Doc's Talk: Continue Reading The Choices for Syria's Christians

Saturday, April 05, 2014

Continue Reading The Choices for Syria's Christians

Lawrence A. Franklin

http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/4243/syria-christians

If Assad falls, how can Christians have any future in Syria when radical Sunni groups kill their fellow Muslim Shi'as and even moderate Sunni rebel soldiers as well?
It is a historical irony indeed when it appears the only safe place for a Christian in the Middle East is Israel, a country in large part populated by Jews who themselves were forced to flee Islamic intolerance in the same lands from which Christians now feel impelled to flee.

In late January, a delegation of prominent clerics from Syria's Christian communities visiting Washington, D.C. testified about horrific attacks by anti-Assad rebels against innocent Christian non-combatants. They claimed that both the so-called moderate Free Syrian Army and extremist Islamic factions were guilty of repeated human rights violations against Christians.[1] For Syria's Christians, the outcome of the civil war has existential ramifications.

Dhimmi status [second-class, "tolerated" citizenship for non-Muslim minorities] for centuries under Islam has taught Syria's minority Christian community to be wary of any political change. After the initial invasion in 633 A.D. by Bedouin Muslim Arabian hordes, Syria's Christian communities were late to realize that this was not just another raid by desert nomads. After a month-long siege, on September 19, 634 A.D.[2], Damascus capitulated to the Arabian invaders. Eventually, in most of the Levant Christianity was supplanted by Islam. The era of Eastern Christianity's Byzantine civilization in Syria was at an end. The ensuing slaughter of Syria's Christian faithful was great. The burning of churches, convents, and monasteries virtually expunged any of Christianity's physical infrastructure. The rape and enslavement of non-combatant innocents was enormous. Huge tracts of private land were expropriated and settled by the Muslim conquerors. The Christian populations of Aleppo and Antioch were nearly extinguished.[3]
Those "Peoples of the Book," Jews and Christians who survived the initial massacres, were to be "protected" -- as long as they peacefully embraced their diminished humanity. The Jews of Syria may have fared better than the Christians of Syria, as they merely exchanged one oppressor for another. Christians, however, had not yet discerned the mercurial nature of their so-called "protected" status. During the anti-Christian pogrom in Aleppo's Christian quarter in 1850, their "protected" status entirely evaporated.[4] Whenever fanatical imams deemed it appropriate, they would stir up their Muslim faithful into a mob. Moreover, the political leadership responsible for maintaining Islam's contract with the dhimmi proved to be ineffective and willfully passive in the face of mob fanaticism.[5] Neither could Syria's Christians count on moderate Muslim factions for refuge: they invariably disappeared once the radicals went on the rampage.[6] The pockets of Aleppo-based Christians, however, always managed to survive. Aleppo's Christian communities were able to rebound from massacres, once by the Mongols and later by Tamerlane, as well as several Muslim-orchestrated pogroms. Today's Syrian Christian community is now being tested once more as it seeks to endure the atrocities of Syria's ongoing civil war.
The threat of the stark choice between extinction and exile might explain why many of Syria's Christians support the Assad regime. Nevertheless, there were some Christians who, along with their Shia Alawite Muslim countrymen, were driven by self-preservation to join the ranks of the protestors in the early months of the rebellion against Assad's tyranny.[7] Many Christians may also remain loyal to the regime out of fear, especially with the increased influence of extremist Sunni Muslim factions in the opposition. Groups such as al-Nusra and the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria [ISIS] have committed crimes against innocents and combatants alike. One high-profile crime by Chechen foreign fighters allied with al-Nusra was last April's kidnapping of the Greek Orthodox and Syrian Orthodox Archbishops of Aleppo.[8] The fate of these two clerics remains unknown. Another crime was the kidnapping of 13 nuns from their convent in Maaloula several months ago.[9] More than forty churches have been burned, rockets fired at an Armenian high school in Damascus killing four students, and several men beheaded just for being Christian. Half a million Christians have been driven from their homes and another 300,000 have fled Syria altogether.[10]

