Samer Berany: It's time to restore the Druze autonomy-state that the Turks have always feared.

"The Druze, the Kurds and Israel are one and our will is indomitable," responds an ex-pat Kurd. "Time to restore dignity and self-government."

A Facebook post (translated below this article) by my friend, Samer Berany, got me thinking. The accepted “wisdom” of our time is that stability will come to the Middle East only upon the establishment of a Palestinian state. Perhaps we need to explore the potential centrality of the Druze to the much-needed New Middle East.

Understanding the opportunity now presenting itself requires opening our minds to see the region and its peoples in a way we were unable (and perhaps unwilling) to do before in Syria – to put it in totally impolite terms -- before, in Syria, the sh*t hit the fan.

You may remember former Israeli Prime Minister, Shimon Peres, who, along with former Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, (shamefully, in my opinion) accepted the Nobel Peace Prize with terrorist Yasser Arafat after signing the Oslo Accords? Peres and many like him believed that Oslo marked the beginning of a new era in which Israel and the soon-to-become-a-state Palestine would bring in lasting peace, stability and economic development to the entire region.

We see how that turned out.

Now, after Oct 7^th in Israel, there was two Oct 7^ths in Syria – the first in which the new Syrian terrorist regime committed a massacre and atrocities against the Alawites and the second in which there was a shorter-lasting massacre committed against the Druze last week. The fact that “only” about 100 Druze men were executed by firing squads and other means and not thousands is because the Druze from other villages came to repel the terrorist squads intent on genociding them. Israeli planes near the Presidential Palace in which resides the new self-appointed Syrian president Ahmed Hussein al-Sharaa (aka Jolani) provided a clear message that Israel is standing by its promise to protect the Druze of Syria.

(I hope to be able to interview a resident of one of the Druze villages in which the massacres occurred in order to bring you an eye-witness account. Wish me luck.)

This article focuses on the idea of Druze sovereignty and its potential for being the stabilizing factor in our turbulent part of the world. I interviewed Samer Berany on Zoom. He is chair of the new NGO founded for the purposes of building a museum showcasing the Druze and Circassians* in Israel and a former Deputy Mayor of Daliyat al-Carmel. The raw interview material has been organized for clarity.

The Druze character

Berany explained aspects of Druze society so that I could better understand the idea of Druze sovereignty.

There are about 500K Druze in Lebanon, 500K in Syria, 140K in Israel, a few tens of thousands in Jordan, and about 300K in our Diaspora (mainly North and South America, Australia, and German).

We are a battle-experienced people with a long history in this area. We know that the terrorists in Syria will not defeat us. It will not be easy and there is existential fear, but we will survive. We are smart and know how to identify crises that threaten us.

In Arabic, there are two nicknames for the Druze: Bani Ma’aruf and Tas Nahas. Bani Ma’aruf refers to the fact that the Druze are honourable people who treat others with honour and respect. Charles de Gaulle agreed with this nickname and in his memoir noted that the Druze never attack but will always defend themselves and fight to the death to protect their way of life.

Tas Nahas means ‘copper lute.’ A copper lute will vibrate over its entire body when struck in a single point. If Druze anywhere are hurt, all Druze unite to defend them. The entire Arab world knows this.

When the Druze were attacked in southern Syria, it was the duty of Druze everywhere in the world to mobilize for their protection. Preserving the brotherhood of our people is a major value. As soon as we got word of the massacre and Oct 7^th-type atrocities, Israeli Druze wanted to cross the border and fight.

You remember that when thousands of Alawites were murdered a few months ago, the world was silent. It could have been the same here, but the Druze are a different case. The regime in Syria understands that the Druze is a different case, bigger. Instead of expanding to killing thousands of Druze, it ended quickly, mainly because the Druze, unlike the Alawites, never surrendered their weapons and so were able to defend themselves. The Israeli attacks near the Presidential Palace also helped.

We Druze are loyal our traditions and continuity and if the state in which we live harms us, we do what is necessary to protect ourselves. We are transparent and we say openly what we mean. We know our strength and what we give -- and what we should receive.

Will there be a Druze state?

You know, if a Druze state arises, and with God’s help it will, it will take us a long time to decide if we even raise the Druze flag in the UN. No Druze thinks that will happen. If they move the UN from New York to Bagdad or Damascus, maybe we’ll consider it. The UN is so “western” that it doesn’t understand our region.

