The Qubaysiyat are Feminists
by Serene Taleb-Agha
For Syria Comment
October 4, 2010

Serene Taleb-Agha hiking near Swaida in spring when the poppies and dandelions are in bloom

Last week you posted an interesting contribution entitled, “Women and the Rise of Religious Conservatism.” I disagree with the claim that religious women, and the Qubaysiyat in particular, are only out to perpetuate traditions of female subjugation. I believe your audience deserves to hear another side of the story.

The author of the article chose to publish anonymously. Living in Syria myself, I can see why one might want to keep their name out of the limelight. At the same time, all of us bring our own experience and inevitable bias to this issue. I’m going to take a different approach and be frank about my own background.

I’m a Syrian woman, raised in America in a practicing Muslim family – I don’t say a conservative family because that means something different, but I am getting ahead of myself. I’ve lived in Syria for several years and have dabbled some with the Qubaysiyat. Several members of my family have gone beyond dabbling with the Qubaysiyat. If that does not qualify me sufficiently to speak about them, we will just have to wait for a Qubaysiya to defect from the higher ranks of the organization and speak openly to the media. This has yet to happen. Their secretiveness is well known.

I will agree that among the Qubaysiyat, there is social pressure, there is conformism, and submission to a strict code imposed by the “anseh” with little encouragement for discussion or dissent, though that may vary a bit depending on the temperament of the particular “anseh”. What I contest in the previous article written by anonymous is the suggestion that the Qubaysiyat espouse patriarchy. They are actually quite feminist, even if that feminism doesn’t always fit Western norms.

The mere fact that the Qubaysiyat is a completely woman-run organization attests to this. In more traditional religious organizations, the leader is a male shaykh. But the Qubaysiyat always look to a female to guide them. Furthermore, they are now writing their own religious books – you could call them their “text books” – to study from, whereas in the past they used to rely exclusively on male authors. They encourage their members to pursue higher education, to work outside the home – particularly in education or professions such as medicine.

When it comes to matters of Islamic law, they are mostly traditional, but I believe it is a matter of time before they begin to contribute their own opinions on legal matters. And ultimately, law doesn’t cover everything. They espouse giving to their husbands what is their due, but doing their other activities when he’s not around. At one gathering, I heard an anseh mention, “You don’t need to tell your husbands that you come to these gatherings.” In fact, one big clue to how anti-patriarchal they are is that so many of them, particularly the ones higher up in the organization, do not marry, and that a lot of conservative Damascene men do not like the Qubaysiyat. They view them as a threat to their control over the family, because their wives are perceived to have another allegiance outside of the direct family unit.

If you want to talk about true conservatism, it is the old model of the wife, who simply stayed at home in ignorance, cooking, taking care of her children, and relying completely on her husband for knowledge about the world and religious matters. The Qubaysiyat are a step above that. And it’s not just the Qubaysiyat who reject patriarchy. One non-Qubaysi religious teacher I heard at a mosque told her audience, “We are always lecturing our daughters about how they must prepare for marriage and what they must do once they’re married. The result is that they begin to worship their husbands instead of God.” Patriarchy is more a result of ignorance than religion.

Incidentally, I’ve met several Syrian women who have removed their hijab against their family’s desires, and none ever used feminist reasoning to argue their actions. Instead they “want to appear modern” or “want to find a husband” or think the hijab looks ugly. Conversely, when women choose to adopt the hijab, It is not a valid assumption that they have turned their backs on secular feminism. More likely, they have turned their backs on a conservative life that is only adorned with a modern veneer.

I have also met many Syrian women who have put on the hijab against their family’s desires (and their family’s reasoning also tended to revolve around “beauty” or “being modern”.) Oftentimes the women who do so are members of the Qubaysiyat. Subjugation and societal pressure works both ways.

The Qubaysiyat are not without their weaknesses. The primary problem that the Qubaysiyat and almost all other religious groups in Syria have is with their relationship to authority. The older scholars, living and dead, are seen to be practically infallible. Instead of going back to the original sources of Islamic law – the Quran and the traditions of the Prophet – they defer to the authority of one scholar or another. But I’ve come to see that this problem with authority is not just a symptom of practicing Muslims, but of Syrian society as a whole. Whatever institution you go to, whether religious or secular, one invariably encounters a boss. Around him are arranged his underlings who are powerless and have absolutely no say. They are submissive and too afraid to think for themselves. I’ve seen this kind of relationship between students and school teachers, between employees and business owners, between government clerks and officers. In my opinion, submissiveness to authority is one of the biggest social ills we struggle with.

The solution for Syrian women, Qubaysiyat and others, is to return to the sources of our respective religious traditions. We must bypass the many generations of scholars — almost all of them male — through which our religion is filtered. Then we will have a much more dynamic and independent society. We might not endorse all the options of Western secular feminism – and it is our right as an independent nation not to do so.

I will not reply extensively to the other poster’s claims, except to point out his or her errors concerning the codification of the Quran. It is a matter of historical record that the Quran was written down during the lifetime of the Prophet, and if it was not brought together in one volume until a later date, that only points to the nature of the Quran. It is meant to be constantly on the tongues of its followers. It is to be dipped into and consulted depending on the need or current circumstance, rather than a book that is read from beginning to end.

Serene Taleb-Agha

Syria and Hizbullah are mounting an offensive against the Special Lebanon Tribunal (SLT), which was established to investigate the Hariri murder in 2005. This offensive is related to the collapse of the peace talks. Elias Muhanna of the Qifa Nabki blog has some critical words for Saad Hariri’s handling of the affair. Hariri may indeed deserve blame for his weakness on this issue, but he is in a difficult position. There is no good solution for the March 14 crowd. Anti-Syrian and Hizbullah Lebanese were persuaded wrongly by President Bush and the neocons to rally their troops behind America, which promised that the region was on the threshold of a new world that Washington would usher in with its invasion of Iraq. Bush’s claim that by crushing Saddam Hussein he would destroy authoritarianism throughout the region was enticing to Lebanese who had chaffed under Syrian tutelage for 30 years. The dream that Lebanon could realize full sovereignty within the West’s orbit was intoxicating.  It turned many Lebanese into neoconservatives in a flash. The fact that Washington needed to use brute force to achieve its “peaceful” and democratic” ways did not seem to trouble this crowd and set off no alarm bells. As Lebanon split over the decision to follow President Bush, many deceived themselves that more violence could lead to peace and that Hizbullah and the Palestinians could be disarmed without war and without their grievances being addressed.

Bush’s ill fated plan to wrench Lebanon out of Syria’s sphere of influence has been reversed. Hizbullah and Syria’s attack on the SLT is only a final phase. The promise made to the Hariri camp that the US would stand behind and protect it was empty. It is not Obama’s fault that the March 14th group has fallen apart. President Bush presided over the collapse of Cedar Revolution. He did nothing in May 2008 when Hizbullah forces rolled into Beirut and held Hariri’s people at gun point.  Any pretense that the Lebanese Army was on the side of Hariri and the United States was dispelled that day when Hizbullah handed its captives over to the Lebanese Army, which worked with Nasrallah’s militia without firing a shot. Saad Hariri is now reaping the bitter harvest of Bush’s overweening arrogance and misunderstanding of the region. The court that was established outside the normal UN legal framework – a special court – to serve President Bush’s plan to destabilize Syria and disarm Hizbullah is now being attacked by the powers that it was meant to hurt. Hariri and the March 14 alliance were always the weakest link in the coalition put together by President Bush and Jacques Chirac in 2004. It is little surprise that they are now being targeted by Syria, Hizbullah and Iran.  Syria and Hizbullah are demanding that the Lebanese government disassociate itself from the Special Lebanon Court. They cannot stop the court itself, but they can hollow it out by having the Lebanese government and Saad Hariri in particular disown it.

Edward Said throwing a stone at Israel on July 3, 2000.

The collapse of the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks and Obama’s decision to support Israel despite its refusal to stop expanding into Palestinian and Syrian land is directly connected to Hizbullah’s move to consolidate Lebanon’s position in the Syrian and Iranian camp. It will only be a mater of time before Israel strikes at Hizbullah and Lebanon again. The US, which has been so powerless to restrain Israeli expansion into the West Bank will surely prove as powerless in restraining Israel from seeking a military solution to Hizbullah and Syrian supported resistance. Israel’s determination to keep the Golan and ignore the Palestinian problem will not go unanswered. President Assad’s trip to Tehran last week where both leaders reiterated their commitment to resistance was a direct response to the collapse of the peace process. Ahmadinejad’s coming visit to Lebanon and his supposed plan to throw a symbolic stone toward Israel – a la Edward Said – will evoke this steadfastness in an act of political pageantry that is sure to make headlines.

____

Elias Muhanna at QN:

“… Who is to blame for this fiasco? While it is fairly clear that the false witness file is just one part of an opposition campaign to discredit the STL, I feel that Saad al-Hariri is ultimately responsible for allowing this issue to snowball. Did he not recognize months ago that this was going to be the opposition’s game plan? Did he think that he was going to get off with a poorly-worded mea culpa in a Saudi newspaper?

By remaining out of the spotlight and not tackling the issue head-on, he has allowed the opposition to take complete control of this story. And the longer he tries to ignore it, the more suspicious and deceitful he and his allies look. Does it matter whether or not the 33 summoned individuals actually offered false testimony or tampered with evidence? No. What matters is that the opposition has been given an open floor to argue that the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is nothing but a vast conspiracy relying on false witnesses.

I’ve gotten a lot of flak over the past two weeks for suggesting that Saad al-Hariri’s premiership is little more than a sustained absence, and that March 8th politicians have better rhetorical chops than their counterparts in March 14th. Let me ask you naysayers once again: let’s imagine the tables were turned, and that a media campaign was being waged against Hizbullah. Would Nasrallah remain quiet, or would he respond to his accusers calmly and clearly (and, probably, disarmingly), batting away their claims like the wispiest of dust bunnies?

Compared to what Hizbullah is facing, the false witness issue is small potatoes. Nasrallah is allegedly staring down an STL indictment built on five years of in-depth investigation, interviews, and forensic evidence. What does he do in response? He goes on the offensive a few months in advance, and one-ups the U.N. with a three-part TV special featuring Israeli satellite footage and confessions from convicted espionage artists. Nasrallah could handle the false witness thing in his sleep. Meanwhile, Hariri seems to be asleep….”

Hariri pushed into corner over Syrian demands; Prime Minister cannot risk his domestic legitimacy by giving Damascus what it wants
Michael Bluhm interviews retired General Elias Hanna

Syria has regained political momentum and is wielding its influence throughout the Middle East; Damascus sees its play for power in Lebanon as part of its reward for outlasting the era and policies of former US President George W. Bush, who led the drive to ostracize Syria, Hanna said. For example, Syria has backed Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki in his bid to retain his post, so his apparent victory in securing sufficient backing last week to stay in office would represent another victory for Syria, Hanna added.

“It’s the time for Syria to reap the benefits … of standing up to the Americans for five, six years,” he said. “The Syrians can sell and buy in every direction. Everybody needs the Syrians today.”

In that light, the Saudis were essentially ceding control over Lebanon – and Hariri’s government – to Syria when Saudi King Abdallah and Syrian President Bashar Assad visited Lebanon together on July 30 to declare their commitment to maintaining calm here, Hanna said. Riyadh sees itself surrounded by rising Iranian influence and conflict in Iraq, Yemen and Qatar, and the kingdom was willing to give in to Damascus on Lebanon in order to get Syrian help in Iraq, Hanna said.

“It was a formal declaration of Saudi acceptance of the Syrian role over Lebanon again,” he added. “What is important for the Saudis is Iraq, not Lebanon. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is surrounded by hotspots. Maybe making some concessions on the Lebanese level will help the Saudis to balance the Iranians.”

In the end, regional vicissitudes will probably not determine the evolution of the Syrian-Hariri dynamic; Syria can likely count on always having a wealth of partners here to work with it in keeping the upper hand over Hariri, because Lebanese politicians never cease to run to Damascus for partnership when political fortunes turn against them at home, Solh said.

“The lack of consensus of Lebanese politicians on basic issues will always help the Syrians, especially, to have influence in Lebanon,” he said.

Karim Al-Mufti, a Beirut-based political analyst, said the Syrians had issued such warrants before and that since they were unlikely to have a practical effect, they would eventually “wash away”. “This is a message of support for 8 March [Hizbullah and its allies]. And it shows that even though Al-Hariri has improved relations with Syria, there are still a lot of tensions.”

The former opposition led by Hizbullah has been campaigning hard to put the issue of the “false witnesses” at the heart of the national debate about the UN court. Early in the investigation, two Syrian supposed witnesses approached the investigative committee, then headed by Mehlis, with what was taken to be evidence implicating Syria and its allies in the security apparatus of Lebanon, then dominated by Syria. They soon retracted their statements, but four generals arrested on the strength of their statements, including Al-Sayed, remained in Roumieh prison until they were released last year for lack of evidence.

