He is not my enemy: Jewish and Palestinian Syrians living in peace in Old 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.

 

History

 

Legend has it that Jews have lived in Syria since the time of King David. The synagogues at Jobar and Duro Europos show 2000 years of Jewish history in the country. Reportedly during the Crusades, many Palestinian Jews immigrated to Syria to escape the massive taxes administered on them by the Crusaders, and when Jerusalem was taken the Jews were slaughtered along with the Muslims of the city. Under the rule of Nur ad-Din and Saladin, Syrian Jewish scholarship flourished.

Then in 1492, when the Jews were expelled from Spain, many came and settled in Syria. From 1919 until 1949, there was always a Jewish deputy in the Syrian parliament. Eventually, however, as Jews emigrated their numbers dwindled below the level that would have allocated them a representative in parliament.

Following the creation of the State of Israel, there were reports of attacks on Jewish synagogues from other sectors of Syrian society who were outraged at the events of 1947 and 1948. Subsequently, Syrian Jews experienced restrictions on their travel within and outside the country. That situation changed when Hafez al-Assad became President:  Following a meeting in 1976 with the Syrian Jewish community, President Assad lifted the restrictions on travel within the country, and finally in 1992 the ban on traveling outside of the country was lifted too.

How it used to be

 

“Maybe some of the Muslims at that time were more Occidentalized than the Jews” said Radwan Atassi, a civil engineer and historian, recalling his childhood. A big proportion of the old Damascene society used to live in the new modern districts of the city, whereas the Jewish community, “lived in Arabic houses, sang Arabic songs and didn’t like the Occidental things,” Atassi continued.

Faisal had grown up in the Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Damascus after his family was forced to leave Safad near Tiberius in 1948.  In fact, over twenty years ago, the population of the Jewish Quarter was around 50-50, Palestinian-Jewish. “He is not my enemy,” said Faisal about Musa and his other Jewish friends. “My enemy is he who lives in my home. Here, I live in his home, I am his visitor.”

“Humans, and especially the intellectual, cannot feel bad towards the Jews because they are Jewish,” said Radwan, “But Zionism, Israel has caused most of the problems in the area. The religion is very respected. We have all lived together without problems for millennia. There were no pogroms or ghettos here,” continued Radwan, alluding to the way many European countries has treated their own Jewish communities. “Religion is from God,” echoes Faisal. “Zionism, that is different.”

Jewish Homecomers

Musa’s family has lived in Damascus for so many generations that Musa has no idea when they first arrived. Musa immigrated to the US, in the late 1990s after pressures from his family to go. “Many of our relatives had left. My wife really wanted us to be with them,” he explains.

His brother Saleem stayed, however, and continued to run the family business, the antique shop, Dabdoub, another fascinating tale in the story of Syria’s history of assimilation and community relations: George Dabdoub was a Palestinian refugee from Bethlehem, who set up the business in 1948. His partner was one of Musa’s relatives.

Musa tries to come back to Syria for a month every year. Whenever he returns to New York and tells his Syrian-Jewish friends about the country and how it has changed, they all want to return. “It’s increasing. More people come back to visit each year,” said Musa. “We’re born here; you feel something.”

In his January 2009 interview with Forward Magazine, President Jimmy Carter recounted how, while as President, he had asked President Hafez al-Assad to help some Syrian Jewish men find wives. The men wanted to marry women of the same faith as them.  President Hafez al-Assad sent a delegation of around 50 women with a matchmaker to the US.  As I recounted this story to Musa, he smiled, “My aunt was one of them.”

Looking Forward

 

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.