zindagi migzara

"rogue Islamic state"?

I went to Syria this weekend, a country that is only 1 hour from Amman. But in the eyes of American foreign policy, the two could not be further apart. Jordan is the third largest receiver of American aid money (after, ironically, Israel), while sanctions have been placed against Syria preventing any sort of economic interaction between it and the US, because of it's alleged support for some terrorist organizations. George Bush called Syria a "rogue Islamic state" (whatever that means).

The Baath Party has been in power in Syria since the 60's or 70's and the President, Bashar al Assad was re-elected in a referendum (unopposed) to his second 7-year term. Syrians enjoy very little freedom of speech and almost all media is controlled by the state. Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and Hamas (viewed by the US and the UN to be terrorist groups) all operate and seek refuge in Syria, however I didn't see any evidence of this during my stay.

The Syrians I met were, like most people from the Levant, extremely welcoming and hospitable, no matter what your country of origin. Also like many people from the Levant, many Syrian residents are of Palestinian origin who have been displaced to surrounding countries with the creation of Israel. Friday night we went and had tea with Alia's uncle, and inevitably the issue of the Jewish state came up. Alia's uncle is originally Palestinian, and he said, "one day Jerusalem will again be in the hands of the Christians and the Muslims". I responded with an "inshallah", which seemed appropriate, and he responded with a "no! Jerusalem WILL be for the Muslims and Christians!" No inshallah there!

Where I did encounter some problems with my American-ness was at the Jordan-Syria border. Technically, I was supposed to get a Syrian visa through the Syrian embassy in the States before I had left. However, I had heard through the grapevine that visas were usually available at the border. Since Isabel was in the same position, we decided to go for it. We knew we'd regret it if we didn't.

Theoretically, Isabel (a Canadian) and I should have gotten our visas at the same time since we were both from countries that had diplomatic representation. The third person in our group, my friend and co-worker Alia, had a Jordanian passport and UAE residency so we knew it wouldn't be a problem for her. Alia got stamped in 5 minutes and Isabel ended up getting her visa in 30 minutes.

8 hours later, plus about 4 bottles of water, a bag of sour gummy bears from the duty-free shop, and several words of frustration, I finally got my visa. Apparently giving an American a visa on arrival wasn't exactly the priority of the immigration officers. Thankfully Alia and Isabel are sweethearts and waited patiently with me while we played with the children of the 2,352,123,123 Gulfies going to Syria for vacation...

Since we were only going to be in Syria for one full day we only had time to go to Damascus. But how amazing it was. Damascus was everything that I thought Jerusalem would be: old, authentic, enchanting, exuding history and holiness. When I was in Jerusalem I could tell it used to have these qualities- but the Jerusalem I saw was fabricated, touristy, and at times almost cheesy. Too many rich kids on Birthright trying to discover their persecuted past, and not enough people who lived that past.

I was enchanted from the first walk from our hotel to the old city. We stopped at a small stand selling nothing but pure berry juice. Alia and I each got a cup and it was amazing..perfectly sweet and natural. Then we walked into the ancient covered Souq al Hamidiyya. The holes in the ceiling cast beautiful rays of light onto the floor, and people...were EVERYWHERE. It was wonderfully crowded and I enjoyed pushing and shoving for a change :) And the shops were amazing. The US government may have no economic ties with Syria, but I definitely left my dollars there...

We spent Friday afternoon listening to the khutba in the Umayaad Mosque- one of the oldest places of Islamic worship in the world. The courtyard was filled with families lunching, kids sliding on the slippery marble floors, and people just sitting enjoying their afternoon. It truly was a place of community. It reminded me of the woman that pulled out a whole picnic for her and her kids in the back of the Masjid al-Aqsa. I like it when places of worship are also places to hang out- I think that's how it should be.

We also went to a nearby Shia mosque, for Imam Husayn's daughter Ruqaiyya. It was the most ostentatious and over the top, but incredibly beautiful, mosque I've ever seen. The ceilings were entirely covered with crystal, and the floor was carpeted with intricate Persian rugs. The walls were made up of probably every color of the rainbow, but most notable were the striking bright blue tiles. It was filled with hundreds of Shias paying their respects. We also saw the tranquil Azem Palace where we sat and hung around till closing, and wandered around the Swefieh-like (and super super crowded) Christian quarter. This had some of the oldest churches in the world and when we went into one, it was a bit surreal to see the stained glass windows accompanied with Arabic calligraphy :)

Friday night we went to a rooftop restaurant next to the Umyaad Mosque and ate, drank tea, and smoked shisha till midnight. It was a good day.

Oh...and the FOOD! EVERYTHING we had was great. If you haven't had lazy cake- go to your nearest bakery immediately and demand they make you some! Chicken shawarma, berry juice, sweets, shish tawook- everything was great.

Damascus was filled with people from all over the world and from so many religions. Sunnis, Shias, Christains, Druze...and we saw Syrians, Jordanians, Lebanese, Saudis, Kuwaitis, Emiratis, Qataris, Bahrainis, Palestinians, Afghanis, Iraqis, Armenians, Pakistanis, Indians, Iranis (lots and lots of Iranis), Mongolians, Sri Lankans, Philipinos, Indonesians, Malaysians, Chinese, Americans, Canadians, Dutch, French...and probably lots more.

It definitely was more conservative that Jordan: almost all women wore not just hijab but abaya, and a large number of those also wore niqaab, showing only the eyes. I saw more women covering even their faces in my two days in Syria than I have in three months in Jordan. Also, we could tell it was a strange sight for three unaccompanied girls to be walking around late at night: something we take for granted in Amman. In addition, there were even more posters and billboard of the president with "I believe in Syria!" messages than there are of King Abdullah in Jordan.

And Syria has its problems for sure: it's actually been in a state of "emergency" rule for many decades: this means that Syrians technically have any of the rights guaranteed to them in the Constitution. It is required that the President be a Muslim, but there is no official religion (an interesting contrast). There's very little freedom of speech and almost all media is controlled by the state. Corruption is high and much of the economy is state-run but extremely under-performing. I noticed that anti-Israeli sentiment was much higher in Syria, but religious tolerance seemed pretty high: Syria is about 80% Sunni Muslim, 12% Christian, with the remaining 8% being comprised of mainly Shias, Alawis, and Druze.

But in conclusion: Do not believe everything the US State Department fact sheet tells you. And go to Syria.

posted by Laura @ 9:22 AM