Al-Ahram, Egypt

“Al-Hariri spoke about Syria, but he was expected to also mention Hizbullah and to say that he was against any such indictment,” Saad added. “It seems this is what is needed for stability in Lebanon.”

Al-Sayed, who has publicly accused Al-Hariri of paying the witnesses, filed a lawsuit with the Syrian judiciary, which he said prompted the warrants. Al-Hariri was not among the 33 names, but Syria’s step was seen as part of so far covert, but growing, pressure on him to denounce the tribunal.

LEASING

The Syrian economy is always the “other story.” If Syria cannot pull off economic liberalization fast enough or well enough, all its successes in foreign policy will be for naught. This leasing law is BIG. It sounds boring but it isn’t. Economists have shown that “leasing” gives a greater boost to economic development and investment than stock markets in developing countries. A friend has been involved in the promulgation of this law, which has allowed me to keep abreast of the process and to get a blow by blow account of what goes into changing a law of such importance in Syria. I must say that what I have learned is heartening about Abdullah Dardari’s office and the speed at which things can change in Syria. All the same, one cannot deny that the process is half-hazard and weak on procedure. Syrian leaders want change and can legislate it.

President Al-Assad Decrees Licensing Financial Leasing Companies
Oct 03, 2010 Sana

Damascus, (SANA) –President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday issued legislative decree no. 88 for 2010 licensing financial leasing companies. The decree stipulates establishing financial leasing companies and Islamic Ijara (leasing) companies as joint stock companies (JSC) in accordance with this decree. The decree includes general rules and regulations for financial leasing contracts and the legal items for the rights and duties of the lessee and the lessor. Minister of Economy and Trade Lamia Assi said the Legislative Decree No. 88 issued by President Bashar al-Assad on Sunday adds a new component to the financial system in Syria and enriches economic and trade life.

Syrian Arab Airlines to Order Two Russian Planes, Consider Larger Order
By Massoud A Derhally, 2010-10-04 07:21:24.741 GMT

BEIRUT (AFP)–Syria has issued arrest warrants against Lebanese and foreign officials over false testimony given in the probe into the assassination of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri, a general held over the killing said. Jamil Sayyed, the former head of Lebanon’s security services, said the top investigating judge in Damascus had issued 33 warrants “against judges, security officers, politicians, journalists and other Lebanese, Arab and foreign officials and individuals.” Among those named in the warrants is Detlev Mehlis, the German prosecutor who led the early stages of the U.N. investigation into Hariri’s 2005 assassination in a massive bombing, he said in a weekend statement.

11 Arrested For Organ Trafficking Between Syria And Egypt
2010-10-04 09:46:18.146 GMT

Damascus (dpa) — A group of 11 people has been arrested for alleged organ trafficking between Syria and Egypt, Syrian media reported Monday. The group is thought to be responsible for trafficking organs from over 150 people in Syria over the past year alone, al-Watan newspaper reported. The group is reportedly led by a 26-year-old woman known as Fadia, who coordinated organ trafficking from slum areas in the Syrian city of Aleppo and organ buyers in Cairo. Fadia allegedly organized travel for donors to Cairo, where they would sell one of their kidneys to patients from Gulf Arab states for meagre amounts of money.

Syria’s Assad Forms Investment Company to Revamp Markets, Infrastructure

By Nayla Razzouk – Oct 3, 2010

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad formed a company to guide investment at home and abroad while transforming the country’s financial markets and infrastructure, the Syrian Arab News Agency said.

Assad signed a decree creating a state holding company with 5 billion pounds ($108 million) of capital and a mandate to form a sovereign wealth fund, the state news service cited Finance Minister Mohammad al-Hussein as saying.

The new company will guide investments and oversee the creation of joint ventures between foreign and domestic companies, SANA said. It’s also tasked with setting up banks, insurance companies and other financial institutions.

“The state will become an important player in investment markets,” Hussein was cited as saying. Syria aims to attract as much as $55 billion in foreign direct investment over the next five years, with almost half of that earmarked for infrastructure projects, Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs Abdallah Dardari said Sept. 24.

Major projects worth USD10.36 billion underway in Syria
Published Today -Bawaba

Syria is currently witnessing an influx of high-profile private and public investment projects totaling USD10.36 billion. These cover the residential, retail, hospitality, office, leisure infrastructure, energy, and tourism sectors and involve prominent investors such as the UAE’s Majid Al Futtaim Group and Al Qudra Holding, Qatari Diar and Syrian Qatari Holding, Emaar- IGO, Bin Laden Group, and Khorafi Group, according to Collaboration, Management and Control Solutions (CMCS), a leading provider of project portfolio management solutions.

CMCS pointed out that Syria’s new five-year development plan emphasizes the need for the country’s public and private sectors to set up partnerships and invest in project management solutions as a means to help reduce instances of project failure, while at the same time providing an efficient way to monitor project performance.

Bassam Samman, CEO and Founder, CMCS, said: “The Syrian Government is aggressively moving towards achieving the set goals of their five-year development plan. The government has already announced a number of projects for the remainder of 2010 and for the next development period. In line with this, key stakeholders from both the public and private sectors are now looking towards increasing the adoption of project management practices to effectively meet their strategic objectives. Moreover, global financial institutions like the World Bank and the European Investment Bank are now requiring project management in the projects that they fund.”

Syria accuses teenage blogger of spying for a foreign power [This story is going viral. I have already had four or five good journalists write me about this story. The Syrian accusations are too implausible. Syria needs to let her go soon or face a very damaging news cycle)
Student alleged to have helped attack against Syrian army officer
* Ian Black, Middle East editor
* guardian.co.uk, Monday 4 October 2010

…..The Associated Press today quoted an unnamed official in Damascus as confirming media reports that Tal al-Mallouhi, 19, was being held for alleged involvement in espionage for a foreign country.

“Her spying led to an attack against a Syrian army officer by the agents of this foreign country,” the official said. This was believed to be the first government comment on the case. Supporters of the blogger are unlikely to believe it……

No US approval to Turkey, Syria envoys until votes

A U.S. State Department spokesman said the U.S. Senate would approve the nominations of ambassadors to Turkey and Syria after it reconvened following a by-election.
Tuesday, 05 October 2010 09:55

A U.S. State Department spokesman on Monday said the U.S. Senate would approve the nominations of ambassadors to Turkey and Syria after it reconvened following a by-election.

“… we want to see the nominations of Ambassador Ricciardone and Ambassador Ford go forward and we continue in consultation with the Senate on those nominations … and we’re hopeful that when the Senate reconvenes after the election that their nominations will go forward,” Philip Crowley told a daily press briefing.

U.S. president nominated Ricciardone early July to be the next U.S. Ambassador to Turkey. Ricciardone needs the approval of the U.S. Senate in order to begin serving in Ankara as the new U.S. Ambassador. If approved, he will replace James Jeffrey in Ankara, who has been nominated as the new U.S. Ambassador for Iraq.

“It does have an impact. These are vitally important countries to the future of the region. They are countries that we need that kind of day-to-day interaction with,” Crowley said.

Lieberman: Obama trying to force agreement on Israel

FM tells fellow Yisrael Beiteinu members US wants two-month settlement freeze to draft peace deal that would mean two states for two people along 1967 borders. On controversial UN speech: I wanted to tell the world the truth as I see it.

Israel must not be tempted to adopt US President Barack Obama’s suggestion to declare a two-month settlement construction moratorium, as it may lead to a forced (peace) agreement with the Palestinians and a return to the 1967 borders, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman said Sunday.

Syrian Actress Tests Boundaries Again
By ROBERT F. WORTH, October 1, 2010, NYTimes

Igraa: Julien Goldstein for The New York Times

“My films criticized the double standard of the Eastern man. He studies in Europe, but he comes back East and returns to his old attitudes,” said Nihad Alaeddin.

NIHAD ALAEDDIN was once one of the great sirens of Syrian cinema. Working under the stage name Igraa, or Seduction, she embodied the openness and liberalism that reigned in the Arab world during the 1960s and ’70s, performing the region’s first cinematic nude scene and flippantly telling journalists that “we have to bring sex to the cinema because our audience is frustrated.”

Now, after 15 years of self-imposed seclusion, she has returned as a ferocious critic of the Islamist wave sweeping the Middle East, and her courage has drawn the admiration of a younger and more constrained generation of actors and filmmakers. A multipart documentary about her appeared on Syrian television last year, and a prominent Syrian director is now working on a film about her life.

Unlike many other actresses of her era, she refuses to apologize for any of her numerous risqué roles, and even defends her sexual freedom in a way that is almost unheard of in this increasingly conservative country.

“Men have this hypocrisy nowadays. If the girl wears a hijab she must be honest,” Igraa said in a voice ragged from chain-smoking, during a late-night interview at her Damascus apartment. Today’s Islamic conservatives, she said, are mostly “liars” who “criticize others but don’t truly believe themselves.”

“The whole issue of the hijab has become an excuse for hunting down other people,” she said.

She laughed and added, “This kind of talk could get me hanged.”

Igraa’s own family has been split by the Islamist trend. As a teenager in the late 1950s, she traveled with her older sister to Cairo, where an Egyptian impresario renamed them Seduction and Charm and made them a successful belly-dancing duo who toured Europe and Asia in daringly scanty outfits.

Then in the late 1970s the Islamic revival began, taking with it Igraa’s sister. She took the veil and became a conservative Muslim, discarded the name Charm, and now refuses to talk about her belly-dancing past, though the sisters remain on speaking terms.

As for Igraa, who still uses that name, she now lives mostly nocturnally, rising in midafternoon. Her apartment is a decaying museum of her own career, with dozens of pictures of her alongside bizarre collections of cheap trinkets and stuffed animals. In her late 60s, she still dresses like the precocious teenager she once was, with tight jeans, pancake makeup and a spectacularly bouffant wig hiding her gray hair. She married only eight years ago, to a man decades her junior, and has never had children.

Some critics say her new iconoclasm is just an effort to dignify what was little more than a career in soft-core porn. Igraa bristles at the notion. “I took off my clothes for a principle,” she said. “If I wanted to do it for money I could have done it in the dark and made a lot more.”

BORN in Damascus to a lower-middle-class family, she dropped out of school in the fifth grade and moved to Cairo at the age of 13. After training with the legendary Egyptian belly dancer Tahia Carioca, she danced with her sister for several years, and then began acting in television dramas. She went on to become a leading actress, screenwriter and director.

“There was a kind of bloom of freedom in those days,” said Nabil Maleh, a Syrian director who helped to make Igraa’s career.

Igraa’s breakthrough came in 1970 with the film “The Leopard,” widely considered to have established modern Syrian cinema at a time when Egypt dominated the business. During filming, the producers and director worried that the story — about a Robin Hood figure in the mountains of northern Syria — might not get the attention it deserved without some kind of lure. They asked Igraa, who played the protagonist’s wife, to do a nude scene. She surprised them by agreeing almost at once. By modern standards, the film is scarcely racy at all: a few glimpses of flesh during a muted love scene. But at the time, it was profoundly shocking.

“I felt like a suicide bomber when I was making this scene,” she recalled. “To do such a scene in Syria — I knew there would be criticism.”

There was criticism, but the film was a hit. People traveled in packed buses from remote towns to the movie theaters in Damascus and Aleppo. Igraa was defiant about her role, and when she was asked to blame the director and producer, she refused, saying they had done the scene with her full consent.

She went on to make dozens of other films, many of them tawdry affairs with a lot of bikini scenes and not much plot. But she also wrote 25 screenplays, and she casts her work as an effort to break down patriarchal attitudes toward women.

“My films criticized the double standard of the Eastern man,” she said. “He studies in Europe, but he comes back East and returns to his old attitudes. If he could lock his wife and sister up, he would.”

To some younger filmmakers, her standing as an artist is less important than her defiance. In a country where artists are often forced to make compromises — with censors, or with religious orthodoxy — her honesty and steadfastness alone seem a virtue. Despite her controversial views, however, she has not suffered harassment or threats.

“She is very important because she is not a liar,” said Khaled Khalifa, a prominent novelist and television screenwriter. “She never regretted, she never apologized.” He added that in contemporary Syrian television and film “you can barely even show a kiss.”

Mr. Khalifa said he had tried to persuade Igraa to return to the screen, without success.

ODDLY, Igraa said she was a great admirer of Hassan Nasrallah, the leader of the Shiite militant group Hezbollah. She does not share his Islamist principles, but admires his honesty. “If he asked me to sacrifice my blood, I would,” she said.

Igraa said she would make another film if the role were right. For now, the Syrian director Omar Amiralai is making a film about her life, and she seems comfortable to play the provocateur.

