Eduardo Wassim Aboultaif

Unknown to many Lebanese and Arabs, on July 19, 1985, Kamal Aboultaif, who had revealed an Israeli plan to create a Druze state extending from the Golan Heights to the Chouf mountains in Lebanon, passing through the region of Rashaya, was assassinated in Aiha in the West Bekaa. His political partner, Kamal Kanj, from Majdal Chams in the Golan Heights, was imprisoned on several occasions by the Israelis in the 1970s.

The plan to create a Druze state was the cornerstone of Israel’s regional policy to secure its borders. The aim was to create a belt of small states around Israel, defined by culture, religion and ethnicity, that were to be in constant conflict with each other. Thus, Israel would divert the attention of the Arabs around it from fighting Israel to fighting between themselves.

In 1967, after the June war, Kanj was approached by Israeli officials, who proposed to him the idea of creating a Druze political entity. They asked him to find a Druze in Lebanon to work on collaborating with Israel to help advance the plan. Kanj was a retired colonel in the Syrian army who knew Aboultaif, a Lebanese Druze who had gone to Syria, received Syrian citizenship and joined the Syrian army. It is in the Syrian army that the two men had known one another.

Kanj was contacted by the Israelis mainly because he was a descendant from a noble political family in Majdal Chams, a family whom the Druze in the Golan tended to follow. His word was well-received by the community, and hence he was instrumental for the success of such a plan. He chose Kamal Aboultaif (who happened to be a member of my extended family) because he could trust him to participate in such a dangerous scheme.

The two men heard more about the Israeli plan after they fooled Israeli intelligence into believing they would work with them. Once they got hold of the details, Aboultaif revealed the plan to the Lebanese Druze leader Kamal Jumblatt. In turn, Jumblatt raised the issue with President Gamal Abdel-Nasser and the Syrians. Consequently, the plan was made public and exposed. Jumblatt openly denounced the scheme by saying that the Druze would not act as a border patrol for the Israeli state.

Aboultaif and Kanj were both motivated by patriotism. They had to live under constant threat from the Israelis for the rest of their lives. Their patriotism had saved the political heritage of the Druze community, and, more importantly, preserved Syrian and Lebanese sovereignty. Nevertheless, it is heartbreaking to see how their efforts have been forgotten by the Lebanese and Syrian authorities. In Lebanon, not a single road, park, square or public space was dedicated to the memory of Aboultaif. For some reason, such a tremendous act of courage was rewarded with amnesia.

But why is it important to remember this today, three decades after Aboultaif’s assassination? The Middle East is being torn apart not by Israel, but surprisingly by its own communities. We are seeing communal demands to create Sunni, Shiite, Druze, Kurdish, Alawite and Christian entities in Syria and Iraq, countries that once one posed a significant threat to Israel. Sadly, it is the communal groups today that are establishing de facto entities around Israel, without the latter intervening. These communities have fallen in a trap of their own making, and it will require years to re-establish trust between them.

By remembering Kamal Aboultaif 30 years later, by recalling his efforts, courage, patriotism, sacrifice and wisdom in avoiding the seductive proposal from the Israeli state, which might have transformed him into the representative of the Druze in the region, perhaps other communities can relate what is going on today to what went on after the June 1967 war. It is important to look at the bigger picture in this case.

Of course, this is not to say that what is going on in Syria is a Zionist plan. Instead, communities should acknowledge the need to end the regime of President Bashar Assad and re-establish a united and secure Syria before the dissection of the country is fully completed.

In 1983, Kanj passed away. Two years later, Aboultaif, who had become mayor of his hometown of Aiha, was assassinated by gunmen loyal to the Syrian regime, raising questions about the Assad regime’s Arabist inclinations. Another unfortunate fact was that Aboultaif’s assassination was never investigated, despite the fact that the criminals were known to the public.

It is sad how patriotic men who defended the Arab cause ended up being killed by those loyal to regimes claiming to be motivated by Arab nationalism. Eliminating Aboultaif was one of the occasions where Syrian-Zionist interests converged. As the mayor of Aiha, and especially after the publication of the book “The Story of the Druze State,” Aboultaif became famous. Since he was not subservient to the Syrian regime, eliminating a strong figure from the Bekaa was suitable for a regime that sought to extend its influence there. Perceiving the Bekaa as an extension of Damascus, Syria effectively wanted the villages and cities in the Beqaa to be leaderless.

As for today, the regime that killed Aboultaif and assassinated a large number of Lebanese, Syrian and Palestinian officials and intellectuals will not hesitate to redraw the map of Syria in a way that suits its interests.

Maybe if we manage to pay humble tribute to Aboultaif and his friends, the coming generations will be able to learn from the mistakes of the past.