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Radical Politics and the Syrian Social Nationalist Party

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 January 2009

Daniel Pipes
Daniel Pipes
Affiliation:
Foreign Policy Research Institute Philadelphia
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Extract

Until now, there has appeared no party in the Arab world that can compete with the SSNP for the quality of its propaganda, which addresses both reason and emotion, or for the strength of its organization, which is effective both overtly and covertly. By virtue of its organization, this party succeeded in creating a very powerful intellectual and political current in Syria and Lebanon.

Type
Articles
Information
International Journal of Middle East Studies , Volume 20 , Issue 3 , August 1988 , pp. 303 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1988

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References

NOTES

1 The Economist, 10 05 1947, 6 01 1962, 10 08 1985.Google Scholar

2 Hudson, Michael C., The Precarious Republic: Political Modernization in Lebanon (New York: Random House, 1968), p. 169.Google Scholar

3 Major studies on the SSNP include: al-Husri, Abu Khaldun Sati' (the Pan-Arabist theoretician), al-'Uruba bayn du'atiha wa mu'aridiha (Beirut: Dar al-'llm li'l-Malayin, 1952)Google Scholar and Difa' 'an al'uruba (Beirut: Dar al-'llm li'l-Malayin?, 1956);Google ScholarJunbalat, Kamal (leader of the Lebanese Druze), Adwa' 'ala haqiqat al-qadiyya al-qawmiyya al-ijtima'iyya al-Suriya (Beirut: n.p., nd.);Google ScholarMakdisi, Nadim K., “The Syrian National Party: A Case Study of the First Inroads of National Socialism in the Arab World,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, The American University, 1960;Google ScholarRobert, “The Syrian National Party,” unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, University of Michigan, 1946;Google Scholar and Yamak, Labib Zuwiyya, The Syrian Social Nationalist Party: An Ideological Analysis (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1969). In addition to these sources, I have relied standard scholarly works on Lebanese and Syrian history. In the interest of limiting footnotes, however, references are provided only for (1) direct quotes or (2) information that derives from little-known sources.Google Scholar

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6 German authors are especially prone to this error. See Vocke, Harald, Was geschah im Libanon? (Frankfurt: The Author, 1977), p. 45;Google ScholarFrankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 20 September 1986.Google Scholar

7 Decree signed by Khuri, Salim, 27 October 1947. Text in Qadiyat al-hizb al-qawmi (Beirut: Ministry of Information, 1949), p. 162.Google Scholar (Issued by the Lebanese government to justify the execution of Sa'ada, this important book is to be used with great caution.) For a literary account of the SSNP's fascist impress, see al-Shaykh, Hasan, Hikayat Zahra, trans. into English as The Story of Zahra (London: Reader's International, 1968), p. 36.Google Scholar

8 Antun Sa'ada, al-Ta'alim al-Suriya al-qawmiyya al-ijtima'iyya (n.p., 1960), pp. 31–32. Sa'ada combined the names of Syria and Iraq to come up with the name “al-Suraqiyya,” which he applied to this later, larger, Syria. See Junbalat, Adwa', p. 79.Google Scholar

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21 “Jalsa Munaffidhiyya Hums al-'Amma,” 2 September 1947. Text in Qadiyyat al-hizb al-qawmi, p. 264. Despite the rivalry between these two Pan-Syrian aspirants, the SSNP did seek cooperation with the king at least twice. In July 1942, it approached him and indicated a willingness to accept him as ruler of Greater Syria, asking in return control of certain key ministries. 'Ahdallah showed no interest, however. In November 1947, the SSNP declared that it “does not object to the appointment of His Majesty as King of United Syria.” “Taqrir muwajjah li-'umdat al-dakhiliyya,” 28 November 1947. Text in Qadiyyat al-hizb al-qawmi, pp. 203–4.Google Scholar

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48 Quoted in Saint-Prot, Charles, Les Mystères syriens: la politique au Proche-Orient de 1970 à 1984 (Paris: Albin Michel, 1984), p. 77.Google Scholar

49 Quoted in Rouleau, Eric, “The Syrian Enigma: What is the Ba'th?” New Left Review, 45 (1967), 63.Google Scholar

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52 For evidence of this change in policy, see the author's parallel articles: “Palestine for the Syrians?” Commentary, 82, 6 (12, 1986), 30–36,Google Scholar and “Damascus and the Claim to Lebanon,” Orbis, 31 (1987), 663–81.Google Scholar

53 Chabry, Laurent and Chabry, Annie, Politique et minorités au Proche-Orient (Paris: Maisonneuve & Larose, 1984), pp. 166–67.Google Scholar I attempt to explain this transformation in “Syria's Imperial Dream,” The New Republic, 195, 23 (9 06 1986), 13–16.Google Scholar

54 Al-Tadamun, 24 August 1985.Google Scholar

55 Jerusalem, Radio, 24 July 1985.Google Scholar

56 Vocke, Was geschah im Libanon?, p. 45.Google Scholar

57 Al-Thawra, 17 August 1976.Google Scholar

58 Damascus, Radio, 20 September 1976.Google Scholar

59 Beirut, Radio, 2 August 1985.Google Scholar

60 Ya'ari, Ehud, “Behind the Terror,” The Atlantic, 259, 6 (06, 1987), 18–22. This may explain why Walid Kabbani, an SSNP member, was caught smuggling explosives into the United States from Canada in October 1987.Google Scholar

61 The statement by the previously unknown group that took responsibility for the explosion combines two usually incompatible ideals, fundamentalist Islam and Pan-Syrian nationalism. According to an Agence France Presse report of 23 October 1983, it read: “The movement declares its full support for the Greater Syria policy, which calls for the return of Palestine to the Palestinians and the liberation of Lebanon from imperialism and isolationism and strengthening the Islamic revolution throughout the Arab world.” This declaration hints at cooperation between the SSNP and Hezbollah against the Marines.Google Scholar

62 Israeli military spokesman, The New York Times, 3 August 1985, pp. 1, 3.Google Scholar

63 Damascus Radio, 4 May 1985.Google Scholar

64 Ya'ari “Behind the Terror.”Google Scholar

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66 Damascus Television, 10 April 1985.Google Scholar

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68 Sa'idi, Abdullah in an interview, MERIP Reports, 61 (1977), 17.Google Scholar

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70 Ya'ari, “Behind the Terror.”Google Scholar