Several of the Syrian nuns kidnapped in Maaloula in 2013. (Image source: YouTube video by kidnappers)

Those who have elected to stay risk forced conversion, death or dhimmitude. After the conquest of Syria's al-Rakaa province by the extremist ISIS, for instance, the Christian residents were told to convert to Islam, face the sword, or agree to become dhimmi. Reportedly, those Christians who opted for dhimmi status agreed to the following conditions: pay the twice annual jizya [poll tax], worship quietly inside their churches, display no outward signs of their Christian faith, not improve or expand upon their existing sites of worship, and not criticize the Islamic faith.[11] This is the historical profile of dhimmitude since the time of Muhammad.
Even fighters of the more moderate Free Syrian Army [FSA] have reportedly committed atrocities against Christians. A survivor of an alleged massacre of Christians in the Syrian town of Yakubiyah, for example, who escaped across the border to Turkey, claimed that the FSA beheaded six Christians there.[12] It is likely that most Sunni Muslim opposition fighters now perceive Christians and Alawites as principal pillars of domestic support for the Assad dictatorship.
The fate of Syria's Christian population may be similar to those of Iraq.[13] Reportedly, only a quarter of Iraq's 2003 population of one million Christians remains in country. Agenzia Fides [Faith Agency], an international Christian aid foundation, accuses the rebels in Syria of having engaged in massive "ethnic cleansing" of Christians. One report claims that opposition military units have reduced the Christian population of Homs from over 150,000 to 1000 souls.[14]
If the Syrian government does collapse, safe alternatives for Syria's Christian minority are extremely limited. They could either flee the country or migrate to a possible smaller Alawite-ruled Syrian entity. If Syria's civil war continues, it is even more likely that the country's Christian minority will join the hundreds of thousands of their brethren, mostly Iraqi Christians, who have also abandoned their homeland. This migration is likely to be the safest alternative despite Vatican appeals for the region's Christians to remain in their home countries.[15] If Assad falls, how can Christians have any future in Syria when radical Sunni groups kill their fellow Muslim Shi'as and even moderate Sunni rebel soldiers as well?[16] It is historical irony indeed when it appears the only safe place for a Christian in the Mideast is Israel, a country in large part populated by Jews who themselves were forced to flee Islamic intolerance in the same lands from which Christians now feel impelled to flee.

[1] "Syrian Christian Leaders Show Hope in Face of Despair" by Andrew Harrod. Religious Freedom Coalition, 31 January 2014.
[2] Early Islam, by Desmond Stewart, Time Incorporated: New York, 1967, p.56. Damascus surrendered to the Muslim army led by General Khalid ibn al-Walid and his Deputy Abu Ubaidah; The Oxford History of Islam by John Esposito. Oxford University Press. UK, p.311.
[3] The Decline of Eastern Christianity under Islam: From Jihad to Dhimmitude by Bat Ye'or. Fairleigh Dickinson University Press: Teaneck, N.J. 1996. p.47.
[4] The Dhimmi: Jews and Christians under Islam by Bat Ye'or. Associated University Presses: Cranbury, New Jersey. 1985. p.242.
[5] Ibid. p. 242
[6] Ibid. pp. 242-243.
[7] Religious Freedom Coalition 31 January 2014. Statement by Dr. Riad Jarjour, former General Secretary of the Middle East Council of Churches.
[8] Middleastlive: "Syria Crisis: Aleppo Bishops Kidnapped". 23 April 2013.
[9] The nuns were released on 9 March, crossing the border into Lebanon the next day. Their release along with three attendants occurred following an exchange of prisoners between the Assad Regime and the rebel group that was detaining the Sisters. Damascus released some female and child relatives of rebel fighters in the exchange. New York Times, March 10, 2014. "Nuns Released by Syrians After Three-Month Ordeal," by Anne Bernard and Hwaida Saad, p1.
[10] Statement by Delegation of Syrian Christian Clerics visiting Washington D.C. January 26-29, 2014. Westminster Institute and Barnabas Aid.
[11] Times of Israel, "Syrian Christians Sign Treaty of Dhimmitude" by Elhanan Miller. 27 February 2014.
[12] The Daily Beast, "Syria's Christians Flee Kidnapping, Rape, and Execution" by Jamie Dettmer. 19 November 2013
[13] The Institute on Religion and Democracy Blog. "Will Christianity in Iraq Survive?" by Dennis Crowley, 1 February 2014. "Since Saddam's overthrow Iraq's 1 million Christian population is down to 200,000."
[14] Agenzia Fides claims that the region of Homs in Syria once held about 160,000 Christians but now the population has been reduced to only around 1000.
[15] "The Fears and Future of Religious Minorities in Syria" by Ammar al-Mamoun, Fikra Forum. March 13, 2014.
[16] "Western-backed Syrian Rebels Massacre Shia Villagers". BBC: Alan Newman, 13 June 2013. The Associated Press and the New York Times covering the same massacre in the Syrian village of Hatia described rebels displaying the signature black flags of al-Qaeda as they rejoiced denouncing the slain Shia "dogs and apostates." The London-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights claimed that almost 500 Syrians were killed in the first week of January this year as fighting intensified between the radical rebel group, The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant and moderate Syrian rebel troops. Russian Times, 11 January 2014.

