Afrasianet - Mohamed Halasa - Through its carrot-and-stick policy, Israel aspires to rob the Druze of their Arab identity, taking advantage of the security chaos and sectarian incitement that some are spreading against the Druze, thus reinforcing their fear of their Syrian Arab brothers.
About 100 Druze clerics from southern Syria went to Israel on an unprecedented visit, at the invitation of Sheikh Muwaffaq Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, sparked widespread controversy and severe criticism in light of Israeli attempts to polarize the Druze and divisions among the sheikhs of reason. The move comes after Israeli statements vowing to protect the Druze in Syria, which increased the sensitivity of the situation and raised questions about the dimensions of the visit and its repercussions.
Israel also preceded this visit with multiple steps aimed at luring the Druze with material incentives and inducements from food and medical aid to development projects such as building schools and hospitals and extending electricity and water networks, not to mention allowing Syrian Druze workers to work in Israel in an unprecedented step by its leadership. Why does far-right Israel "shed tears" over the Druze and show so much "compassion and humanity" towards them?.
There is no doubt that the visit, which was said to be "religious", carries with it dimensions and even Israeli political ambitions that are almost unmistakable, especially as it included a meeting with a Druze authority, whom some see as loyal to the occupation inside Palestine, and most importantly, the Israeli media exploited that visit and showed that it comes within the context of the "rush" of minorities in Syria to seek protection from "Tel Aviv".
Between the form and content of the visit, lies a Druze reality that the Israeli is comfortable with, and it is represented in the state of fragmentation that hit the Druze community, especially after the fall of the Assad regime, where Israel exploits to the maximum extent possible the security environment that has arisen in Syria to play on the difficult living conditions of the Druze towns in order to achieve its goals of expansion and control, which did not only expand its occupation of Syrian territory, including the Syrian buffer zone, and destroy the Syrian army's vehicles, equipment and ammunition through hundreds of air raids. And the destruction of the assets and capabilities of the Syrian state and infrastructure, but resorted to playing the card of minorities and the pretext of "protecting" to penetrate the Syrian fabric and fragment it.
Clashes between Druze militants and Syrian security forces in the Druze-majority region of Jarmana at the beginning of March, as well as recent bloody events in the Syrian Sahel region, served as a pretext for Israel to escalate its plan in Syria under the banner of "protecting the Druze." It is clear from the behavior of the Israeli government and the statements of its officials that it is trying to exploit the Druze to achieve strategic goals and intervene beyond the Israeli military presence in Syria, and reveals its attempt to exploit concern about the nature of the emerging regime. To justify its stay in the Syrian territories it occupied after the fall of the Assad regime and to justify the continuation of Israeli aggressions, interference and tampering in Syria to achieve the following:
First: Israel, which has never been keen on minority rights, exploits this religious visit as a tool to sow division in the Syrian national ranks, and seeks to use the Druze community as a line of defense to achieve its expansionist interests in southern Syria.
Second, according to a report by the Wall Street Journal, Israel is also seeking to convince the Druze of Syria to reject the new government in Damascus and demand autonomy within a federal system, and that it plans to spend more than a billion dollars to this end. Interference in the affairs of the Druze of Syria through the gate of "security concern" comes to promote a separatist option that is passed at their expense, and will have a significant impact on the identity of the Druze, their history, their future, and their relationship with the Arab and Muslim worlds. Israel is betting that the Druze community It will exploit the instability to demand expanded autonomy in areas where it is in the majority, especially in southern Syria.
Israel's leaders see the possibility of boosting their ambition "for substantial autonomy, perhaps even a kind of Druze state in southern Syria." After Netanyahu sent a letter to Damascus last week, saying that Israel was demanding a demilitarized zone in southern Syria, it seems that the actual way Israel intends to impose this is through a "blood covenant" with the Druze in Syria, as is the case with the Druze in Israel.
According to numerous reports in Syria, senior Israeli officials from the military and the Druze community in Israel are in constant and active contact with the Druze in Syria. According to international reports, Israel is working to encourage the establishment of an armed wing for the Druze, and even encouraged the Druze of Jabal al-Druze to seize the local airport in southern Syria and declare it a "Druze" airport.