I think it is time to establish a Kurdish-Druze political entity. There is cultural affiliation between the Druze and the Kurds -- and the Circassians. Those in Israel and the West don’t look at the ethnic groups correctly. For example, Lebanon and Syria are recognized in the UN but on the ground, there are many states within these two countries, each in their own areas.

North of Israel there has to be a pro-Israeli polity for the security, not only of Israel, but for all peoples. If this doesn’t happen, Turkey will be on the border of Israel. The minorities in Lebanon and Syria need to come together – some think there must be individual states for each ethnic group and I think that is not right and will not work. If there is a Druze-Kurdish state, it would work.

Even if all the minority groups unite, there will still be a huge Sunni majority in Syria. What will be done about them?

We will need to think about how to implement this idea of a country we are talking about but we are not yet at the stage of thinking what should happen with the Sunnis. Perhaps a separate political entity for them. Right now we are only thinking about what needs to be done for the Druze.

Is this idea of Druze autonomy or sovereignty accepted by the Druze as a whole?

I started talking about this twenty years ago and people would tell me that I’m being unrealistic and delusional. Others said I’m talking like a Druze “Herzl” and that I’m way ahead of my time. Today, while still not accepted by the majority, people are beginning to understand that it is a possibility and I am talking about it publicly, something I avoided in the past because I saw the resistance to the idea.

Now there is a huge window of opportunity and we need to work on it.

There was Druze autonomy when Fakhr al-Din Almani II ruled over what is now Lebanon, Syria, and the Israeli Galilee between about 1516-1616. Since then, Druze society has always been afraid of independence in this region. But what is interesting is that many Druze don’t know our own history because for 400 years, under Ottoman rule, we did not study Druze history. The Ottomans tried to convert the Druze to Sunni Islam and nobody wrote Druze history for 400 years.

The Druze have been the driving force for this region. Leave us alone and we live in our “cave” or, more correctly, on the mountain tops. But in every event that happened in this region we have always had a part. Lebanon, a Maronite entity, was established by a Druze dynasty; the first prime minister of Jordan, Rashid Talaa, was a Druze.

And we have played a part in Israel from its earliest day.

But the West does not pay attention to the Druze. We have not wanted to stand out. The Druze religious idea is to focus on the spiritual and not get involved in politics, not to be on the political front, to be in our caves, on our mountains.

No matter what alliances form in this region, no matter what forces enter, there will never be stability here unless the Druze step up. If you study history, you know that there were many attempts at stability in Lebanon – the French, the British, Israel. They all tried. The Druze, who know the region and are interested in stability, are the only ones who can bring it and maintain it.

Look, I hear the UN envoy in Syria, and I say to myself, where is he living? The man with that Norwegian name I can't pronounce doesn't understand what's going on here. He read some books about modern Syria and he thinks he knows how to manage things here. No; we understand what needs to be here.

What is being done so far to promote Druze autonomy or sovereignty?

We are making connections with the Kurds for a start. Soon there will be a meeting and we will see how we proceed. It is still early days.

Toward the end of our interview, Berany said something I think our Israeli leadership should pay attention to:

If the State of Israel would give the Druze more freedom of action, the hostages will be back home. We know how to speak in a language that this region conducts its business.

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*Circassians are Moslems from the northern Caucasus region who migrated into the Levant in the 1870s after the Russians committed a genocide against them. Currently, there are about 5000 Circassians in two towns in Israel. They are conscripted into the IDF and fully integrated into Israeli life.

Translation of Berany’s Facebook post: Apparently, the Holy One, blessed be He, wants to reveal all the cards and everything that has happened over the past thousand years. The Druze arrived in the region of Syria and the Greater Land of Israel after the Druze Genocide, popularly called the (Antioch Genocide) in southern Turkey. The most significant enemy for the Druze has always been the Ottomans and they have never succeeded. Now Erdogan, who imagines himself to be the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, sees an opportunity in what is happening in Syria. The Druze, more than any other group in the region, know what is happening and what should be here. It will not happen. Very simply...it will not happen. In 1918, the Druze were the first force to enter Damascus after bloody battles that led to the collapse of the Ottoman Empire. To this day, the Druze song (Zayno a Saha - Decorate the Square) is a well-known and famous song that is sung at every happy event.
We will know how to return if necessary.
Erdogan is afraid of a Druze-Kurdish-Circassian union.
It is time to restore the Druze autonomy-state that the Turks have always feared.

Comment under the post from a Kurdish friend:

The Druze, the Kurds and Israel are one class, and our will is indomitable.
Time to restore dignity and self-government.

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