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The IDF’s Minorities in Numbers and Pictures

In honor of IDF Diversity Week, we present diversity through numbers and pictures. Each year, more and more Muslims, Christians, Druze, Bedouin and immigrants from around the world take on the responsibility of defending Israel.

MUSLIMS:

Muslim Arab Israelis are not required to draft in the IDF, but there are many who volunteer. In 2013, there were over 200 Muslims serving in the IDF and over 300 in the reserves.

Bedouins:

Bedouins are nomadic Muslims who were in Israel when modern borders were set in place and are now considered Israeli citizens. They are not required to draft but a growing number choose to enlist. In 2012, there were over 1,400 Bedouin Muslim soldiers doing regular IDF service and almost 1,500 in the reserves.

Read more:http://www.idfblog.com/2014/02/27/truth-idf-numbers-pictures/#more-34027

Are you aware that in 2013, Middle class taxes go up-significantly?

In January of next year, the federal income tax rate for middle-class taxpayers is scheduled to rise from 25 percent to 28 percent, and the payroll tax is scheduled to rise from 13.3 percent to 15.3 percent… This drives the marginal tax rate based on the aforementioned three taxes to 48.12 percent. Add in state and local property, corporate, excise, and other state and local taxes, and the percentage of each additional dollar that is taxed hovers around 50 percent… When half of each additional dollar earned is taxed away, taxpayers experience a disincentive to start businesses or expand existing ones. This leads to fewer jobs being created.

Why is HAMAS Inside Tampa Schools?

Clare Lopez

Kelly Miliziano, who teaches history classes at Steinbrenner High School in the Tampa, Florida area apparently thinks it’s perfectly OK to invite a senior official of a HAMAS-affiliated organization into her classroom to discuss Islam with her students. According to local media reports, not only has this been going on for years, but in spite of the civil and criminal proceedings that could result from such reckless negligence, the Hillsborough County school superintendent, Mary Ellen Elia, and the chairman of the school board, Candy Olson, also expressed approval for students under their responsibility to be exposed repeatedly to guest speaker, Hassan Shibly, who is the Executive Director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in the Tampa area.
More...

