Over 5,000 civilians have died in Syria since the fighting between the Syrian regime’s forces and the opposition began in March of 2011. While international public opinion is polarized by the issue of intervening in Syria, Palestinians are, for the most part, firmly opposed. Nassar Ibrahim, Palestinian writer, political activist and co-director of the Alternative Information Center, offers his thoughts:

Military plane (photo: flickr/Anguskirk) 

If you ask Palestinians on the streets their opinions on the current Syrian situation, they will most likely answer in conformity with the rest of their Arab cousins--that is that they oppose firmly any Western colonial attack in Syria.

Nevertheless, if there is an overall rejection towards a Western intervention in Syria, Palestinian people have different viewpoints and reactions, mainly in accordance to the Palestinian political party they line up with.

In this regard, there is a historical clash between Fatah – one of the strongest Palestinian political parties – and Syria. This dates back to the Oslo Accords, as Syria was against [an] agreement between the Israeli and the Palestinian counterparts. Syria aimed in fact to create a big Arab coalition unifying all those countries (Egypt, Lebanon and Palestine) whose lands had been seized by Israel, in order to oppose not only the Israeli but also the US and the EU-allied powers. Fatah refused the supranational plan, meanwhile decided to strengthen its political ties with Jordan and to sign the Oslo Accords with Israel.

On one hand, Syria has always believed in the pointlessness of the negotiations between the Palestinian and the Israeli authorities and, if today I look at their unsatisfying outcome, I can’t say I disagree with it. But on the other hand, Fatah feared a Syrian political intervention into the Palestinian political reality and that’s the reason why it detached itself from the Syrian leadership.

The Palestinian Authority and Fatah don’t understand that the issue here is not how to preserve our own independence from the goals of a neighbouring country but, instead, how to join each other’s forces to take back the lands lost in the Israeli occupation.

If the tension between the Palestinian and the Syrian leaderships goes back to the 1990s, in the present time the breach between the two sides has expanded even further. In fact, as all the Palestinian opposition parties that opposed the Oslo Accords hold their headquarters in Damascus and from there launch harsh attacks against the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian leadership accounts the Syrian government as an enemy [that] backs up the Palestinian opposition.

Concerning the position of the Palestinian leftist parties [such as the PFLP] on the Syrian events, if, on one hand, they stand with democracy and freedom and push for the related reforms, on the other hand they are against any attack that might harm the role of Syria as a resistance country opposed to American hegemony. They believe that the situation should be solved internally without any NATO or GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) intervention.

Moreover, Hamas – which has roots in the Muslim Brotherhood and maintains close ties with the organization – has been surprisingly quiet before the power escalation of their regional brothers. Hamas is confused. It knows that the main opposing party in Syria is the Muslim Brotherhood but it can’t deny the help received in the past by the Syrian leadership.

Surely Hamas is standing for a ‘democratic’ change in Syria today – although it is tough to believe in its democratic attitude – and it is just waiting silently for what is going to happen. When the time comes, Hamas will use the Muslim Brotherhood’s power to fight against Israel.

I believe 99% of Palestinians are against the NATO intervention in Syria. The 50% supports the change in the Syrian regime and [hopes to see it] turn into a democratic country but fears a possible influence from both US and GCC countries into the Syrian internal politics. Furthermore, Palestinians agree with Syria’s support to Hezbollah but, if it comes to establish a Palestinian state under Hamas, well… The secularists and Fatah strongly oppose it.

Until six months ago it was difficult to tackle the Syrian issue because there were many cards on the table. Now, the contradictions are standing out and the opposing fronts are playing openly. USA, EU, Turkey, GCC countries took off their human rights and democracy masks and revealed what their real intents are. They want to punish not only Syria, but also Iran, Russia, and China...

Palestinians, like the other Arabs, have been on the streets to protest against [proposed] Western intervention in Syria. Nevertheless, when it comes to take a serious stand on whether or not they wish the Syrian regime was toppled, it is good to keep in mind the complexity of the Palestinian political scenario and the mechanisms that rules the whole process.