole of Palestine. Mahan Abedin, “The Battle within Syria: An Interview with Muslim BrotherhoodLeader Ali Bayanouni,” Terrorism Monitor, vol. 3, issue 16 (August 11, 2005).119. One of the main figures in this movement is Mustafa Setmariam Nasar (Abu Mus’abal-Suri). He was originally a follower of Adnan Oqla of the Marwan Hadeed’s Fighting Vanguard,left that organization in 1981, went to fight in Afghanistan, then lived in Spain and the UK. His groupis credited with a series of terrorist attacks inside Syria and with aiding the mujahidin in Iraq in theircross-border operations.120. Amir Kulick, “Tefisat Hamaazan Haestrategi—Hashpaatam shel Tahalichei Shinui HistoriimAl ‘Itsuv Tfisat Habitahon Hasuri” (“The Strategic Parity Concept—The Influence of HistoricalProcesses on the Formation of the Syrian Security Perception”), MA thesis submitted to Tel AvivUniversity, October 2002.121. Some examples are: (1) Bashar’s blatantly anti-Semitic statement during the visit of thePope (June 5, 2001) that the Jews continue to threaten the world as they crucified Jesus. While hisfather made similar anti-Semitic statements in earlier years, he had learned to respect the fact that theywere counter productive to his relations with the U.S. and the West; (2) his reaction to the al-Haririassassination.122. For example: “We hear how they [the Israelis] kill the principle of equality even as theyspeak of Allah’s having separated them from the other nations of the world. We see them damagingthe Christian and Muslim holy places in Palestine. They desecrate the mosque of Al-Aqsa, the Churchof the Sepulchre [Jerusalem] and the Church of the Nativity [Bethlehem]. They attempt to destroyall the principles of the monotheistic religions for the same reasons they betrayed and tortured Jesus,and for the same reasons they tried to kill the prophet Mohammad” (Bashar Asad to the Pope onMay 5, 2001, reported by Radio Damascus). Other examples include Bashar’s speech at the Arabsummit: “Israeli society . . . is a racist society. More racist than the Nazis” (Tishrin (Syria), March 28,2001, translated in MEMRI Special Dispatche Series, no. 202), and reiteration of the veracity of theProtocols of the Elders of Zion.123. See Bashar’s speech before the Arab summit conference in Amman (27 March 2001):“There are three things that Israel fears: . . . the close past in which they have been implementing apolicy of oppression even before 1948 . . . the past in general, history, they have no history, we havehistory and they know that . . . And the land ...everyIsraeli know that the land is not his but belongsto the Arabs.”124. As long as Israel exists, the threat exists . . . none of the Arabs trust Israel. It is naturalthat we should always expect an Israeli attack, even when it does not threaten. It should be knownthat Israel is based on treachery ...Wearedealing with treachery and threats, which accompanied theestablishment of Israel. Since its very inception, Israel has been a threat. It is the Israeli nature, andfor that Israel was established . . . Israel does not care about the international public opinion. The U.S.is unable to reign it in; to the contrary, the Israelis are the ones who control [the U.S.] now throughtheir lobby.” Bashar to al-Safir, 27 March 2003. MEMRI Special Dispatch Series, no. 488.