Did You Know... Ignoring the Call to Islam will Bring Jihad

‘Conquest through Da’wa [proselytizing] that is what we hope for. We will conquer Europe, we will conquer America! Not through sword but through Da’wa.’
-- Yousef al-Qaradawi , Muslim Brotherhood spiritual leader The Arabic word ‘Da’wa’ means the “call to Islam.” But do not think that Da’wa is the same thing as an invitation to an optional holiday event. The classical Islamic doctrine of jihad mandates that enemies must be given the opportunity to convert to Islam or pay the jizya tax before it is permissible to attack them.
Clare M. Lopez

Who is being discriminated-facts tell the truth

Religious bias

Hate crimes motivated by religious bias accounted for 1,409 offenses reported by law enforcement. A breakdown of the bias motivation of religious-bias offenses showed:

65.4 percent were anti-Jewish.
13.2 percent were anti-Islamic.
9.5 percent were anti-other religion, i.e., those not specified.
4.3 percent were anti-Catholic.
3.8 percent were anti-multiple religions, group.
3.3 percent were anti-Protestant.
0.5 percent were anti-Atheism/Agnosticism/etc.

http://www.fbi.gov/about-us/cjis/ucr/hate-crime/2010/narratives/hate-crime-2010-incidents-and-offenses.

On March 31, 1977, the Dutch newspaper Trouw published an interview

with PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein. Here's what he said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct "Palestinian people" to oppose Zionism.

For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

In March 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a PLO executive, said:

"The Palestinian people does not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct Palestinian people to oppose Zionism."

"For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we reclaim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan."

The Arab Apartheid

Ben-Dror Yemini
In 1948, the Arab countries refused to accept the UN partition proposal and they launched a war of annihilation against the State of Israel which had barely been established. All precedents in this matter showed that the party that starts the war - and with a declaration of annihilation, yet - pays a price for it. Between 550,000 and 710,000 Arabs fled because of the war and a larger number of 850,000 Jews were expelled or fled from Arab countries (the "Jewish nakba").
Population exchanges and expulsions were the norm at that time, occurring in dozens of other conflict points and affecting about 52 million people. In all the population exchange precedents that occurred during or at the end of an armed conflict, there was no return of refugees to the previous region, which had turned into a new national state.
Only the Arab states acted completely differently from the rest of the world. Instead of assimilating the refugees, they crushed them despite the fact that they were their coreligionists and members of the Arab nation - instituting a regime of apartheid. So the "nakba" was not caused by the actual dispossession, which had also been experienced by tens of millions of others. The "nakba" is the story of the apartheid, oppression, abuse and denial of rights suffered by the Arab refugees at the hands of the Arab countries. (Maariv)

International Law and Military Operations in Practice - Col. Richard Kemp

"Islamist fighting groups study the international laws of armed conflict carefully and they understand it well. They know that a British or Israeli commander and his men are bound by international law and the rules of engagement that flow from it. They then do their utmost to exploit what they view as one of their enemy's main weaknesses. Their very modus operandi is built on the correct assumption that Western armies will normally abide by the rules, while these insurgents employ a deliberate policy of operating consistently outside international law. "

Lost Historical Moments

What Rabin’s last Knesset speech really said:repudiation of a Palestinian state

Rabin ruled out a fully sovereign Palestinian state :

“We view the permanent solution in the framework of State of Israel which will include most of the area of the Land of Israel as it was under the rule of the British Mandate, and alongside it a Palestinian entity which will be a home to most of the Palestinian residents living in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. We would like this to be an entity which is less than a state, and which will independently run the lives of the Palestinians under its authority.”

Rabin ruled out a total withdrawal from Judea and Samaria and thus a return to the pre-June 1967 borders :

“The borders of the State of Israel, during the permanent solution, will be beyond the lines which existed before the Six Day War. We will not return to the 4 June 1967 lines.”

Rabin ruled out withdrawing form the Jordan Valley:

“The security border of the State of Israel will be located in the Jordan Valley, in the broadest meaning of that term.”

Rabin ruled out uprooting settlement blocs, like the Gush Katif bloc in Gaza (which was subsequently uprooted by former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon):

“The establishment of blocs of settlements in Judea and Samaria, like the one in Gush Katif.

