Israel Speaks
In Syria, Israel's northern neighbor, the situation is very unstable.
Since March 2011 thousands of Syrians are protesting and demanding
the end of the dictatorship of the Assad family.
President Assad and his army are fighting their own people,
trying to halt the demonstrations.
It is estimated that more than 20,000 people have been killed.
Most of them are innocent civilians.
The opposition, lead by the Free Syrian Army, is fighting back.
Apparently it has taken control over large parts of Syria.
The events in Syria are being followed closely by the Israeli army.
It is trying to estimate how the new situation affects Israel.
Avner Talmon is a reserve brigade commander,
who lives in the Golan Heights, the area closest to the Syrian border.
He established the Golan Heights Olive Oil Mill,
which produces olive oil and related products.
There is a tough community in Israel,
which is very much affected by the events in Syria:
the Druze of the Golan.
The Druze are a minority that emerged from Islam almost 1000 years ago.
They are a religious community living in Israel, Lebanon
and mostly in Syria.
When Israel conquered the Golan from the Syrians in 1967,
it conquered also 20,000 Druze living in 4 villages.
Many of them got separated from their family members
living on the Syrian side of the border.
The majority of the Druze refused to take Israeli citizenship,
that was offered to them.
They remained loyal to the Syrian regime,
though they are not hostile to Israel.
The biggest Druze village is Majdal Shams
on Mount Hermon a few meters from the Syrian border.
Hassan Fahraldeyn has lived in the village all his life.
He owns a butcher shop in the village.
I was born in Syria. Syria is my state and my regime.
I'm Druze by religion, but I'm a Syrian Arab.
We are Syrians in this village and we have fought for it.
But until we'll be back in Syria, we live in Israel peacefully.
We want peace between Israel and Syria.
Throughout the years the Druze of the Golan
were loyal to the Syrian president Haffez Assad.
He died in 2000 and was replaced by his son Bashar Assad.
Even after the recent events most Druze stay loyal
to the current regime.
I love Assad, he is the president of my country.
He is a doctor and a good man, like his father,
who did many good things to the Syrian people.
One of them is that Muslims, Christians and Druze are all one.
They are all Syrians.
- Do most Druze think this way? - Sure, all the village things so.
A few people think differently, not many.
One of those who actively oppose President Assad
is a 26-year-old lawyer, Sheefa Abu-Jamal.
Despite being born and raised in Israel,
she still feels that she belongs to the Syrian people.
Sheefa is one to those few people in Majdal Shams,
who oppose President Assad.
She tells why most people in her village
still favor the Syrian dictator.
The supporters and opposers of Assad have very different views
about the events in Syria.
- What happens now in Syria? - There's a lot of problems.
The problems come from outside.
Saudi Arabia and Qatar is giving money to the strong muslims,
who want the whole world to be muslims,
but Assad does not allow it.
- But Assad might fall soon? - He will never fall.
He is strong, and he will win. The Syrian people will win.
Syria will remain a secular state for all Syrians.
Avner Talmon, reserve brigade commander
Belonging to a minority is not easy for Sheefa.
Sometimes members of the same family have different opinions
about the situation in Syria.
Hosam Nasser is a Druze Sheikh, who lives in the village of Buq'ata.
His twin brother Nezar Nasser is a secular Druze,
who is the deputy principal of the local junior high school.
I support Assad, because he is the president of Syria
and he represents me.
We live in an occupied territory,
and we should not try to replace the regime in Syria.
He helped us very much. I have no reason to oppose him.
- I am a history teacher and I teach about many dictators.
I don't believe in dictatorship.
In 2000, when Bashar Assad came to power,
I knew he had no skills to lead the country,
because he inherited the leadership from his father.
The name 'rebublic' should be changed to 'kingdom',
or he should step down.
- There are many opinions in the Golan.
Some are supporting Assad, and some are against him.
Most people like him. He represents us.
He has only helped us.
The regime helps all our students who go to study in Syria.
I don't see any reason why we should oppose him.
- It's true that he lets us study there, but it's our mother land.
A mother should take care of her children.
- But he could have said 'no'.
- Mothers don't do favors, that's what is expected.
- So why do you oppose the mother that feeds you?
- The mother is doing what is expected of her.
All children leave their mother eventually, and that's all right.
Naturally the Nasser brothers have very different interpretations
of the events in Syria.
Unfortunately there is a civil war.
USA, Saudi Arabia and Qatar brought fighters into Syria,
and they are paying them.
It's not the Syrians who are fighting their army.
President Assad is defending his state.
He should have done that before.
He is strong, and he's the only one who can do what is needed,
if he will be given a chance.
- He has had a chance for 12 years, but he did nothing.
How could he do anything now?
Assad's family ruled the country for 40 years.
They depressed their people, killed them and the democracy.
I can't understand how some people are still supporting him.
I think that this is a revolution of people,
who are trying to end a situation that has lasted too long.
- Do you hear sounds of war from the other side?
- Of course. Two weeks ago we all saw and heard the war
in the village closest to the border.
For three days there were terrorists hiding in the village.
Why are you laughing? The army killed the terrorists.
- They were freedom fighters. - Say what you want,
but they were terrorists, because they kill innocent people.
- But your regime is is doing that. - No, it's defending them.
- 20,000 people were all terrorists? - Were they all killed by the army?
- Do the sounds frighten the people here?
- No, since many of them have seen wars,
though us, the young generation, have not.
What really worries us is the unclear future of Syria.
- It's going to affect us, and also Israel.
But we are in the front line, so it is frightening.
There are winds of war.
There is tension in the air. Sounds of war, unclear future,
big countries that might get involved.
All this will affect us, and we are worried.
The Nasser brothers are just one example of a Druze family
divided over the political situation in Syria.
There are two minorities,
the supporters and the opposers of the regime.
The majority is in the middle, waiting to see what will happen.
I believe, that many oppose the regime,
but are afraid of their parents and families.
In some families this has even led to violence.
This does not happen in our family.
- So you are getting along? - Of course.
In 50 or 100 years you'll see us still hugging.
- Nothing will separate us, definitely not politics.
- Not our wives, not money, not Syria and Israel.
It seems that the future of Syria
is even more unclear than the present.
But in regard to Israel and the Golan area,
the situation is unlikely to change in the near future.
Translation: Hannele Tainio