Samir Sadek, Mufid Bitar
In short, we believe that the French Mandate, declared on July 14, 1920, shattered one of the most beautiful dreams of the Syrians, while independence after the departure of the French on April 17, 1946, revived a beautiful Syrian reality that should have represented increasing progress day by day, How we glorified Maysalun Yusuf al-Azma! And how many girls were named “Maysalun” in commemoration of the steadfastness on the land of Maysalun, The unity of the country suffered a relative betrayal when the French divided the country on a sectarian basis, and states were established in Syria, such as a state for the Alawites, then two states for the Sunnis, one in Damascus and the other in Aleppo, then a mixed sanjak in the Jazira, i.e. Deir ez-Zor and al-Hasakah, In addition to that, there was the declaration of the establishment of the State of Greater Lebanon to be a state for the Maronites, And what is the state of Syria and Lebanon now?
The joy of the Syrians was great with the Faisal government in Damascus as a representative of the revival of national awakening and the end of Ottoman rule, which lasted for about 400 years, All of this was achieved without programmed intent or self-effort, In addition, the Islamic League, which called for submission to Ottoman rule, was dismantled, Then Damascus turned into a destination for Arabs and Arabism, indeed to the heart of Arabism pulsating with unity, freedom, independence, progress and democracy,In Damascus, Arab leaders gathered after Prince Faisal bin Hussein entered the city, From Iraq came Yasin al-Hashimi and many others, from Palestine Amin al-Husseini and others, from Lebanon Adel Arslan and others, in addition to many Syrians such as Hashim al-Atassi, Shukri al-Quwatli, Sultan Pasha al-Atrash, Fares al-Khoury, Sati’ al-Husri and others, All of these were able to establish a government that embodied the hopes and dreams of the Syrians, for example, for unity, as the king was from the Hejaz and the head of the Syrian parliament was an Egyptian of Lebanese origin (Rashid Rida), The army commander was Yasin al-Hashimi, an Iraqi, and the Minister of Justice was a Lebanese Christian (Iskandar Amoun),The head of public security was a Christian from Tripoli, Lebanon, named Gabriel Haddad, Even the Minister of Justice was a Christian from Lebanon, and the judges of the Supreme Court of Appeal were Christians, About a hundred years ago, there was no constitutional article regarding the determination of the state religion, Regarding the state, the constitution stipulated that it was a civil, representative state, The constitution also stipulated that it was forbidden for any member of the royal family to become a minister, and it prohibited members of parliament from engaging in any commercial activity, Until 1946, Syria did not have that legendary corruption, nor did it have those giant prisons and that huge number of dead, kidnapped, and missing persons. Rather, there was a free press and clean elections that led to the first president of the Syrian Republic, Muhammad Ali al-Abid!
The situation changed somewhat after the issuance of the mandate decision, and after the French army established its presence in the country and expelled the king from Syria and then transferred him to Iraq, then abolished the Alawite state in the following years and the problem of the conflicting and contradictory messages regarding the Alawite state, then Ibn Taymiyyah’s old narrative regarding them, etc. The past in general does not die and is not the past, and the mandate era has become very worthy of in-depth study, especially when looking at the development of Syria after 1946 and especially after 1958, and after 1970, then after 2024 and until now.
A very brief study of Syria’s situation after Sykes-Picot, San Remo, and the French withdrawal, followed by an assessment of Syrian development during the French Mandate quarter-century, and a comparison of all this with Syria’s development over the previous three-quarters of a century, as well as with its Ottoman and Quraysh past, leads to unexpected and even unimaginable conclusions,After 1958, there was nothing but continuous and escalating decline, until the situation reached the point of Syria becoming like Afghanistan in the present day. All of this was accompanied by a growing Syrian skepticism about the viability of self-rule in Syria, This skepticism transformed into a longing for the 1920s and the quarter-century of the French Mandate—not out of a passion for the Mandate itself, but rather a rejection of the backwardness, decline, and failure that culminated in the julanism <We do not blame those who feel nostalgic, but we do blame those who caused this longing to arise, which has reached the point where some are demanding that Syria be placed under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Could Syrian failure be greater? And could disappointment be less?