Pointing to a huge movie still on her living-room wall that shows her younger self, head thrown back and eyes closed in what appears to be a moment of sensual abandon, she asked, “Guess what I’m doing in that picture?” The answer? Being stabbed to death by her husband. In the film, she played a woman who cheats on her husband and then returns to him, only to have him kill her.

Men usually think the still shows a moment of sexual climax, she said, with a bawdy smile. “Only women ever guess it right.”

Nawara Mahfoud contributed reporting.

Divorced! Divorced! Divorced! by Jida Malas
Forward Syria.com

With three words, men in Muslim societies can permanently divorce their wives. Divorce in itself used to be taboo in Damascus but is becoming increasingly acceptable. Women emancipation is one reason for the increasing divorce rate in Damascus, so are emotional and sexual incompatibility.

One of the most striking features of modern societies has been the rapid growth of divorce. Damascene society is no exception. In Damascus, according to the Central Bureau of Statistics, out of a total of 17,821 cases in Syria, there were 5036 cases of divorce in 2005. This is compared to 22,823 marriages in Damascus in the same year….

The ‘unspoken’ reason for divorce

All the previous reasons were what people talk about; what one hears on the streets of Damascus. What about what they don’t talk about? What about what remains taboo? This naturally is in reference to sexual reasons for divorce. According to sex specialists in the Arab world, the majority of Arabs are sexually ignorant, and considering that a marriage is almost totally based on the intimate relationship between man and women, it means that sex-related disorders might as well contribute in breaking marriages.

Sawsan notes, “My ex-husband couldn’t perform sexually. ….

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Syria’s Assad replaces two ministers

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad slightly reshuffled the cabinet on Sunday, replacing the ministers of culture and irrigation, the official SANA news agency reported.

It said Assad issued “a decree naming Riad Ismat minister of culture. Ismat previously headed Syrian state radio and television.

Georges Soumi is minister of irrigation. He is a Christian and not a Baathist. Like the Christian minister of expatriates who is from the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Soumi is from the official opposition, only he is a communist.

SANA did not specify the reasons for the reshuffle, the seventh since Mohammed Naji Otri became prime minister in 2003.

Web Tastes Freedom Inside Syria, and It’s Bitter
By ROBERT F. WORTH, September 29, 2010, The New York Times

DAMASCUS, Syria — Earlier this month, a graphic video of teachers beating their young students appeared on Facebook. Although Facebook is officially banned here, the video quickly went viral, with Syrian bloggers stoking public anger until the story was picked up by the pan-Arab media.

Finally, the Education Ministry issued a statement saying the teachers had been reassigned to desk jobs. The episode was a rare example of the way Syrians using Facebook and blogs can win a tenuous measure of freedom within the country’s tightly controlled media scene, where any criticism of the government, however oblique, can lead to years in prison.

“We have a little bit of freedom,” said Khaled al-Ekhetyar, a 29-year-old journalist for a Web site whose business card shows a face with hands covering up the eyes and mouth. “We can say things that can’t be said in print.”

But that slim margin is threatened by an ever present fog of fear and intimidation, and some journalists fear that it could soon be snuffed out. A draft law regulating online media would clamp down on Syrian bloggers and other journalists, forcing them to register as syndicate members and submit their writing for review. Other Arab countries regularly jail journalists who express dissident views, but Syria may be the most restrictive of all.

Most of the Syrian media is still owned by the state. Privately owned media outlets became legal in 2001, as the socialist economy slowly began to liberalize following the accession of President Bashar al-Assad. But much of the sector is owned by members of the Syrian “oligarchy” — relatives of Mr. Assad and other top government officials. All of it is subject to intimidation and heavy-handed control.

“The first level is censorship,” said Ayman Abdel Nour, the founder of All4Syria.info, the independent Web site where Mr. Ekhetyar works. “The second level is when they send you statements and force you to publish them.” Like many other journalists and dissidents, Mr. Abdel Nour has left the country and now lives abroad.

The basic “red lines” are well known: no criticism of the president and his family or the security services, no touching delicate issues like Syria’s Kurdish minority or the Alawites, a religious minority to which Mr. Assad belongs. Foreign journalists who violate these rules are regularly banned from the country (a fact that constrains coverage of Syria in this and other newspapers).

But the exact extent of what is forbidden is left deliberately unclear, and that vagueness encourages fear and self-censorship, many journalists here say. A 19-year-old female high school student and blogger, Tal al-Mallohi, was arrested late last year and remains in prison. Her blog had encouraged the Syrian government to do more for the Palestinians, but it scarcely amounted to real criticism, and the authorities have not given any reason for her detention. A number of bloggers have been arrested for expressing views deemed critical of the Syrian government or even other Arab governments, under longstanding laws that criminalize “weakening national sentiment” and other broadly defined offenses.

Others have been jailed for jokes. One blogger, Osama Kario, wrote a parody in 2007 of the famous “three Arab No’s” refusing any concession to Israel (no peace with Israel, no negotiations with Israel, no recognition of Israel). His version: “No electricity, no water, no Internet.” He was jailed for 28 days, and when he emerged he stopped blogging and would not speak to fellow journalists about his experience.

Television and radio journalists have made some tentative efforts to push the limits in the past few years, with mixed success. D.J.’s like Honey Sayed, who hosts a popular show called “Good Morning Syria” on Madina FM, often explore sensitive social issues like homosexuality and child abuse. Last year Orient TV, a new station owned by an independent Syrian businessman, began broadcasting from Dubai and quickly gained a large audience with its imaginative documentaries. But a few months later the station’s Damascus office was abruptly shut down, with no explanation given.

One Web site, All4Syria.info, has managed to survive since 2004 with a revolving staff of about half a dozen writers based in Syria. Earlier this year it published an interview with three political dissidents on their release from prison, something no other Syrian outlet dared to do.

“The Internet in Syria is a bit like the samizdat publications were under the Soviet Union,” said Mohammad Ali Abdallah, whose brother Omar Ali Abdallah was sentenced to five years in prison in 2006 for contributing to an Internet forum that was deemed seditious by the authorities.

Last year, some of Syria’s new, privately owned radio stations joined bloggers in criticizing a proposed revision of Syria’s personal status law that would have made it legal for men to marry girls as young as 13 years old. Under pressure, lawmakers abandoned the proposal.

But individual successes do not always make for broader progress, because of fear.

“Even when someone successfully crosses a line, everyone is still afraid, they don’t build on it,” Mr. Ekhetyar said. “They think maybe it was a coincidence.”

Many online journalists use pseudonyms, he added, a practice that may be safer but erodes their credibility and leaves them in a fearful solitude where they cannot develop professional standards. Facebook has been an important outlet for political and social frustrations, but it, too, is often used with furtive anonymity.

And it is impossible to tell how many Syrians are paying attention. Asked who his audience was, Mr. Ekhetyar paused and said with a weary smile, “My friends and the secret police.”

That may be why the Syrian authorities, despite the official ban on Facebook, YouTube, and many other Internet venues, do not seem too frightened of them. Most Syrian government officials, including the president, have their own Facebook pages. Walk into almost any of the many Internet cafes in Damascus, and the manager will show you how to log on to Facebook or other banned sites. Foreign proxy server numbers are traded among young people like baseball cards.

On a recent evening in the tumultuous Bab Touma section of Damascus’s Old City, 26-year-old Berj Agop was among a crowd of young people at the SpotNet Internet Cafe, many of them casually surfing sites that are officially banned.

“I saw the video of the teacher beating the student,” he said. “It’s a victory for sure; without Facebook no one would have known about that incident.”

But nearby, another young man who gave his name only as Taym offered a different view.

“The Internet is like a baby’s lollipop for the young,” he said. “It entertains him and makes him forget his problems, it’s like ‘Alice in Wonderland’ — I dream of such a world, a better world.”

Hwaida Saad contributed reporting from Damascus.

All three articles posted below outline aspects of the economic challenges that Syria faces.

Syria hopes to bridge costly development gap
Thu, Sep 30 2010
By Khaled Yacoub Oweis

AYN AL-ARAB, Syria (Reuters) – Only the old Berlin to Baghdad railway separates the Syrian town of Ayn al-Arab from Turkey’s Mursitpinar, but the contrast between the two sides of the track is so stark they could be on different planets.

Potholes the size of craters mark Ayn al-Arab. Side roads are not paved. Sewage runs on the streets and power cuts are common. The land is parched, with farmers draining the water table and worsening the damage from droughts.

Across the border in the Turkish town houses are neat, the clean streets are well-lit and the land is lush. Syrians from Ayn al-Arab even use Turkish mobile networks as the service there is regarded as cheaper and better.

The gulf between the two towns highlights how far Syria has fallen behind its northern neighbour — which it sees as a development model to emulate — and the scale of the challenge it faces to provide basic services such as road networks, electricity and water to its population.

Dilapidated infrastructure and underdevelopment is common across Syria, from the capital Damascus to the eastern region which has been reduced to a dust bowl by four years of drought that ravaged agriculture and displaced 600,000 people, according to a United Nations report.

Oil rigs tower above shanty towns in the eastern province of Deir al-Zor, but life in nearby villages along the Euphrates appears little changed for centuries, except for the addition of plastic bags littering the environment.

Electricity generation barely covers 70 percent of Syria’s total demand. Even Aleppo, the once great cosmopolitan hub of Anatolia, sinks in darkness as authorities are forced to turn off street lights. Industrialists have pleaded with them to regulate the power cuts instead of randomly interrupting supply.

PROJECTS DELAYED

Apart from real estate and the oil sector, which produces a modest 375,000 barrels per day, substantial foreign investment remains virtually unheard of in Syria.

A highway project to link Aleppo to the port of Latakia has been delayed, partly by disputes between the state and Kuwaiti contractor Kharafi. A deal with Kuwaiti firm Noor to build a network of petrol stations to solve massive queues went nowhere.

Offers to the private sector to finance and build two highways, capitalising on Syria’s location as a link between Turkey and the rest of the Middle East and between the Mediterranean and Iraq, have drawn little interest.

Syria, which has been under U.S. sanctions since 2004 for the government’s support of militant groups, does not fare well in international indices measuring corruption and ease of trade and doing business.

In the World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Report 2010-2011, it ranked 109th out of 139 countries in the quality of the education system. Arab neighbours Lebanon and Jordan came 16th and 55th respectively.

Syria’s infrastructure was assessed 95th, compared with 35 for Jordan and 132 for Lebanon, where roads and power stations have been frequently bombed by Israel during the past 30 years.

The newest power plants were built in the mid-1990s and refineries dating back three to four decades cannot cope with demand, costing the state billions of dollars in fuel imports.

OVERHAULING INFRASTRUCTURE

Acknowledging the problem, Prime Minister Naji al-Otari said infrastructure will be overhauled “in partnership” with the private sector through Build, Operate and Transfer projects and other arrangements that ease the financing burden on the state.

Otari said the Syrian government’s economic achievements so far were “a miracle” and he expected investment to pour in to support the infrastructure projects.

But after the woeful inefficiency of state construction companies and criticism of projects given to private firms in the past decades, attracting investment to these new mega infrastructure deals could be a challenge.

“You need good quality legal and regulatory framework, which is a weakness in Syria. These kind of projects need lots of guarantees from the government,” said Jihad Yazigi, publisher of the Syria Report online economic newsletter.

“They will eventually happen. There is very serious commitment and a sense that the government is willing to private investment requirements,” he added.”

Electricity generation alone would need investment of $760 million (25.8 million pounds) a year just to keep up with increases in demand, Otari said, adding that the government would be able to cope better if it was not for Syria’s rapid population growth of 2.4 percent.

There have been improvements. Two international companies, French Lafarge (LAFP.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Italcementi (ITAI.MI: Quote, Profile, Research), are building two cement factories that could help solve shortages after the government gave up its monopoly on the sector.

It no longer takes years to obtain a land line in Damascus, and 3G service by private mobile companies have helped improve connection to the Internet. And in Ayn al-Arab, the road leading to the Euphrates river has been upgraded.

But the U.N. report this month cautioned that economic liberalisation of the past 10 years — restrictions on private capital into banking, industry and real estate have been lifted — may not necessarily translate into human development.

The number of people living in extreme poverty — deprived of food, clean drinking water, sanitation, health, proper shelter, education and information — has increased to as much as 3 million from 2 million six years ago, it said.

The lack of basic services is a sensitive issue in Syria. Independent figures who criticised corruption and the government’s economic policy have faced long jail terms.

Earlier this year investigative journalist Maan Aqel, who challenged government assertions that there was no African level poverty in Syria and that corruption was under control, was arrested and spent three months in prison.

The U.N. report linked economic development with the need to improve rights in the country, which has been ruled by the Baath Party since it took power in 1963, imposing emergency law and banning opposition.

In Ayn al-Arab, a Kurdish town of 70,000, the more enterprising inhabitants have escaped poverty by making a dangerous but lucrative business out of illegal ground water drilling.

