On January 29th, here in the pages of the Tamarind, we discussed the divisions of the Arab world and the Arab reconciliation initiative led by Saudi Arabia during the Kuwait Summit of the Arab League. A month after the diplomatic activity on the way to Damascus is even more intense.
The diplomatic game is particularly complex even by Middle Eastern standards. It is played at the intersection of three different sets of negotiations: the Syrian-Israeli peace talks, the Arab reconciliation Initiative and the American opening towards Damascus. The stakes are equally high since a shift in the Syrian position would have important repercussions in Lebanon, Palestine, Iraq and Iran.
The peace process between Syria and Israel is temporarily suspended due to the confused political situation in Israel a mere month after the general elections. However the election of a right-wing government in Jerusalem may paradoxically enhance the possibilities of a peace agreement with Damascus. Under considerable pressure from the Obama Administration, Netanyahu may find easier to return the Golan Height to Syria than to make any substantial concession on Jerusalem or the settlements in the West Bank.
The Arab reconciliation Initiative seems instead to be gaining momentum. The heads of States of Egypt, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia and Syria met in Riyadh last week and the atmosphere was allegedly friendlier than it has ever been in the last few years. It is worth recalling that Syrian President Bashir al Assad called the Egyptian and Saudi leaders “half men” for failing to intervene on the side of Lebanon during the Israeli military offensive in 2006 and accused them of complicity with the Zionist enemy during the operation in Gaza few months ago.
The effect of the Arab reconciliation are particularly evident in Cairo, where the negotiations between Hamas and Fatah are scheduled to restart this week, and in Lebanon, where parliamentary elections are scheduled for June 7th. In both cases Syria, who supports Hamas in Palestine and Hezbollah in Lebanon, has a crucial influence on the negotiations. A possible reconciliation between Damascus and the moderate Arab front would therefore make things easier also in Cairo and in Beirut. Last week’s opening of a Lebanese embassy in Damascus -for the first time in history- is indubitably an important signal in this direction.
The third element of this complex diplomatic game is, as anticipated, the American opening to Syria. The visit of Shapiro and Feltman to Damascus on March 7 represents a clear break from the failed policy of the Bush Administration directed at isolating the Syrian regime. However, according to Bilal Y Saab of the Brookings Institute, “It is too early to tell whether Washington’s opening to Damascus is purely tactical or of a strategic nature.” It is also important to point out that the problems between Syria and the US did not start with the Bush Administration and they have deep and real roots that require a more sustained and robust engagement strategy than a generic opening or a couple of trips to Damascus.
The negotiations between Syria and the US are clearly affected by those going on between Washington and Tehran. However, whether Obama’s opening towards Iran will be successful or not, the negotiations with Syria may very well keep going. In the first case they would probably be easier, in the second more useful. Kissinger’s success in convincing Egypt to switch sides during the Cold War is often cited as an example of what American diplomacy should do to convince Syria to break ties with Iran. Notwithstanding the fact that most of the economic and military help to Hamas and particularly to Hezbollah comes form Iran, without the logistical support of Syria (who shares borders with both Lebanon and Iran), Iran would find great difficulties in sustaining its proxies. Also, the alliance with an Arab and Sunni country such as Syria gives Iran a legitimacy that it would not have otherwise.
In conclusion a change in Syrian politics would be a pivotal moment in the international relations of the Middle East with broad effects in nearly all the countries of the Near East. However, Syrians are known to be skillful and patient negotiators. Miracles on the way to Damascus are not as common as we may hope.

“Boom”
“Terrorista”
What are these? Nicknames attributed to me by some of my fellow colleagues. Why? Because I’m half Syrian. I knew that they were joking when they used these nicknames but the fact that these are the words they chose to use because of where I come from meant that subconsciously this was how they saw Syria at a first glance. What is most disturbing is that it came from well-educated students… the power of stereotypes!
One of the various definitions of stereotypes is that it “can instigate prejudice and false assumptions about entire groups of people; stereotypes are sometimes formed by a false association between two variables that are loosely correlated if correlated at all.” Sociologist Charles E. Hurst states that, “One reason for stereotypes is the lack of personal, concrete familiarity that individuals have with persons in other racial or ethnic groups. Lack of familiarity encourages the lumping together of unknown individuals.”
Stereotypes are a generalization, more often than not they are negative, but some truth lies beneath them. When abroad, say that you are Italian, and the first thing people comment is how delicious the food is and then they ask about the Mafia. People are intrigued by it. Pizza and pasta are truly delicious, nobody can compete with Italians. The Mafia does exist in Italy but it’s a small percentage of Italians that belong to it. There has been great commotion in the United States over the representation of Italo-Americans; from The Sopranos to the Godfather they are always represented as mobsters. The mistake is using these single connotations to describe an entire country. They are part of the country, a minority, not true for all parts.
The worst stereotype these days is the one attributed to Arabs. It does not matter whether you are Christian, Muslim, or Atheist, what matters is that you come from an Arab country. You say Arab and the first image that pops up is that of a Terrorist. What is Terrorism? It is believed that “terrorism” dates back to 1795 when it was used to describe the actions of the Jacobin Club in their rule of post-Revolutionary France, the so-called “Reign of Terror”. More than two hundred years later, there still isn’t an international definition for terrorism. Throughout history, terrorism has afflicted different regions, from Europe, to South America, to the USSR, to the Middle East. Terrorism boomed in 9/11, and nobody denies their ferocity. Terrorists and their acts are unforgivable. What is also unforgivable is that terrorists in the Middle East are a minority, extremists, despised by Arabs themselves and yet the general definition of Arabs is that they are terrorists; It truly breaks my heart. The Middle East dates back to ancient times, the earliest civilizations were established in this area around 3500 BC, regarded as the cradle of civilizations, historically a major center of world affairs and where Moses, Jesus and Mohammad built three of the world’s major religions. It is rich with history, religions, culture and today it is known for one thing, Terrorists, Terrorists, Terrorists. Television, newspapers, movies are all to blame. They portray what they want to portray, not necessarily the true features of a country. Visit Iran and you will be perplexed by the difference between what you imagined from the depiction made by the media and what it truly is. Yes there are terrorists, the most famous being Mr. Bin Laden, but do not generalize for there are hard working people in the Middle East, families, children who have the same daily problems as any European family. We all make judgments based on our first impression, it is hard not to, but let us try to avoid making them until after we have accurately collected information. Let us not ruin the image of a people by the doing of a few. Let us not make these few feel triumphant. Let us battle these Terrorists with our minds, with our intelligence, not with ignorance. The Arab people will continue to battle to free themselves from suppression, to free themselves from the negative forces afflicting their true opulence.
I would like to dedicate this article to those who perished in the recent terroristic attacks in Mumbai. Do not forget Mumbai, do not stop visiting the East, let us show the Terrorists that we are unstoppable, that we, a peace-loving people, are stronger!

