The Middle East conflict is of continuing concern not only to the frontline state of Syria but also to the many Palestinians who have settled there. But while both Syrians and their Palestinian guests felt there was little hope that a change of president in the US might bring about an Israeli-Palestinian settlement, they feel even less hope with regard to the outcome of the Israeli election.
Both the US and Israel have a common objective: to maintain the status quo. Changing leaders of whichever political tendency will do little to resolve the conflict and could even make it worse.
Abu Khalil, a central committee member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), puts it bluntly: "Israel's role is to protect American interests in the Middle East, which is why any US administration is hopeless for Palestine. And that's why we have no great hopes from Israel either. Look at what happened to Rabin. He tried to bring about peace and they shot him."
The presence of a dozen or so political groups among the Palestinian population reflects Syria's own watchful role vis-avis Israel. A sizeable army is still maintained in Lebanon, threats to internal security have, over the years, been ruthlessly quashed and although there has been a major cutback in military spending - estimated now to be in the region of 60 per cent compared to a crippling 80 per cent - spending on security still takes a significant chunk out of the national purse. It is money that could be far more profitably spent on promoting income-generating projects such as tourism.
But if neither the US nor Israel can deliver on peace, who can? Certainly not the other Arab states who have tended to look the other way when Palestinians lay dying on the streets of Gaza and the West Bank.
Mahmood al Khaldi, representative in Syria of the Palestinian National Authority, does not expect help from other Arab states. Previously a lawyer, he has, for the last 30 years, devoted himself to the Palestinian cause. "The other Arab countries are our brothers and must do what they think is right but we are the owners of our own land and must act on this ourselves. It is a heavy burden but we are strong."
Unwilling to criticise his Arab brothers, he omits to point out that many other Arab countries have no wish to jeopardise their trading relations with the US. So, if neither Israel nor the US appear to hold the key to peace in the Middle East, to whom can the beleaguered Palestinians turn? Abu Khalil feels help could well come from Europe once it has emerged as an integrated community, free from US influence. "We feel close to Europe, much more so obviously than to America. And we feel particularly that if Britain could act as an independent country it might be of help to the Palestinians."
It is ironic that these views are being expressed in Damascus, the city in which T.E. Lawrence played a part - along with the French - in betraying the Arabs after the first World War. And perhaps this is the crux of it. In war, guilt goes hand in hand with victory which is why Palestinians must wait patiently in the wings while Europe works through its collective guilt over the Holocaust - an atrocity, incidentally, which the Arabs had no hand in. When Europe has faced up to its role in that horror maybe then it can start thinking about the wrong done to Palestinians.
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