Workshops fill the central street, producing big rigs several stories high and a compact “garden” model designed to slip more easily under the eye of authorities.

“Ayn al-Arab’s digging specialists have spread from Morocco to Iraq. But as you can imagine, safety specs are not great, and it’s common for operators to get maimed,” said Mahmoud al-Ghazal.

“This is what people are driven to when there is no development.”

Syrian Youth Unprepared For Market-Driven Economy

NPR Syrian youths participate in trust games at the Syria Trust for Development in Damascus.
By Deborah Amos, Morning Edition, NPR, September 30, 2010

LA Times [Reg]: SYRIA: Entrepreneurs chafe over slow pace of economic reforms
2010-10-02

Smart and ambitious young Syrians, Amer, Wasseym and Naser Abdulghani’s animation company, Ox Animation, is in demand around the Arab world just a year after launching. But even after achieving moderate success in Syria, the three brothers say they are contemplating a move to business-friendly Jordan.

“It was impossible for us to get a bank loan as it is difficult to check people’s backgrounds here,” says Amer, 29. “We had to spend years approaching private investors to get the money.”

The difficulty of getting credit is just one hurdle facing businesses in Syria. Bureaucracy, poor transport and power infrastructure, and the need for connections this year pushed Syria down the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Rankings to 97 from 94 out of 139.

Wide-reaching economic reforms have been underway since the move towards economic liberalization started in 2005, and the government is pushing for investment and entrepreneurialism by creating industrial cities and cutting red tape.

Reforms have met with some success. International brands now line Damascus’ once Soviet-looking streets, industrial city profits have steadily risen, and foreign direct investment jumped in 2008 by an astounding 70% to $2.1 billion, according to Syrian figures. Tourism — and its revenues — has also risen dramatically.

But with falling oil and gas revenues, a growing population, high unemployment and ailing infrastructure, Damascus will have to move faster to keep young entrepreneurs like the Abdulghani brothers.

One businessman, who asked not to be named, said it had taken him two years, numerous visits to government offices and several bribes to get permission to turn residential premises into commercial, and another six months to get connected to electricity.

Rana Shanawani, the head of BIDAYA, a non-governmental organization that gives money and support to business start-ups, is not surprised by the Abdulghani brothers’ experience.

“Doing business in Syria is extremely difficult,” she says. “Young entrepreneurs face exceptional obstacles.”

It is not just Syrians who find the new landscape difficult. European and U.S. firms are slow to invest, with the majority of money flowing from the Gulf, according to the Syrian officials. Major business players complain of red tape, a lack of qualified staff, low levels of transparency in policy-making and insecure legal rights.

Although the Syrian Investment Agency says it licensed projects worth more than $5 billion last year, many have yet to get off the ground. There is some evidence that investment has dropped.

While domestic troubles are being solved, the key to future economic success may depend on Syria’s attempt to position itself into a regional hub, analysts say.

President Bashar Assad “has worked hard to strengthen relations with regional countries and turn Syria into an energy and transportation center,” says Joshua Landis, a Syria expert at Oklahoma University.

The eastern region bordering Iraq is subject to special attention as Syria eyes increased trade and transit opportunities with a future new Iraqi government -– which Damascus is helping to broker.

Iraq is already Syria’s main trade partner and the countries agreed a deal last month for Iraqi gas to be piped through Syria to the coast. Eastern city Deir Ezzor will be the focus of investment projects with businesses are given financial incentives to locate there.

“Syria is at a real crossroads,” Landis says. “They have done some good things but need to push ahead more rapidly if their economy is to cope with the growing population and the pressure that puts on the country.”

— Sarah Birke in Damascus

PM rejects U.S. guarantees in exchange for renewing freeze
U.S. reportedly incensed over PM’s rejection of a draft letter that would have extended moratorium on West Bank settlement construction.
By Barak Ravid, HAARETZ 01.10.10

The United States is reportedly incensed over Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s rejection of a draft letter that would have extended the freeze on West Bank settlement construction, formulated by advisers to the U.S. and Israeli leaders.

The letter, written by U.S. President Barack Obama’s advisers and by Netanyahu’s and Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s adviser Isaac Molho, would have had Israel freezing construction in the settlements for another 60 days in exchange for unprecedented U.S. political and security assistance. Senior American officials said they were frustrated by Netanyahu’s conduct in the affair.

“We’re not buying the excuse of political difficulties anymore,” a senior U.S. official told his Israeli counterpart. “The Americans said Netanyahu’s conduct is humiliating the president,” said a senior European diplomat who met with senior U.S. officials in New York last week.

The details of the letter were revealed by senior researcher David Makovsky on the website of the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.

According to the report, the letter included benefits crucial to Israel’s security that Netanyahu has been demanding for years. For example, the United States pledged to support Israel’s position on stationing Israeli troops in the Jordan valley after the establishment of a Palestinian state, in order to prevent weapons smuggling.

The United States also would not ask Israel to further extend the building moratorium and would pledge that the issue of settlements would be dealt with only as part of final-status talks with the Palestinians, the letter reportedly said.

The United States also reportedly would veto any UN Security Council resolutions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict this year, would upgrade Israel’s defense capabilities after the peace agreement, and would increase security assistance.

This reportedly would include providing Israel with advanced fighter jets and early warning systems, including satellites. The U.S. also would start talks with Arab countries toward a regional agreement vis-a-vis Iran.

Obama adviser Dennis Ross, who is the moving force behind the letter, is believed to have encouraged Obama to change his policy toward Netanyahu in order to come off as friendlier. Ross reportedly worked with Barak and Molho on the letter during the UN General Assembly in New York.

The White House yesterday denied that Obama sent a letter to Netanyahu, but did not deny that the United States and Israel worked on a letter.
The Prime Minister’s Office declined to answer any questions on the subject.

According to a source involved in discussions of the letter, Netanyahu agreed to the talks conducted by Barak and Molho in New York, but began to backpedal in two phone calls with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Saturday night.

On Sunday, Netanyahu said he appreciated the letter but could not accept the American proposal because it included a two-month extension of the construction moratorium, which he said would damage his public credibility.

According to an Israeli source involved in the details of the affair, Ross was very insulted by Netanyahu’s conduct and considered it “treason.”

To head off a possible public confrontation following Netanyahu’s rejection of the letter, Ross and White House Middle East adviser Dan Shapiro met Tuesday in Washington with a large group of Jewish senators and congresspersons to report on talks with Israel and the draft letter.

According to a source informed about the meeting, Ross said the administration was surprised that Netanyahu had turned down the draft. To increase pressure on Netanyahu, Ross reportedly passed on the draft to Makovsky, who published it online Tuesday night.

According to a senior Israeli official, the “guarantee letter” may now be off the table and the Americans may be formulating a different solution to allow continued negotiations.

On Tuesday morning, Netanyahu met with U.S. envoy George Mitchell. Mitchell met yesterday with Palestinian Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and will meet with Netanyahu again today.

Meanwhile, European Union High Representative for Foreign Affairs Catherine Ashton landed yesterday in Israel and will mee
t with Netanyahu today.

According to news agencies, the Arab League, which was to meet Monday to decide whether direct Israeli-Palestinian talks should continue, has put off the meeting until Wednesday, giving another 48 hours for Israeli-Palestinian talks.

Syria: Mideast peace process dead
2010-09-29

New York – The new Middle East peace talks are a “dead letter” because of Israel’s renewed settlement building in occupied Palestinian territories, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said on Tuesday.

“In Israel there is much talk about peace yet the drums of war continue to sound,” Muallem told the UN General Assembly.

But he offered to resume mediation talks with Israel that have been brokered through Turkey.

Feltman: We have important differences with Syria… (mideastwire.com)
September 28, Asharq al-Awsat

“Feltman added saying: “Washington is trying hard to achieve global peace in the region. This means that we should also be more active on the Syrian and Lebanese tracks while carrying on with our efforts on the Palestinian-Israeli track.” Asharq al-Awsat asked Feltman why there was no scheduled joint press conference after the meeting, to which he said: “There is no backdrop for this issue since Secretary Clinton did not hold a joint press conference after the bilateral meetings that she has conducted in New York with many world leaders and representatives.” As for the US Department of State, its spokesman said that the meeting with Al-Muallem represented a rare opportunity to proceed with dialogue with Syria in regard to the peace process and the latest developments in the Middle East region.

According to the JTA, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said he is not interested in reviving talks with Syria where they left off under his predecessor, Ehud Olmert.

Those talks, mediated by Turkey, operated under the assumption that Israel would return the entire Golan Heights, the strategic plateau captured by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War, should a comprehensive peace be secured. Netanyahu says he will only restart talks with no preconditions and has suggested that he is not willing to return the entire Golan.

“The secretary affirmed our objective of comprehensive peace in the Middle East, which includes the Syrian track,” the State Department spokesman, P.J. Crowley, said in a conference call with reporters. “Foreign Minister Muallem was very interested in pursuing that, and there was a pledge that we would develop some ideas going forward on how to proceed.”

How U.S. Jews Strangle Peace Talks
by Peter Beinart

Is Syria ready for the “Muslim Brotherhood Initiative”?
Akif EMRE in World Bulletin

WSJ(9/28) US Woos Syria In Mideast Peace Push
2010-09-27 (From THE WALL STREET JOURNAL) By Jay Solomon

NEW YORK—Secretary of State Hillary Clinton intensified American efforts to woo Syria into backing the U.S.’s Middle East strategy, holding her first direct meeting with her Syrian counterpart in a bid to find common ground on Iran, Lebanon and the Arab-Israeli dispute.

But Damascus’s top diplomat, Walid Moallem, in an hourlong interview Monday, voiced opposition to many of the Obama administration’s top regional initiatives, and expressed skepticism about the prospects for renewed Syrian-Israeli peace talks.

Mr. Moallem said Damascus would oppose United Nations efforts to issue indictments to support the U.N. investigation into the 2005 murder of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, a crime some Lebanese officials have blamed on Syria.

The Syrian diplomat ruled out any further cooperation with a U.N. probe into evidence that Damascus had been covertly developing a nuclear reactor along the Euphrates River before Israeli jets bombed the site in 2007.

Mr. Moallem said the U.N.’s nuclear watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency, discredited itself last week by failing to approve an Arab-led initiative that seeks to place Israel’s nuclear infrastructure under IAEA safeguards.

“It is discredited, the agency,” Mr. Moallem, 69 years old, said in the interview in a mid-Manhattan hotel. “It shows how much politics is inside their work. But more, it shows double-standard policies.”

Damascus has for years denied any role in Mr. Hariri’s death, as well as accusations that it was seeking to develop nuclear weapons in cooperation with North Korea.

Senior U.S. officials have increasingly sought to engage Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in a bid to gain Damascus’s support on a range of Mideast issues, as well as to weaken its strategic alliance with Iran. Syria and Iran partner closely in arming and financing the main Arab groups fighting Israel—Hamas in the Palestinian territories and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Syria also has close ties to many of the political factions currently seeking to form a new Iraqi government.

U.S. officials believe a resumption of direct Israeli-Syria talks over the status of the Golan Heights region—a process that broke down in 2000—could diminish Syrian support for Hamas and underpin the separate Israeli-Palestinian peace track.

State Department spokesman, P.J. Crowley, said later Monday Mrs. Clinton and Mr. Moallem discussed a range of regional issues and that Mrs. Clinton “expressed her commitment to securing a comprehensive peace.” Mr. Crowley said Syria’s foreign minister voiced his own government’s interest in peace talks and that Washington and Damascus “would explore ways to move the process further.”

Still, Mr. Moallem said he believed a comprehensive Arab-Israeli peace would be doomed without Israel’s commitment to first freezing any new construction in disputed territories. He said any direct talks between Syria and Israel could begin only after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu committed to restoring the Jewish state’s borders with Syria to the pre-June 4, 1967, lines. “So the land is ours. And it’s not up for negotiation,” Mr. Moallem said.

The Syrian foreign minister stressed that following such a commitment on the Golan, Damascus would be prepared to discuss joint security and water arrangements, as well as normalization of diplomatic ties, with Israel.

Mr. Netanyahu’s government has said it won’t enter into talks with Syria that have preconditions. Israel also says Syria has been transferring increasingly sophisticated long-range missiles to Hezbollah, a charge Mr. Moallem denied.

Lebanon remains an issue of tension between Washington and Damascus. The U.S. has strongly voiced its support for the U.N. completing its investigation into Mr. Hariri’s murder, as well as trying those indicted for the crime at a U.N. court in The Hague.

Mr. Moallem alleged Monday that the U.N.’s work in Lebanon has been irredeemably “politicized” and that Damascus has received word that members of Hezbollah were soon to be formally charged with the murder. He said that such developments risked plunging Lebanon into a new round of sectarian strife and that the U.N.’s investigation should be replaced by a purely Lebanese investigation to ensure fair treatment.