I close my eyes, I think of Damascus… I see a corner dressed with jasmines, I smell their intoxicating perfume…. In just a few seconds, the thought of these simple flowers floods my mind with delightful memories, and for a few seconds, the world stops.
At this point you are wondering who is daydreaming… it is I, Luna Brozzi. Who am I? From my name you might come to the immediate conclusion that I am Italian, but do not be fooled as I have Syrian blood running through me. Twenty-five years ago I was born in Parma to an Italian father and a Syrian mother. A few months later, a journey began that has molded me into the person I am today. The first twelve years of my life were dispersed between living in China, Libya, Iraq, and the USA; the following six were in Damascus, Syria. In Damascus, like in all the other countries I had lived in, I attended an American school. Every summer consisted of visiting family in Italy and the United States. At seventeen, I graduated from high school and I felt that I was at a standstill. What to do with my future? Should I attend college in Italy or in the United States? In the end, I decided that it was time to live in Italy. I moved to Milan to attend Bocconi, where a degree was being offered entirely in English for the first time. After my graduation in 2004, I decided to move back to Damascus, where my parents still resided, in order to work. Three years later, under my fathers’ great encouragement, I moved back to Rome to begin a Master’s degree in Luiss.

It hasn’t been an easy ride. Damascus has a special place in my heart; the people are warm, the sun rarely disappears, and the history is deep… but like all roses, it has its thorns. The bureaucracy is absurd, the smog is terrible, and freedom of speech is a privilege for other countries… it is what it is. Upon arriving in Italy, I had many expectations. After all, I was coming to live in a developed, open-minded, European country… finally! It’s true that I had visited Italy at least once a year for the past seventeen years, that I was half Italian, that I spoke the language fluently, but somehow I had never absorbed it; I had always been just a visitor. Until now, between Milan and Rome, I have been living in Italy for four and a half years. I have come to learn many things about my country, and I have learned to love and hate it at the same time. Nobody can deny the wonder of Italian cuisine; its fame reaches all corners of the world. And it would be immoral to exclude its role in history, people, architecture; its physiognomy is among the most beautiful in the world. But let’s talk about the bureaucracy- at times I feel that it’s worse than Syria! At least in Syria I can escape the bureaucracy in two ways: first, as a woman, I am given a bit of “special treatment” and second, it is common knowledge that paying a couple of Syrian pounds can help get things done quicker.
Among the various encounters I had with Italian bureaucracy, the worst was renewing my Italian passport, which had expired a few weeks before. The bureaucrats did not want to renew it because I had no other valid ID, so I went to make an ID card. Once there, I was told that they could not give me an ID card because my residence was still in Damascus, despite the fact that I had officially changed my residence to Italy six months before. I had no idea what to do at that point. Back at the passport authority I re-explained the situation and the answer I received was, “I can NOT help you.” At that point I had had enough. I had waited in infinite lines and the people were rude and unwilling to help. How did I get them to do my passport? I shed a few tears. When did I receive the passport? Two months later. If this is the treatment an Italian citizen receives, how are immigrants treated?
Another thing that has left me perplexed is the university system. In the American system, students are taught to respect deadlines, to work under pressure, and to follow rules. Professors are there to teach and help the students. Transparency is important and so is organization. My perplexity arouse while attending Luiss. All final exams are oral but on rare occasions a professor might integrate it with a written exam. One of the first written exams I underwent in Luiss, I remember the professor asking us to write no more than 15 pages. At the end of the exam, I came to discover that some students had written over 20 pages and I figured that they would be “punished” as they had not followed the clear instructions that had been given. However, the opposite occurred – they were awarded. How about oral exams at the end of the semester? I have never understood how grades are attributed, and it seems to me that grades are very much at the discretion of the professor. Coming from a system where exams are graded much more objectively, as each question has an expected answer and set point value, it was hard for me to believe that the grades attributed in the Italian system were fair. Deadlines are not respected either. I fail to see how the Italian university system prepares students with the most basic principles needed in the working world.
The last thing that has left me in great awe is the mentality. Endless talks and conversations have led me to conclude that Italians are not so different from Arabs even though one is considered European, democratic and developed while the other is considered dictatorial and underdeveloped. Of course with regards to freedoms …