Greater Syria: The History of an Ambition

257 Pages·1992·16.63 MB·English

by  Daniel Pipes

Greater Syria
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Greater Syria
The History of an Ambition
Daniel Pipes
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
New York Oxford
To PAULA
Who can find a woman of valor?
For her worth is far beyond pearls
Oxford University Press
Oxford New York Toronto
Delhi Bombay Calcutta Madras Karachi
Petaling Jaya Singapore Hong Kong Tokyo
Nairobi Dar es Salaam Cape Town
Melbourne Auckland
and associated companies in
Berlin Ibadan
Copyright © 1990 by Daniel Pipes
First published in 1990 by Oxford University Press, Inc.,
200 Madison Avenue, New York, New York 10016
First issued as an Oxford University Press paperback, 1992
Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means,
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior permission of Oxford University Press.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Pipes, Daniel, 1949-
Greater Syria : the history of an ambition / Daniel Pipes.
p. cm. Includes index.
1. Arab countries—Politics and government. 2. Syria—Politics
and government. 3. Syria—Foreign relations—Arab countries.
4. Arab countries—Foreign relations—Syria. I. Title.
DS63.P5 1990
956—dc20 89-34775
ISBN 0-19-506021-0
ISBN 0-19-506022-9 (pbk)
This book was written under the auspices of the Foreign Policy
Research Institute in Philadelphia. Founded in 1955, the Institute is
an independent, nonprofit organization devoted to research on
issues affecting the national interests of the United States.
135798642
Printed in the United States of America
on acid-free paper
Acknowledgments
I have been fortunate to work for those who encourage my research and
writing. The chairman of my department at the U.S. Naval War College, Alvin
H. Bernstein, arranged the maximum possible time for me to work on this
book when I was a professor at the college from 1984 to 1986. As director of
the Foreign Policy Research Institute since 1986, I have benefited from Presi-
dent Marvin Wachman's and the board of trustees' understanding that my
scholarship matters as much as my administrative and editorial work. Thanks
to them, I have been able to devote the time necessary to complete this
undertaking.
A number of scholars have kindly read the manuscript of this book, includ-
ing Fouad Ajami, John Devlin, Bernard Lewis, Ronald D. McLaurin, and Meir
Zamir. I am most grateful for their comments, though they are, of course, not
liable for any errors that may remain. Itamar Rabinovich read the manuscript
and also very generously let me look at copies in his possession of documents
from the British archives. Nancy Lane at Oxford University Press gave me the
benefit of her extensive experience in publishing.
In Newport, Irene Hankinson provided excellent help with the files of
clippings that provide the information in Chapter 3, while Geoffrey Schad
assisted with locating books at Harvard University for Chapter 2, and Mariam
A. Roustom provided all-around assistance. Robin A. Lima of the library at
the Naval War College made interlibrary loan books appear rapidly and effi-
ciently. In Philadelphia, I had excellent assistance from several students,
including Jennifer Bowman, Betty Ciacci, Jennifer Holm, Youssouf Abdel-Jelil,
Pauline McKean, Jennifer A. Morrissey, and Jennifer Reingold.
This book draws on articles of mine that have previously appeared in print.
Permission to use this material was generously granted by the publishers of
Annals of Japan Association for Middle East Studies, Commentary, Interna-
tional Journal of Middle East Studies, Middle East Review, Middle Eastern
Studies, The New Republic, Orbis, and The World & I.
vi Acknowledgments
Unless otherwise noted, radio and television transcriptions derive from the
Foreign Broadcast Information Service, Daily Report, put out daily by the
National Technical Information Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
This source also provided some newspaper and magazine references.
For the information in Chapters 2 and 4, I have relied heavily on scholar-
ship by van Dam, Devlin, van Dusen, Ma'oz, Porath, Rabinovich, Seale,
Zamir, and many of the other authors cited in the notes. As anyone familiar
with this subject will quickly realize, I am deeply indebted to their work. In the
interest of limiting the number of notes, however, references are provided only
for direct quotes or information that derives from little-known sources.
Newport, R.I., and Philadelphia D.P.
December 1988
Contents
Introduction: A Neglected Topic, 3
Part I Greater Syria in History
1 Background and Changes, 13
Historic Syria to 1918, 13
Dividing Historic Syria, 1918-1923, 22
What Is the Nation?, 33
Two Forms of Pan-Syrian Nationalism, 40
Pan-Syrianism versus Pan-Arabism, 45
2 Failed Efforts to Constitute Greater Syria,
1920-1973, 52
Syria, 53
Lebanon, 61
Palestine, 64
Transjordan, 71
Iraq, 82
Great Britain and Others, 88
Second Phase, 1950-1973, 96
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party, 1932-1973, 100
Conclusion: The Historic Significance of Greater Syria, 107
Part II The Era of Lesser Syria
3 Lesser Syria's Dominance, 1974-1988, 115
Vestigial Claims by Others, 116
Lebanon, 119
The Syrian Social Nationalist Party, 125
viii Contents
Palestine, 129
Jordan, 138
Alexandretta and General Claims, 140
Views on Syrian Intentions, 142
4 Changes in Lesser Syria, 149
The Need for an Ideology of Irredentism, 151
From Bath to Neo-Ba'th, 155
The 'Alawi Heresy to 1920, 158
The Rise of the 'Alawis, 1920-1970, 166
'Alawi Dominion since 1970, 175
Sunni Alienation and Pan-Syrianism, 180
Conclusion: A Dangerous Double Game, 189
Notes, 194
Index, 233
Maps and Illustrations
Maps
Greater Syria, 2
Syrian Military Map, 4
Ottoman Syria in 1914, 17
The Three OETA Zones in November 1918, 24
Divisions in Greater Syria, 1920—23, 30
Greater Syria in 1949, 32
The Mutasarrifiya of Mount Lebanon, 1860—1914, 35
The Fertile Crescent, 84
Plan Prepared for the British Cabinet, 1943-44, 92
Jordanian Map of 1986, 118
Illustrations (following page 100)
Faysal ibn al-Husayn
'Abdallah ibn al-Husayn
Nuri as-Sa'id, 'Abd al-Illah ibn Faysal, and King Faysal II
Cairo Conference of March 1921
1949 Jordanian stamp showing King 'Abdallah
1964 Jordanian stamp showing King al-Husayn against a map
Autun Sa'ada
SSNP newspaper banner
SSNP flag being retrieved after Israeli attack on 2 August 1985
Hafiz al-Asad, president of Syria