“We are convinced that a condemnation of the prosecutor of this court against Hezbollah will be a factor of disturbance in Lebanon,” Mr. Moallem said.

The U.S. and Syria also could clash diplomatically this fall over the nuclear-proliferation issue, as the Obama administration has indicated it would press for the IAEA to have the powers to launch a “special investigation” of Syria’s alleged nuclear infrastructure.

Such a move, if pursued by the IAEA’s director general, could result in Syria facing a U.N. Security Council censure, and possibly sanctions, if it doesn’t comply with the agency’s requests for documents and visiting rights.

Mr. Moallem said Syria, as a signatory to the U.N.’s Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty, would continue to allow the IAEA to visit Damascus’s research reactor, which is included in his country’s formal cooperation agreement with the U.N. body. But he said the IAEA wouldn’t be allowed to return to the Euphrates site.

“They know that this case is baseless,” Mr. Moallem said. “Of course, to have a nuclear program, a military one, we need to invest billions of billions of dollars. We are not advocating a race for nuclear weapons in the region, on the contrary.”

The Syrian diplomat said Mr. Assad has grown disappointed with the pace and scope of President Barack Obama’s administration’s effort to rebuild ties with Syria over the past 18 months.

The White House’s special envoy to Syria, George Mitchell, has visited Damascus and outlined ways that pervasive American sanctions on the Middle East country could be eased to facilitate high-tech trade and the shipment of spare parts for airplanes, according to U.S. officials. But so far, Mr. Moallem said, these steps have had little impact inside Syria.

“Until today—nothing,” he said.

Irish Nobel Peace Prize laureate resists deportation from Israel – Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Allawi in Sryia, Tells Iran to Stay Out of Iraqi Politics
Source: VOA

Former Iraqi Prime Minister Ayad Allawi has called on Middle East leaders to stop Iran from interfering in Iraqi politics. He made the call in Syria Wednesday, following a meeting with President Bashar al-Assad. Mr. Allawi said he had asked Iran’s allies, which include Syria, to send the message to Tehran.

Syria’s Assad to visit Iran this weekend: SANA, AFP

The news of the visit comes only days after former Iraqi premier Iyad Allawi said he asked Syria to persuade Iran to keep out of his protracted battle for the premiership with incumbent Nuri al-Maliki following March 7 elections.

It also precedes Ahmadinejad’s visit later this month to Lebanon, where Iran’s ally Hezbollah is locked in a bitter war of words with Prime Minister Saad Hariri about a UN-backed court’s probe into the assassination of his father, Rafiq Hariri, in 2005.

The new Saudi arms deal: Encouraging Iran to Go Nuclear
By Stephen M. Walt Tuesday, September 21, 2010, Foreign Policy

The Obama administration is about to propose the sale of more than $60 billion worth of advanced weapons to Saudi Arabia. Apart from providing an obvious boost to the U.S. defense industry, the clear purpose here is to send a message to Iran. As an unnamed U.S. official stated a few days ago, “We want Iran to understand that its nuclear program is not getting them leverage over their neighbors, that they are not getting an advantage. . . We want the Iranians to know that every time they think they will gain, they will actually lose.” In short, the sale is “mainly intended as a building block for Middle East regional defenses to box in Iran.”

I get all that, although it seems like an awful lot of weaponry to “contain” a country whose entire defense budget, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies, is only $10 billion.

But my real question is this: if our primary goal is to discourage Iran from developing nuclear weapons, then might this new initiative be counter-productive? Doesn’t it just give Iran an even bigger incentive to get a nuclear deterrent of its own? Think about it: if you had a bad relationship with the world’s most powerful country, if you knew (or just suspected) that it was still backing anti-government forces in your country, if its president kept telling people that “all options were still on the table,” and if that same powerful country were now about to sell billions of dollars of weapons to your neighbors, wouldn’t you think seriously about obtaining some way to enhance your own security? And that’s hard to do with purely conventional means, because your economy is a lot smaller and is already constrained by economic sanctions. Hmmm….so what are your other options?

Women and the Rise of The Religious Conservatives
By Anonymous
For Syria Comment
Sept 28, 2010

The following essay examines religious and cultural practices in Syria and the impact of religious conservatism on women. The essay is presented without authorship so as to not prejudice the reader by the author’s sex, religion, or nationality. The essay is intended to stand on it own ideas, to provoke thoughtful reflections.

Women and the Rise of The Religious Conservatives

In Damascus women are increasingly falling under the conservative trend that is sweeping the region. Today, the percentage of women wearing the hijab on the streets of Damascus is on the rise.

Many reasons have been proposed for the increasing number of women wearing the hijab: assertion of self-identify in the face of a perceived Western attack on Islam, a direct response to the Bush administration’s perceived “evangelical” invasion and occupation of Iraq (this is analogous to Americans wearing the yellow ribbon in the aftermath of the September 11 attack on New York City). Piety is another reason; some women in Syria make a vow to wear the hijab in response to their family’s misfortune, as a promise to God to heal a loved one or lift a misfortune. And failure of the secular governments to close the gap with the developed countries is yet another reason given by some analysts.

In Syria the particular influence of the Qubaysiyat cannot be overlooked as a substantial driving force behind the rise toward religious conservatism. The Qubaysiyat is a conservative religious order run by women. Similar to the evangelical Christian conservatives in the U.S., this group aims to gain as many converts as possible, demanding conformity, and wishing to impose their conservative values on society at large. The Qubaysiyat are active and relentless in attracting women, using peer pressure and often offering economic incentives as well.

This rise in conservatism in the Middle East has its parallel rise of the Christian right in the U.S. Many of these conservatives both in the US and the Middle East are targeting the gains achieved by women for equality and independence within society.

All religious conservative movements are patriarchal in nature. Christian fundamentalism in the U.S. is accused of being an anti-feminist, regressive movement. I was recently struck to hear from an American nun from the conservative Dominican order of St. Cecelia that women cannot lead a congregation in prayer since “it is God’s will that man shall do so”. She also contended that in a marriage the man is the head of the household but should love his wife and care for her. This view is contrary to the modern view of marriage as a partnership of equals. In Syria, a conservative woman by the name of Mayssa Hammamy recently published an op-ed on the popular Syria-News website shaming the men of Syria for, among other things, allowing a woman to conduct business negotiation in their presence. And for the first time in Syria’s history, conservatives are planning to segregate women in public by proposing to build women-only shopping centers. This is a painful attack on women’s freedom after the many strides made over the past century in their struggle to earn their place in society as equal to men.

Today, Women have broken many barriers and are leading in fields that not too long ago were men-centric. Women like Lisa Randall is a leading theoretical physicist searching for extra dimensions other than the three spatial and one time dimensions we already know; Danica Patrick raced her Indy car at an average speed of 246 km/h to win the Indy Japan car race against the best male drivers in the world; and Paula Radcliff ran a marathon at a blistering pace of 5 minute and 10 seconds per mile for a mind-numbing 26.2 miles.

This patriarchal revival is particularly odd for a country like Syria where women are known for their intelligence and accomplishment. In 1910 a pioneering women journalist by the name of Mary Ajamy started the first women’s organization in Syria, and in 1930, Lorice Maher was the first women to graduate from medical school paving the way for countless other female medical students who followed through to become some of the best physicians Syria has ever known. Syria today has three women government ministers and the only woman vice president in the Arab world,

Syria is home to traditionally strong and independent women. A Syrian woman who resisted the pressure of the Qubaysiyat recently told me that she would rather see her husband wearing the hijab before she does. Yet these accomplished Syrian women are increasingly finding themselves on the defensive against a growing conservative movement that claims to speak for God.

Not too far from Syria in Gaza, women have been banned from smoking the narghila in public by the conservative government of Hamas. This ban, which has nothing to do with public health, since it does not include men nor does it ban women from smoking in private. This ban is another strike at women’s independence and is anti-feminism in action.

To understand this ban by Hamas it is helpful to review the history of women and smoking. In most of the western world, it was extremely rare to see women smoking in public before the 1940s and 1950s. But as women fought for their rights and gained more independence, smoking in public became a common sight and a signal from women to assert their newfound emancipation. Capitalizing on this sentiment the Tobacco company Philip Morris launched the highly successful slogan “You’ve come a long way, baby” to advertise its Virginia Slims brand of tobacco. A brand manager for Virginia Slims described the success of the campaign as a as liberationist, in the sense that slogan really meant, “You’ve got a lot of options now.” Later as the danger of tobacco became apparent, Western governments banned smoking in most public spaces, equally, for both men and women.

Smoking in public is no longer a form of expression for women, but on the streets of Paris, New York, London, and Milan women are strong, stylish, and assertive. These women are dressed in the latest casual, athletic and business attire, reflecting the status they have achieved in their societies.

While women should be free to express their religious piety in any form they chose, the rise of the hijab can be a slippery slope, it begins with what women can and cannot wear, to whether they can drive; go to school, or work.

Tradition versus religion

Religious fundamentalist Jews, Christians and Muslims alike have a tendency to view the religious text in its literal origin. Unfortunately, women are often the victims of such interpretations.

Contrary to the fundamentalists, the prophet Muhammad encouraged critical thinking and according to the hadith said “To question is half of learning.”  It is thought that through questions a believer can explore his or her faith and the meaning of religion.

One question is: Whether God intended for religion to be codified into a written law?

Examining the history of the Bible and the Quran, offer some clues: To start, neither Jesus nor the Prophet Muhammad ever wrote any religious texts. There are no records of that, nor are there accounts of either one ever having done so. In fact even Abu Baker, the man who succeeded Muhammad as the leader of the Muslim community, is said to have been ambivalent about collecting all of Muhammad’s revelations in writing, in one book. The most credible Islamic tradition states that it was the third Muslim Khalifa, Uthman (644-655), who commissioned Zayed bin Thabit to undertake the task of compiling a standard text. Likewise, Jesus did not write the New Testament of the Christian bible nor was it complied into a single text by his direct disciples. The New Testament was written over a span of many years. Three of its authors, Paul, Luke and Mark, were not of the original 12 disciple of Jesus; the other two authors, John and Mathew allegedly were, but even the portion attributed to John is now believed to have been written by some of John’s students around 95 AD. The Church’s fathers later collected all this work into a standard text that we know today as the Bible.

None of the above argues against the authenticity or truth of either religious text. In both the case of the Quran and the Bible, people made a faithful effort to record the words of Jesus and Muhammad and create a singular religious text, but in neither case were these people commanded by Jesus or Muhammad to do so.

Islamic tradition holds that the Prophet Muhammad could not read or write, and Muslim scholars consider the revelation of the majestic words of the Quran though Muhammad as a miracle, and liken it to the virgin birth of Jesus Christ. This again could be interpreted as an indication of God’s intention. God chose Muhammad as his prophet, a man who could not write and appeared to him though the angel Gabriel; he told him to recite not to write: “Recite: in the name of thy lord who created, created the human being of a blood clot”. Had God intended for the prophet Muhammad to write, it certainly was within God’s mean to bestow this ability on the prophet, but God chose not to.

Also God’s choice of language is another indication of this aversion to the literal religious text. Jesus spoke Aramaic, a language that was to become practically extinct. Today Aramaic is only spoken by the inhabitants of one village in Syria and in the liturgy of a couple of Christian churches in Syria and Lebanon.

Arabic on the other hand was primarily an oral language and did not develop into a written language until much later than its Aramaic predecessor. The earliest written form of Arabic appeared in 512 AD, a few years before the birth of the prophet Muhammad and at the time had only 22 letters, the use of the dots was latter added to the Arabic alphabet to make up today’s Arabic 28 letters. The earliest surviving document that definitely uses these dots dates back to 643 (11 years after the death of the prophet Muhammad) and did not become obligatory until much later. According to the traditionalist Muslim historical account, the original Quran was written using the earlier version of the Arabic alphabet, the text was later given vowel pointing and punctuation in the seventh and eighth centuries. So While God chose for Jesus a language destined to become extinct, in the case of Muhammad, God chose a fluid language that was not yet fixed in its final written form.

If a lawyer today were to write a legally binding document, a law, he or she would refer to the dictionary several times to examine the spelling and exact meaning of the word used, whether it is being used in the right way and the proper place. A legal document often includes defined term in it as an addendum to the text. One can only imagine how contentious a legal battle can be over any vagueness or double meaning of words.

Before dictionaries codify a language, it is written and spoken but it is not really defined, not fixed. Language, by its very nature, evolves. Words evolve and their meanings change depending on the context in which they are used, and also with time. The first Arabic Language dictionaries were compiled between the 8^th and 14^th century, that is when the meaning of the Arabic word was beginning to get fixed and well defined. So it is humans many years after the death of the prophet Muhammad that fixed the meaning of the words God chose for Quran. Again this does not argue against the authenticity of the text, rather that it was not the intention of god to codify religion into text, otherwise God would have chosen in the case of Christianity an enduring language and in the case of Islam a well established one.

