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Thursday, August 01, 2013

Syrian newspaper asks Palestinians for support - since Palestine is southern Syria

Syria-News, which I believe is in opposition to the government, has an article that is concerned that the West will end up dividing Syria along sectarian lines, as it did with Greater Syria in the early 20th century.

So the author is appealing to Palestinian Arabs, who they regard as fellow victims of the Sykes Picot agreement, to help fight against that eventuality - as fellow Syrians!

The author reproduces a letter written by a group of Palestine Arabs in 1919 to the British asking to remain united with Syria. (I think this is the same letter referred to by Daniel Pipes here as being written by Amin Husayni, future mufti of Jerusalem, on behalf of the Arab Club.)

While I couldn't find the full text of this letter online in English, the Arabic translation includes some standard anti-Zionist rhetoric. Interestingly, one of the arguments they give is that Jews act as if they are their own nation and their own people, separate from others, which would cause problems in living with the Arab population. Of course, nowadays the ideological descendants of the Mufti claim  that Jews are not a people.

If someone can find the full text of the original letter, let me know. This version has seven main points arguing against a separate Jewish state.