Third: Israel may seek to drag some weak souls into civil wars by inciting the Druze of Syria against their Syrian homeland, in a way that helps achieve the enemy's malicious intentions to infiltrate Syria under the security title, by raising concerns and fears and building on them and launching the phase of dividing Syria from the gate of the south. It is not a security matter as Israel is trying to market, but rather the future of a united Syria on the one hand, and the preservation of the Syrian national heritage of the people of Jabal al-Arab, and their Arab and Islamic heritage that they founded and preserved. Throughout their history, on the other hand, Israel has tried to weaken the Druze community through attempts to separate it from its Arab and Muslim surroundings for political purposes.
Fourth: The situation seems to be clear in southern Syria as well, as the Israeli is looking for an "excuse" to stay indefinitely in the areas it placed under its control after the fall of Assad, so this visiting Druze delegation, which took the road created by the occupier in the Syrian Golan, may have given it the same pretext.
The Israeli plan, after Tel Aviv took control of large areas, deployed reinforced army forces, and established military positions, aims to form a new reality in Syria that gives it the possibility of monitoring and controlling large areas, under the pretext of ensuring border security, and preventing the arrival of fighters and organizations hostile to it to points close to its "borders" and the Golan Heights. Netanyahu stated Feb. 17, "We will not allow HTS or the new Syrian army to enter the territory south of Damascus. We demand the complete disarmament of southern Syria, in the provinces of Quneitra, Daraa and Sweida." Netanyahu also warned of "the continued threat to the Druze community and the proliferation of weapons in the southern provinces of Syria."
In any case, many believe that Israeli moves in Syria stem from an active decision to bring about dramatic strategic change in northern Israel, and that the Israeli intervention in Syria will not end, certainly not anytime soon, as senior IDF officials assert that "staying here opens the door to control vast areas in Lebanon and Syria, something we never dreamed of achieving."
The Israeli military further asserts that the area facing Syria has become divided into three parts; the first is the security zone within the buffer zone at a distance of up to 15 km from the Israeli border. The second is called the security zone, which effectively reaches the Syrian plateau line, with a width of 15 km and a length of 80 km, and the third part is the zone of influence, south of Damascus and up to the Damascus-Suwayda road in the east. According to Katz, every action you take "Israel" in Lebanon and Syria "has American support," hinting that "we are also dealing with political options in Syria."
Through the carrot-and-stick policy, Israel aspires to rob the Druze of their Arab identity, taking advantage of the security chaos and sectarian incitement that some broadcast against the Druze, thus reinforcing their fear of their Syrian Arab brothers, and strengthening the fork of the fabricated "Israeli Druze identity". They ignore the fact that Israel discriminates even among the Jews themselves, and that no matter how much rights it grants the Arab Druze, it will not give up its origin as a racist "state" for Jews alone.
Some also ignore that this integration with Israel undermines the origin of the idea of protecting the minority from its foundation, as it turns the Druze into enemies of the Arab and Islamic worlds, which is the same deception; "protecting the Druze and seeking their rights" in exchange for a high price that the Druze must pay, not only in Syria, but throughout the region, and accepting to be dependent on the Zionist project may cost them their history and future.
While Israel is trying to employ relations with the Druze as part of its regional strategy, the Syrian Druze, especially in Suwayda, seem to reject any outside interference and adhere to their national affiliation. The statements of some of their leaders reveal the depth of the Syrian Druze position, which refuses to be a tool in any regional conflict. While Israel continues its attempts to strengthen its influence in southern Syria by exploiting relations with minorities, the position of the Syrian Druze remains clear: They are part of the Syrian fabric and will not be a card in any political game, which they expressed in popular protests and statements that confirmed their rejection of any Israeli interference in Syria's internal affairs, renewing the call for the withdrawal of the Israeli army from their country.
It remains to be seen how Israel will deal with these challenges, and how the Syrian Druze will preserve their national identity in light of the increasing regional challenges. Will Netanyahu succeed in kidnapping the Druze to a location other than their historical location, or will the Druze succeed in missing the opportunity for Israel's ambitions in southern Syria and nip strife in the bud?.