The Religious Law

God’s aversion to the written religious law seems to date to the days of Moses. According to the Jewish Torah, the Ten Commandments were spoken by God and written by Moses on two stone tablets during his 40 days atop mount Sinai. The Stone however later broke, as the aging Moses came down from the mountain and threw these tablets to the ground, angry at the site of the Israelite worshiping idols. All three monotheistic religions report a similar version of the event, and all three religions hold that God is supreme, creator of everything seen and unseen, God they hold is all-knowing. So one has to wonder: if God wanted a religious law written in his name and in stone, why would God not have made available to Moses a more durable stone?

Inspired by the Quran and the Hadith, Muslim jurists later developed the Shariaa, or Islamic law that conservatives use to enforce their values on Arab society. This law however was also deeply rooted in the traditions of Arabia and the ancient Near Eastern legal culture. These cultures are traditional and strongly patriarchal and link the image of women and the virginity of unmarried women to family honor.  Despite the prophet Muhammad’s groundbreaking efforts, at that time, to grant women new rights in matters of marriage, divorce, and inheritance, the law today continues to be patriarchal, influenced by the traditional culture in which it developed. By and large the Arab societies today are still deeply patriarchal.

One outrageous example of this patriarchal hold on these societies in Syria today is the so-called honor killings of women who have an affair or who have premarital relationships. This heinous killing is still reported regularly predominantly in rural Christian as well as Muslim communities. Although honor killings are prohibited by religion, it is primarily the religious conservatives who oppose to strengthening of the law and punishments against it.

In another telling example of how religious law is intertwined with the conservative values of traditional societies, the Syrian government recently allowed for each religious community to develop its own civil law in accordance to its rules. This gesture by the Syrian government is in the tradition of early Islam. When Abu Bakr deployed his army to conquer Syria, he commanded his generals to establish a covenant with the conquered people and “to let them live according to their own law.” Prior to this ruling by the Syrian government, the Shariaa law governed all civil matters of all Syrians. And since the Shariaa law is an Islamic religious law, one would have expected the Christians in Syria to take advantage of this new ruling. What happened instead was surprising and telling at the same time. The Melkite Catholics of Syria, who are predominantly city dwellers, quickly seized this opportunity and established their own civil law that gave women equal rights to men in among other things matters of inheritance. The Melkite Orthodox on the other hand resisted, preferring to remain under the Syrian civil law that adopted the Shariaa law in matters of inheritance. The Melkite Orthodox are the majority of the Christians in Syria and have large congregations living in rural and more traditional parts of Syria. These traditional communities are still deeply patriarchal and did not want their family wealth to pass with the married daughters to their new families.

It was very interesting to recently read in the archives of the NY Times that at the turn of the 20^th century in what was little Syria in lower Manhattan, men and women were separated during service at the Maronite church according to traditional custom, with men occupying the front of the church and women the back. While Christians in Syria no longer segregate worshipers according to their sex, Muslims still do. All of this is a strong indication that today religion and tradition are intertwined and that religious conservatives are holding on to old cultural traditions that are outdated and that discriminate against women.

Knowing what we know today about law and language, one has to wonder why God did not clearly define a religious text and law. Why did none of his chosen disciples, Jesus or Muhammad oversee the creation of a singular religious text, in a well-defined, well-established language? Perhaps because there are two ways human typically deal with laws: one group fetishizes the law and the other tries to find loophole. Perhaps also because the religious text divides us, taken away, we are left with one God and the notion that we are all created equal. The only consistent message in all the religions is to do good and to help those less fortunate, the poor and the sick. Without the law we are free to grow, free to develop, and free to try to find the divine in our everyday and the beauty that surrounds us.

Today it has been reported that the Syrian government is asserting its secular principles in response to the rising religious orthodoxy. One good place for both the government and the civil society in Syria to start is strengthening women’s rights. As a starting point it should be emphasized without any qualification or exception that women are equal to men; That they are human beings, with all the rights, responsibilities and privileges of men

Netanyahu’s ability to stare down both the Palestinians and Obama made for another of those “there-goes-Palestine” moments. This is the third time that Obama has been steamrolled by Netanyahu.

U.S. Scrambling to Save Talks on Middle East

Jewish settlers in Kiryat Netafim poured a concrete cornerstone for a kindergarten on Sunday.
By ETHAN BRONNER and MARK LANDLER, September 26, 2010

JERUSALEM — Israel allowed a politically charged freeze on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank to expire on Sunday, but the Palestinians did not carry out a threat to quit peace negotiations, setting the stage for further frantic efforts to keep the talks alive.

The winner in the settlement row is Netanyahu?

By Aluf Benn Benjamin Netanyahu appears to be the winner of the construction-freeze crisis…

Al-Hayat – by Joyce Karam, (from mideastwire.com)

Al Hayat has learned that the meeting between Clinton and Al-Muallem was set up by US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell after his recent visit to Damascus. American sources were quoted in this respect as saying: “The visit made by Mitchell to Damascus was very positive. And upon his return to Washington, he informed Secretary Clinton about the results of his discussions, expressing his belief that there was hope of seeing the resumption of the Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations. He also informed the American officials about the importance of the Syrian role in the region, especially in regard to the ongoing peace talks.” A prominent American official also told Al-Hayat that the Obama Administration supported the resumption of Syrian-Israeli peace talks from the start.

“The official added saying: “True, the Administration considers that priority should be given to the Israeli-Palestinian track since it is at the core of the problem, but it also supports the resumption of the Syrian-Israeli peace talks. And the fact that the Syrians have said that they were supportive of the resumption of those talks under Turkish auspice is a good thing… Washington expects the Syrian track to be reactivated within the few coming months.” In this respect, Arab diplomatic sources in Washington told Al-Hayat that they expected the Syrian track to become active again within the two coming months, although the American and Arab sources did not expect a solution to be reached on that track any time soon.

“The meeting between Al-Muallem and Clinton will be followed by another meeting held between the Syrian foreign minister and the UN Undersecretary of State William Burns. Both meetings will discuss the role that could be played by Damascus in the peace process and how it could play a helpful role in order to achieve regional stability…” – Al-Hayat, United Kingdom

Foreign Ministers of Syria, Turkey, Jordan and Lebanon met in NY

Enhancing long-term strategic partnership among the four countries through establishing a high-level quartet meeting council.

The ministers stressed that mechanism for regional cooperation will be open to friendly and sisterly countries.
They appreciated the steps made by Turkey and Lebanon to reach a free trade zone agreement which will be a main factor for achieving the participation of the two countries.

Rival Palestinian factions agree to end division in power-sharing deal

“…DAMASCUS, Syria — Palestinian rivals Hamas and Fatah announced Saturday that they have agreed on steps to end their division and share power and said they will hold more talks before signing a final deal in Cairo.

The two sides have been bitterly divided since Hamas militants violently seized control of the Gaza Strip in 2007, leaving Western-backed Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah in control only of the West Bank…. The agreement came during a four-hour meeting that ended early Saturday between two delegations headed by Hamas’ exiled leader, Khaled Mashaal, and senior Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmed. A joint statement issued after the talks said the two sides have reached an understanding on “the majority of points of difference.” It gave no details, but the sides have differed over control of Palestinian security forces and the date for parliamentary and presidential elections.

Hamas official Izzat Rashaq said the next meeting is expected during the first week of October. The two groups will then head to Cairo to sign a reconciliation agreement. That would clear the way for new Palestinian elections.
Egypt has been trying to reconcile the rivals …”

U.S.: Syria is essential to achieving Mideast peace

U.S. Secretary of State is scheduled to meet Syrian foreign minister on Monday in New York to discuss possible renewal of Syria-Israel talks.
By Haaretz

A senior U.S. official said Friday that the United States saw Syria as an essential component in the path to achieving a comprehensive Middle East peace, ahead of a meeting between the U.S. and Syria, scheduled for Monday.

“A comprehensive peace has to include the Syria-Israel track. It’s absolutely essential that Syria be part of this process,” Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs Jeff Feltman told reporters.

“The fact that the Secretary [of State Hillary Clinton] is seeing [Syrian] Foreign Minister Walid Moallem on Monday, I think speaks for itself in terms of our commitment and our hope that now is the right time to move forward in trying to restart the Syria-Israel track,” Feltman added.

Answering reporters’ questions in New York, where the United Nations annual summit has convened, Feltman said that the upcoming meeting in New York between Clinton and Moallem will take place in that spirit, and stressed that “the Palestinians have told us that they would be very supportive of having a Syria track as well.”

“We have a lot of differences with Syria,” Feltman added. “Those differences aren’t going to disappear overnight. We also recognize that it is certainly in our interest to do what we can to engage the Syrians and the Israelis in a peace process that can lead to a comprehensive peace.”

Meanwhile, Clinton met with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Friday as the Obama administration engaged in furious, last-minute diplomacy to prevent Israeli-Palestinian peace talks from collapsing when the temporary settlement construction freeze ends on Sunday.

The Palestinians have threatened to walk out of the talks if Israel does not extend a slowdown in West Bank settlement activity.

Feltman told reporters the U.S. is urging Israel to extend the moratorium and that both parties need to see the negotiations through to their conclusion.

Turkish Weekly:

“Three PKK members were arrested in Beyrout by Lebanon security forces. The operation against so-called Israeli spies still continues.During the last week, Lebanon Military Intelligence Service launched operations against the ‘spies of Israel’ in Jonieh, a coastal city 20 kilometers north of Beyrout. During the operation, 3 PKK members were also caught. Interrogated terrorists were put under arrest for spying for Israel in Lebanon.
Meanwhile, PKK’s acting leader Murat Karay?lan’s recent speech is attracting more attention to the PKK-Israel relations. Two days ago he offered cooperation to Israel against Turkey. The PKK leader declared Turkey as a ‘common enemy’ by saying “Our enemies are also the enemies of Israel.”

Government Increases Price of Fuel Oil

The Syrian Government has increased the retail price of fuel oil to SYP 8,500 per ton in line with its target to reach market rates by 2015.

Syria’s inflation rate stood at 2.18 percent on an annual basis at the end of July 2010, according to the Central Bank of Syria.

Nexia International, an international network of audit and consultancy firms, has opened a branch in Syria.

We are proud to be Yehudi-Arabi. It is in our veins’. Many Syria’s Jews who never saw their home country have not lost touch with their roots.

Jews who call Syria home; culturally Syrian, religiously Jew
By Brooke Anderson – DAMASCUS published in forward.com

“You can never forget,” says Joey Allaham, a Syrian Jew who left Damascus with his parents at the age of 18 in 1992, the year a nearly 45-year travel ban was lifted on Jews. “The Syrian customs never left – even for people who left Syria a hundred years ago. We still eat the same things; we’re still Syrian. There’s nothing missing.”

This statement might be truer for the Syrian Jews than for almost any other immigrant community in the world. ….

Is Gideon Levy the most hated man in Israel or just the most heroic?
For three decades, the writer and journalist Gideon Levy has been a lone voice, telling his readers the truth about what goes on in the Occupied Territories.
Interview by Johann Hari

Levy believes the greatest myth – the one hanging over the Middle East like perfume sprayed onto a corpse – is the idea of the current ‘peace talks’ led by the United States. There was a time when he too believed in them. At the height of the Oslo talks in the 1990s, when Yitzhak Rabin negotiated with Yassir Arafat, “at the end of a visit I turned and, in a gesture straight out of the movies, waved Gaza farewell. Goodbye occupied Gaza, farewell! We are never to meet again, at least not in your occupied state. How foolish!”

Now, he says, he is convinced it was “a scam” from the start, doomed to fail. How does he know? “There is a very simple litmus test for any peace talks. A necessity for peace is for Israel to dismantle settlements in the West Bank. So if you are going to dismantle settlements soon, you’d stop building more now, right? They carried on building them all through Oslo. And today, Netanyahu is refusing to freeze construction, the barest of the bare minimum. It tells you all you need.”

He says Netanyahu has – like the supposedly more left-wing alternatives, Ehud Barak and Tzipip Livni – always opposed real peace talks, and even privately bragged about destroying the Oslo process.

Abdullah Dardari, Syria’s Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs, said while visiting France, that Syria expected to attract $55 Billion in Investment Over 5 Years. This number is more reasonable than the 77 billion that the Oxford Business Group said the Assad government expected to attract over five years in July.

In February 2009, Dardari said,

“Syria’s infrastructural needs are estimated to cost 50 billion dollars over the next 10 years. In addition, Syria needs to build some 200,000 residential units within five years;  it must construct some 40,000 additional hotel rooms by 2015 in order to accommodate the expected 8 million tourists by that year.

In June of this year, President Assad said that Syria “hopes to attract $44 billion in private investment over the next five years.”