AND

Rabin ruled out removing any settlement before coming to a full peace agreement with the Palestinians:

“I want to remind you: we committed ourselves, that is, we came to an agreement, and committed ourselves before the Knesset, not to uproot a single settlement in the framework of the interim agreement, and not to hinder building for natural growth.”

Rabin insisted on Israel retaining full security control of the borders with Egypt and Jordan, contrary to Israel’s relinquishment of the Philadelphia Corridor on the border with Egypt:

“The responsibility for external security along the borders with Egypt and Jordan, as well as control over the airspace above all of the territories and Gaza Strip maritime zone, remains in our hands.”

Correcting Oslo Myths-Part 2

3) Kuttab laments that the post-1993 Oslo process resulted in a Palestinian Authority "whose ministers and legislators are not guaranteed passage between Gaza and the West Bank ...."

Before free passage or other perquisites, PA leaders were obligated, among other things, to eliminate the terrorist infrastructure in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, end anti-Israeli, antisemitic incitement in schools, mosques, and communications media, and resolve all outstanding issues through peaceful negotiations. They met none of these commitments, sometimes bolstering terrorism and greatly increasing incitement.

4) Kuttab complains that under Oslo the PA got "lightly armed police ---- but no real sovereignty over the land or contiguity between our communities in Gaza and the West Bank."

Oslo agreements repeatedly were revised, regardless of Palestinian non-compliance, until the authorized number of police grew from 8,000 to 40,000. Though they were to be the only armed forces in the territories, Israeli estimates early in the second intifada put the number of gunmen - police, "security services," terrorists, and armed gangs - at 85,000. Their armament reportedly included not only heavy machine guns and rocket-propelled grenades, but also anti-tank and anti-aircraft missiles.

Sovereignty was to be negotiated in the envisioned 1998 "final status" talks - after a five-year period of confidence-building. Palestinian leadership chronically undermined the process. Palestinian terrorism made the 1993 - 1998 Oslo period more deadly for Israelis than the 15 years preceding it.

The United States doesn't have contiguity between the lower 48 states and Alaska and Hawaii; territorial contiguity between the West Bank and Gaza Strip - that is, through the 20 miles of Israeli territory between them - was never promised and would destroy Israeli contiguity.

5) "Palestinians have been made to endure hundreds of checkpoints in the West Bank, an eight-foot wall deep in our territories, and tight Israeli control over borders."

The security barrier is not "deep in Palestinian territories," but rather encompasses less than 8 percent of Judea and Samaria, and is mostly a fence, rarely a wall; the land in question is not "our [Palestinian] territories" but disputed territory to which, according to the authors of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, Jews as well as Arabs have claims; and there are no international borders, only the 1949 armistice lines with Jordan. Under 242, borders remain to be negotiated. As for checkpoints - like the security barrier and "tight Israeli control" - Palestinian Arabs precipitated these measures themselves. No terrorism and there would be no fence or tight Israeli control and few checkpoints - like before the first intifada.

Correcting Some Oslo Myths

1) In Oslo "Israeli, Palestinian and other world leaders promised that ... Palestinian sovereignty would be solidified."

No, they didn't. The 1993 Declaration of Principles and subsequent Oslo agreements outlined a process by which final status negotiations about the West Bank and Gaza Strip would be reached. The process required an end to anti-Israel terrorism and incitement and a commitment to peaceful negotiations. The PA, Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, and other terrorist groups, sabotaged the process from the start.

2) "The reality is that, in defiance of U.N. Security Council Resolution 242, which states that it is inadmissible to occupy land by force, Palestinian territories are still under foreign military occupation."
Wrong again. Resolution 242 (1967) does note "the inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war." It also affirms the right of every state in the area "to live in peace with secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force." There were no "Palestinian territories." Jordan occupied the West Bank, Egypt controlled Gaza. Israel did not have "secure and recognized boundaries," so retention of some of those territories was possible under 242. Israel is not a "foreign" military occupier in the West Bank but, pending final negotiations, the lawful military administrator as a result of a successful war of self-defense.

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