John Dagge of Syria Today also uses the $50 bn number in his September 2010 article on Investment banks. He writes:

The most recent development in the country’s banking sector came at the end of July when President Bashar al-Assad issued Decree No. 56, allowing investment banks to enter the market. The decree comes as Syria looks to raise SYP 2,350bn (USD 50bn) in infrastructure investments over the next five years.

“Investment banks will stand as… a way to secure sources of funding needed to finance huge projects,” Adib Mayaleh, governor of the Central Bank of Syria (CBS), told Syria Today. He added that he had already held discussions with a number of European firms interested in entering the market.

How reasonable is it for Syria to expect to raise $50 bn in five years or $10 bn a year?

Let’s look at Syria’s Foreign Direct Investment history.  Dardari told reporters today in Paris that investment in Syria this year will reach $2.5 billion.

He said the country’s economy will grow at about 5.8 percent this year and an average of 5.5 percent to 6 percent over the next five years.

If Syria does attract 2.5 bn foreign investment this year, it will be a big jump and put Syria in league with Morocco and Tunisia – See this graph of DRI for Lebanon, Syria, Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt and Algeria, here.

According to the Syrian Investment Agency, about US$1.19bn were invested by foreigners in the country in 2008. Despite the global economic slowdown, the volume of FDI increased by 32.2% last year (up from US$898m in 2007 and from US$613m in 2006).

2009 FDI Syria – Syria attracted USD 1.5 billion in foreign direct investments in 2009, according to a report by the Arab Investment and Export Credit Guarantee Corporation.

Here is the history

.613  2006
.898  2007
1.19  2008
1.50  2009
(2.50 ? 2010)

The neighbors attracted the following amount of FDI last year.

Tunisia 1.77
Algeria 2.31
Egypt 6.7
Lebanon 4.8
Sudan 2.9
Morocco 2.5

Even Dardari knows that to go from 2 billion to over 10 billion by next year will be difficult if not impossible.

“We know we need a big leap forward to attract this investment,” Dardari said. “We know that there are many things we have to do in terms of financial markets and protectionism.” Legislation will be introduced or amended on public procurement, independent electrical generation, investment banking, leasing, mortgage financing, central bank independence and local credit guarantees, Dardari said. Syria is also considering starting an export guarantee program.

“Even with all these changes, we have a long way to go,” Dardari said. “A competitive economy is a mindset, a new way of seeing things. This is the real challenge. But the political determination is unquestionable. There is no going back.” …..

The newly released “corruption perception index” ranks Syria 126 out of 180 (Lebanon and Libya at 130 with Yemen at, 154 Iran at 168 and Iraq and Sudan at 176). Somalia was the dead last. Impressive was the ranking of Qatar at 22 (ahead of France!). Another noteworthy country was Jordan at 49, beating Turkey (at 61) and Italy (at 63).

Syria is negotiating a free-trade agreement with the Mercosur trade bloc, which includes Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil, Dardari said. The country has a free-trade agreement
with Turkey and an interim agreement with Iran. Capital Intelligence and the International Monetary Fund have said the government should focus on implementing changes that would quicken its transition to a market-based economy. The IMF forecasts that Syria’s economic growth will rise to 5 percent in 2010 from 4 percent last year.

[SYR] Syria raises petrol prices 10%
2010-09-23

The Syrian government has announced a 10% rise in petrol prices following a spike in consumption and rising cost of subsidising other fuels, Reuters has reported. The government has steadily raised petrol prices in the last several years but this has not cut consumption as decade-long bans on importing cars were lifted and car buying spiked. Unlike gas oil and fuel  oil, petrol is not subsidised in Syria, which produces 380,000 barrels per day of crude oil but does not have enough refining capacity to meet domestic needs.

Syria Looks to Russia as Sanctions Hit Plan to Buy Airbus
2010-09-24, By Gregory Viscusi and Massoud A. Derhally

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) — Syria is in talks with Russia about buying planes as U.S. sanctions have stalled negotiations to buy as many as 50 Airbus SAS aircraft, said Abdallah Dardari, the deputy prime minister for economic affairs. “I’m looking for planes with less than 10 percent of U.S. components,” Dardari told reporters today in Paris. “That leaves only Russia. We’ve spoken about it with President Dmitry Medvedev. We are in negotiations.”

Dardari said in an August 2008 interview that Syria plans to modernize the fleet of its state-run carrier, Syrian Arab Airlines. The airline had sought to buy single-aisle Airbus A320s as well as twin-aisle A330, A340 and A350 models. It had planned to lease four planes and then take delivery of the first 14 Airbus airliners from 2010 to 2018 and a further 36 by 2028.

Idaf points out that Syrian identity in the Golan is growing and points us to this article: The changing generations of Syrians in Israel by Benjamin Joffe-Walt.

A Syrian Kurd has been sentenced to three years in jail in Spain for throwing a shoe at Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Next door in Italy, police seized a large amount of explosives that were headed for Syria.

Italian police have seized seven tons of the powerful RDX explosive which they found in a shipping container they believe were likely destined for a terrorist organization. While the origin and destination of the contraband is still being …

Christian Sci Mn: Syrian real estate market prices out young adults
2010-09-22

A local, slice-of-life story from a Monitor correspondent. “Mustaheel,” (impossible) has become the typical refrain of young Syrians asked about their plans to move out of the house. Exorbitant real estate prices and limited …

Syrians agree to disagree on pros and cons of traditional marriage in modern society.
Syrians divided over traditional marriages
By Jennifer Mackenzie & Mayar Mnini – DAMASCUS

It was a typical beginning to a traditional marriage: a beautiful girl was spotted at a swimming pool by the mother of an eligible young man. After all, according to tradition, it is the groom’s mother who finds an appropriate wife for her son, visiting the potential bride’s family house to look for signs of her class, cleanliness, and cooking abilities, and accompanying the girl to a Turkish bath to check her beauty and fitness.

So when the girl, a student at Damascus University, climbed out of the pool, a hopeful mother approached her and asked if she was looking for a husband. Then the story veered from its time-honored course: the girl rejected the whole scenario and walked away upset.

“It’s ridiculous,” she said, recounting the event to her friends, also university students, who laugh and agree. From a section of society that is well-educated and well-traveled, their ideas about how they want to marry differ markedly both from those of their parents and of many of their contemporaries. And their growing sense of independence, or at least questioning, is re-shaping marriage practices in Syria.

Jewish and Palestinian Syrians living in peace in Old Damascus
Real friendships remain between some Syrians, emigrated Jewish community that left Syria.
By Julian Weinberg – DAMASCUS

Faisal and Musa are drinking tea, laughing, and reminiscing about old times in Musa’s antique shop in Old Damascus. Musa has just returned from America, where he now lives, and one of the first things he did after catching up with his relatives was to invite Faisal to his family’s house for dinner. That was last night, and the two of them are still giggling about their memories. Faisal is Palestinian, and Musa Jewish.

On the surface, this seems a striking incompatibility in the region, an effect of the Arab-Israeli conflict. This has never stopped these two Syrians from having a very close friendship. “Every day we have a story,” said Musa, “ you know, we used to go to the Sheraton Hotel to drink every night,” he continued, as Faisal, laughed on a drag of his cigarette, choking slightly.

Although most of Syria’s Jewish community has emigrated and the estimated number of Jews still living in Syria is between 25 and 200, they were not forced to leave after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948. This led to the development of real friendships that both sides, Syrian and the emigrated Jewish community, recount with fondness and sorrow….

Negotiations between Syria and Israel have reportedly come close to a final agreement, but are currently stalled despite international encouragement, since the new Israeli government took power. However, there have been reports over the last few years that some from Syria’s US-based Jewish community would like to play a role one day in bringing the two nations together. “I’m looking forward to peace and when everyone comes together and lives in peace,” lamented Musa. “My mother stills says she will return home,” added Faisal.

Syrian artists at Christie’s

US and Iran favour Maliki as Iraq PM six months after polls
by Assad Abboud Assad Abboud – Tue Sep 7

BAGHDAD (AFP) – Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has the backing of Washington and US arch-foe Iran to keep his job, six months after he narrowly lost an election to ex-premier Iyad Allawi, politicians said Tuesday.

The United States has consistently denied having any favoured candidate for the premiership but amid growing impatience for a new government in Baghdad it now sees Maliki as the conflict-wracked country’s only viable leader.

A grave fear that Allawi will “re-Baathify” Iraq, bringing former allies of Saddam Hussein back to power, has also led its Shiite parties, with close ties to Iran, to accept Maliki, despite scepticism about his character and ability.

Maliki’s State of Law Alliance, a Shiite grouping, gained two fewer seats in the election than Iraqiya, a broadly secular coalition with strong Sunni backing led by Allawi, a Shiite.

But neither man has managed to gain a working parliamentary majority despite months of coalition negotiations, leaving the nation’s politics in limbo amid growing public frustration at the lack of progress.

There have been 56 national elections or referendums worldwide, according to IFES (the International Foundation for Electoral Systems), since Iraqis voted in the parliamentary poll on March 7.

The impasse has led US officials, anxious to avoid further delays that could potentially cause Iraq’s fledgling democracy to unravel, to seek a Maliki-led government that gives a prominent role to Allawi.

A senior State of Law official said Maliki received assurances during US Vice President Joe Biden’s recent visit that major neighbouring Arab countries, except Saudi Arabia, had decided to stop backing Allawi’s premiership hopes.

“Maliki was quoting Biden as saying, ‘Iraqiya has many problems and complexities… I told Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Qatar and United Arab Emirates to end their support for Allawi,'” the official said Biden told Maliki.

“‘They were all convinced except Saudi Arabia,'” he quoted the vice president as saying.

Netanyahu Says Golan Wind Farm a ‘National’ Project
2010-09-24
By Sally Bakewell

Sept. 24 (Bloomberg) — Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu gave “national infrastructure project” status to a $400 million wind farm on Israel’s Golan Heights, clearing it for fast-track approval by regulators.

“SYRIA’S IMPROVED RELATIONS WITH TURKEY IS THE CENTER-PIECE TO BASHAR ASSAD’S NEW FOREIGN POLICY”
JOSHUA LANDIS
Center for Middle Eastern Strategic Studies, (ORSAM) Turkey

Joshua M. Landis, Director of the Center for Middle East Studies and Associate Professor of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Oklahoma and writer of the a daily newsletter blog Syria Comment on Syrian politics answered ORSAM’s questions on Syrian foreign policy, regional politics, peace process and relations of Syria with Israel, Lebanon and Turkey.

ORSAM: To start with Syrian foreign policy in general, it is usually analyzed with neo-realist considerations, omnibalancing approach rests on regime survival concerns, historical sociology pays attention to the levels of state formation or political economy. What do you think are the main determinants of Syrian foreign policy?

Joshua M. Landis: All regimes and countries defend themselves. This is not shocking and shouldn’t be a revelation in explaining the behavior of Syria’s leadership. For example, Tony Blair has revealed in his recently published memoirs that Vice President Cheney was deadly serious in his ambition to bring down the Syrian state following Washington’s successful destruction of the Iraqi state. It is in this light that we can understand Syria’s determination to assist the emergence of an Iraqi resistance that could frustrate Washington’s further designs of regime destruction in the region.

Syria’s most important foreign policy goals are to remain a regional power, get back the Golan Heights that was taken from it in 1967 by Israel, remain the principal power in Lebanon, which Syria considers crucial for its defense, and to tend its key relations with both Iran and Turkey.

ORSAM: Another related question, some constructivist scholars claim that the domestic transformation triggered by economic liberalization helped Syrian identity undergo a transformation from Arab to separate Syrian identity. Do you agree with this? In your opinion, to what extent identity shapes foreign policy behavior in Syria?

Joshua M. Landis: National identity is an important factor in shaping Syrian foreign policy as it is for most states. Syria has been growing into its borders that were imposed on it by France and Britain following WWI. Damascus has normalized relations with most neighbors and settled most border disputes. Most notably, this is the case with Turkey. By traveling to Ankara in 2004, Bashar al-Assad indicated that Syria was willing to bow to Turkey’s 1939 annexation of Sanjak of Iskanderoun, or the Vilayet of Hatay in order to build good relations. All the same, it would be a mistake to suggest that Syria has abandoned Arabism for Syrianism. It has not. The constitution and laws of Syria enshrine its Arab identity, Syria’s Kurds and ethnic minorities are compelled to embrace the majority Arab identity despite their protests and preference for a uniquely Syrian identity. Moreover, the government continues to use Arabism to justify its foreign policy interests in the neighborhood.

ORSAM: After the initial years that Bashar Assad’s leadership capabilities were questioned, he is showing a leader profile that has strengthened his situation both inside and outside. Syria seems to overcome the period of isolation and pressure started with President Bush. How do you evaluate Bashar Assad period Syrian foreign policy?

Joshua M. Landis: Assad has been very successful in frustrating US and Israeli ambitions in the region. The Bush administration sought to force Damascus to reverse its foreign policy ambitions and “flip” from being an ally of Iran to embracing Washington’s interests. Turkey has been crucial in enabling Assad’s foreign policy successes in Iraq and toward Israel. Ankara refused to fall in step with President Bush’s policy of isolating Damascus and punishing it with economic sanctions. Turkey’s independent policy has earned it great admiration and gratitude in Syria. Despite Washington’s determined effort to drive Syria from Lebanon and destroy Hizbullah, Damascus remains the predominant power in Beirut and the Shiite militia has grown in strength.

ORSAM: How do you evaluate Bashar Assad’s policy towards Israel in the first decade of his presidency? Direct peace talks between Israel and Palestinians started and George Mitchell told that they are trying to engage Syria. What do you predict about Syrian-Israeli relations in the upcoming decade?

Joshua M. Landis: Israeli-Syrian relations have been largely determined by the balance of power between the two countries. Israel remains a regional super power and Syria’s military capabilities are limited. This means that Jerusalem can ignore Syrian demands and avoid accepting the Arab Peace Initiative put forward in 2002. All the same, Israel has failed to destroy Hizbullah and Hamas and has failed to dissuade Russian and Iran from selling arms to Damascus, which means that Syria retains some leverage in its relations with Israel. Syria is unlikely to abandon its claim to the Golan, support for Palestinians resistance and enmity to Israel.

ORSAM: Bashar Assad recently said “the prospects of war and confrontation are increasing”. How do you evaluate war rhetoric of Bashar Assad? What is the reason of these frequent war discourses in the Middle East?

Joshua M. Landis: Assad is determined to resist Israeli expansion as he is determined to improve Syria’s weaponry. This is likely to provoke Israeli preemtive military retribution. Israel’s 2006 war with Hizbullah, 2007 bombing of Syria’s nuclear facility, and 2009 bombing of Gaza were short wars designed to keep its enemies weak and plient. So long as Syria refuses to accept Israel’s claim to the Golan and settlement expansion, there is every reason to believe that Jerusalem will continue to pursue its policy of periodic military strikes.

ORSAM: What can you say about the withdrawal of the US from Iraq? Considering the effect of Iraqi war, how will this new term affect Syria?

Joshua M. Landis: Syria is enthusiastic about the US withdrawal from Iraq and hopes for the formation of a new government in Baghdad that will pursue improved economic relations with Syria.

ORSAM: How should we read the recent visit of King Abdullah and Bashar Assad to Beirut? What are the possible implications of this visit in terms of the future of Lebanon?

Joshua M. Landis: Syria and Saudi Arabia have patched up their relations, which deteriorated badly during the Bush administration. Lebanon was their main point of conflict, but both countries seem to have put this difference behind them. Syria has reasserted its political primacy in Lebanon, and Saudi authorities have accepted this Syrian leadership, but have retained a leading position in the Lebanese economy. In short, Syrian-Saudi relations have returned to what they were before President Bush invaded Iraq with the object of transforming the Greater Middle East and wrestling Lebanon from Syria’s sphere of influence.

ORSAM: Lebanon Special Tribunal will soon declare its indictment regarding Hariri murder. Probably Hezbollah will be claimed to be affiliated with the murder. Within this framework, firstly, previously the target in the indictments was Syria. What does it mean that the target turned into Hezbollah, should it be understood as natural development of the investigation or as a policy change? Secondly, how will the declaration of the indictment affect the political and security situation in Lebanon?

The Tribunal’s indictments will probably not be politically explosive. Even though the Special Tribunal was originally established by the US to further its political objectives in the region and to eliminating Syrian influence in Lebanon, those objectives have largely been abandoned. Renewed Saudi-Syrian cooperation and the survival of Lebanon’s national unity government suggest that regional powers are cooperating to make sure that the indictments will not change the communal balance of power in Lebanon.

ORSAM: You lived many years in Syria. What can you say about developing Turkey-Syrian relations? How is perception of Turkey in Syria? Do you see this cooperation as permanent or a temporary convergence of interests? What do the developing ties mean for the Middle East?

Joshua M. Landis: Syria’s improved relations with Turkey is the center-piece to Bashar al-Assad’s new Foreign Policy. President Assad has called his strategy the Five Seas Plan. It is an attempt to maximize Syria’s geographical position as the link for oil, gas and transportation between the the Arabian, Mediterranean, Caspian, Black and Red Seas.

Interestingly enough Turkey has played an important role in Assad’s development of this vision. Just as Syria has begun to replicate Turkey’s “zero problems” foreign policy, it has also borrowed heavily from Turkey’s economic vision of itself as the link between Europe and Asia. Assad first began to develop his plan in 2004 during his early visits to Istanbul. He spoke with the Turks about developing the infrastructure to turn Syria into the transport hub for oil, gas and electrical power. Syria would link Turkey to Africa and the Arab world. Iraq was in a shambles and unsafe, leaving Syria the only route through the Middle East. In May 2009, when President Assad traveled to Vienna and Greece, he continued to push the five seas plan to European investors.

In June of 2010, Turkey, Lebanon, Syria and Jordan laid the groundwork for a “Free Trade Zone” that does away with visa requirements and tariffs. Syria hopes that Iraq and ultimately Iran will be brought into this agreement. Syria has already eliminated visa requirements for Iranians. Syria has recently opened a gas pipeline that connects Egypt to Turkey. It has plans to rebuild the oil pipeline that connects Kirkuk in Iraq to the Mediterranean coast, which is the most direct and least expensive way to get Iraq’s northern oil to market. Assad has spoken of the need to generate investments worth $77bn from the private sector over the next five years in order to build up Syria’s infrastructure turn his vision into reality. If Syria can attract these investments and preserve stability it will be well on its way to breaking out of its economic stagnation. Improving economic, military, and cultural relations with Turkey are key to Syria’s plans. Turkey’s prime minister has spoken his country’s special relationship with Syria as a model for the relations he hopes to develop with other countries in the region. Every indication seems to point toward a permanent improvement in Syrian-Turkish relations.

*This interview was conducted on 6 September 2010 by ORSAM Middle East Research Assistant Selen Tonku? Kareem.

“Memorizing school books by heart is no more the way to excellence with the new curricula,” says the Assistant Education Minster, Ali al-Hasri.

This could be a very important change for Syria, if it can be implemented. When I attended the University of Damascus in the 1980s,  exams for the English and History classes were based on memorizing the lectures. One Fulbright English professor from the US  who taught a class of 600 students showed me his blue books for the final exam., the only grade in the course. All but 15 of the blue books were copied from his lectures, which had been taped, transcribed (badly), mimeographed and sold to students before the exam. The students memorized the lectures by heart rather than read the novels – Jane Austin, Dickens, etc., that were assigned. In response to questions that had little to do with his lectures, the students reproduced his lectures on the author word for word.

Critical thinking emphasised in new school curriculum: Problem solving and decision making will replace memorisation, Assistant Education Minister Ali al-Hasri said.

Raqqa, (SANA) – Memorizing school books by heart is no more the way to excellence with the new curricula. The measure is now the ability of learners to deal with problems, how to solve them and link them to real life situations, Assistant Education Minister Ali al-Hasri said.

Inspecting the training courses on the new curricula in Raqqa province on Monday, al-Hasri told SANA that the Ministry of Education considers the new curricula as extremely important. The Ministry is training teachers to deal with these curricula which were based on modern educational and scientific methods.

He pointed out that the new curricula will start based on a student-centered learning process as the focus is on the learner’s activities in and out of the classroom. This requires developing the learner’s skills in solving problems, taking decisions, shouldering the responsibility and teamwork, while the teacher is a guide for the learners.

Evenings of Poetry Provide a Space for New Voices
By KAREEM FAHIM and NAWARA MAHFOUD

DAMASCUS, Syria — Lukman Derky, the host of a weekly poetry salon here, was in classic form, a beer perched below a microphone he used to joke, to soothe, to provoke. He read a short poem by Mahmoud Darwish, the Palestinian national bard, and gave a shout-out to a regular, a young American named Mitch, who sat in the crowd, among dozens of other foreigners.

“We brought you an imperialist,” Mr. Derky kidded his audience. “So you would have some peace of mind.”

He also politely apologized to any secret policemen he might have offended with one of his stories. Two men who fit that description, sitting at a table by the bar, quietly sipped their drinks.

So it goes on Monday nights at Bayt al-Qasid, or the House of Poetry, a space for freewheeling expression in a country where that space is usually in short supply. In sessions lubricated with local arak and Lebanese beer, Mr. Derky, a salon host with the bearing of Lenny Bruce, presides over an irreverent evening that the regulars say is impossible to find elsewhere in Syria, and indeed, would be hard to replicate anywhere else.

He intended it as a space for new voices and not the same parade of poets and writers whom Syrians had been hearing from since the 1960s. Sometimes, those intellectuals, as Mr. Derky somewhat derisively referred to them, “show up and feel like strangers.”

Though Syrians are smitten with poetry and with their celebrated scribes, including Nizar Qabbani, Bayt al-Qasid provides one of the few platforms for young or undiscovered poets. The evenings here also draw writers from overseas, who listen as their work is translated from Spanish or Greek or Berber into Arabic on the spot.

“To know others is to read their poetry,” Mr. Derky said. “Bayt al-Qasid is a place for the others.”

The performers who step up to Mr. Derky’s podium follow his lead and take risks, reading works by exiled poets or flirting with risky political subjects. But the point of the evening is not insubordination, Mr. Derky insists. “We don’t do things because they are forbidden,” he says. “The night is about freedom.” That may explain why it has survived for more than two years now, in full view of a government that has little stomach for dissent.

It also explains why it is hard to find a seat. There were none available on an evening last month in the basement bar where, underneath posters of Malcolm X, Gandhi and Charlie Parker, American students huddled in groups, an entourage waited for one young Syrian poet and a couple snuggled in a corner. Mr. Derky dished out his typically eclectic monologue.

He sang a Shiite mourning hymn and told a joke about the invasion of Iraq. He welcomed a British writer, Stephen Watts, who read a poem called “Birds of East London” that was translated simultaneously by a young Syrian poet who somehow managed to quickly interpret the line “when you see that kestrel pinioned on its wing-bone.” A bald Syrian read another poem, to muted applause.

A Kurdish musical troupe brought the evening to a rousing close.

“You don’t hear that music in public like this,” said Khalid Elekhetyar, a Syrian journalist and a regular who sat at one of the round red tables near the front. If the state was watching, it was apparently enjoying the show. “In this space, they don’t give any conditions,” he said.

Mr. Derky, a frenetic Kurd with shoulder-length hair, has for years been a fixture of Syria’s creative class, a chain-smoking renaissance character who seems to delight in poking the establishment.

He performs one-man shows and writes for television. He was homeless for a time, and now roams his neighborhood in Damascus every morning, looking for stories to fill a newspaper column. He is well known for a stint as the editor of a satirical weekly that enjoyed a brief heyday after President Bashar al-Assad took power 10 years ago.

As Mr. Derky tells it, in 2001, when the publisher of the weekly, Al Doumari, first asked for his thoughts on the newspaper’s design, Mr. Derky asked him for a liter of arak, a bag of ice, pickles and hummus, and told the publisher to come back later that night to look at a mock-up. Eleven popular issues later, Mr. Derky left the magazine over differences with the publisher, and by 2003 the government had had enough and shut it down.

A few years ago, Mr. Derky had the idea for a poetry night. He found space in the underused bar of the Fardoss Tower hotel in downtown Damascus, which on other nights is a disco or just a dark watering hole.

It seemed like an opportune time: in 2008, Unesco had selected the city as that year’s Arab capital of culture, and Mr. Derky said he sensed “a little bit of openness.”

Though poetry is widely read throughout the Middle East, independent showcases like Bayt al-Qasid are increasingly hard to find, Sinan Antoon, an Iraqi poet and novelist who is an assistant professor of Arabic literature at New York University, said.

“Many of the cafes which used to be literary and cultural nodes have closed down — especially in Beirut — or have been transformed because of gentrification,” he said. Poets often have to pay publishers to carry their work and rarely receive royalties. “The culture ministries in Syria, Iraq and elsewhere are a caricature of what they should be. Beyond the Internet, where hundreds of sites exist for publishing, young poets don’t have many outlets or forums.”

At Bayt al-Qasid, the evening starts at 10 p.m., but people start arriving hours earlier. During an intermission, a parking lot behind the hotel is filled with smokers. Talk during the performances quickly invites angry glances from the other patrons.

On another Monday last month, a young Iraqi poet, Hoshang Waziri, read a poem about God and Satan, another touchy subject. A patron, Sahban al-Sawah, sipped his arak and sang Bayt al-Qasid’s praises.

“In a culture that loathes dialogue,” the evening represented something different, said Mr. Sawah, the editor of a poetry Web site.

“What is tackled here,” he said, “would never be approached elsewhere.”