After decades in exile, Syria’s Jews visit Damascus
After decades in exile, Syria’s Jews visit Damascus/node/2590820/middle-east
After decades in exile, Syria’s Jews visit Damascus
Henry, the son of US-based Syrian rabbi Youssef Hamra (not pictured), tours the Ifrange synagogue in the Jewish quarter in Old Damascus' Bab Sharqi neighbourhood on February 18, 2025 during a visit from the United States. (AFP)
Short Url
https://arab.news/yvgqf
Updated 19 February 2025
Reuters
After decades in exile, Syria’s Jews visit Damascus
The new authorities have said all of Syria’s communities will play a role in their country’s future
The synagogues and Jewish school in the Old City remained relatively well-preserved
Updated 19 February 2025
Reuters
DAMASCUS: For the first time in three decades, Rabbi Joseph Hamra and his son Henry read from a Torah scroll in a synagogue in the heart of Syria’s capital Damascus, carefully passing their thumbs over the handwritten text as if still in awe they were back home.
The father and son fled Syria in the 1990s, after then-Syrian president Hafez Assad lifted a travel ban on the country’s historic Jewish community, which had faced decades of restrictions including on owning property or holding jobs.
Virtually all of the few thousand Jews in Syria promptly left, leaving less than 10 in the Syrian capital. Joseph and Henry — just a child at the time — settled in New York.
“Weren’t we in a prison? So we wanted to see what was on the outside,” said Joseph, now 77, on his reasons for leaving at the time. “Everyone else who left with us is dead.”
But when Assad’s son and successor as president Bashar Assad was toppled in December, the Hamra family began planning a once-unimaginable visit to Damascus with the help of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a US-based advocacy group.
They met with Syria’s deputy foreign minister at the ministry, now managed by caretaker authorities installed by the Islamist rebels who ousted Assad after more than 50 years of family rule that saw itself as a bastion of secular Arab nationalism.
The new authorities have said all of Syria’s communities will play a role in their country’s future. But incidents of religious intolerance and reports of conservative Islamists proselytizing in public have kept more secular-minded Syrians and members of minority communities on edge.
Henry Hamra, now aged 48, said Syria’s foreign ministry had now pledged to protect Jewish heritage.
“We need the government’s help, we need the government’s security and it’s going to happen,” he said.
Walking through the narrow passages of the Old City, a UNESCO-listed World Heritage Site, Henry and Joseph ran into their onetime neighbors — Palestinian Syrians — and later marveled at hand-painted Hebrew lettering at several synagogues.
“I want to see my kids come back and see this beautiful synagogue. It’s a work of art,” said Henry.
But some things were missing, he said, including a golden-lettered Torah from one of the synagogues that was now stored in a library in Israel, to where thousands of Syrian Jews fled throughout the 20th century.
While the synagogues and Jewish school in the Old City remained relatively well-preserved, Syria’s largest synagogue in Jobar, an eastern suburb of Damascus, was reduced to rubble during the nearly 14-year civil war that erupted after Assad’s violent suppression of protests against him.
Jobar was home to a large Jewish community for hundreds of years until the 1800s and the synagogue, built in honor of the biblical prophet Elijah, was looted before it was destroyed.
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington wants a strong and unified Syria that reflects the diversity of its society
Updated 8 sec ago
Arab News
DUBAI: US Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Wednesday that Washington and its partners want to give Syria “every possible opportunity” to become a strong, unified state that reflects the diversity of its society.
Rubio said Syria’s stability was essential for regional peace, preventing extremists and foreign actors from using the country as a base for destabilizing activities.
This is a moment of “historic opportunity” to achieve progress that had seemed unimaginable just a few years ago, Rubio said during a meeting with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) foreign ministers on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
“President Donald Trump remains committed, not just from a unilateral US perspective, but in partnership with many countries, to giving Syria every opportunity to build a strong, unified state that respects the diversity of Syrian society, is a stable place, and is no longer a base of operations for extremists or foreign actors,” Rubio said.
GCC Secretary-General Jassim Mohammed Al-Budaiwi said the importance of safeguarding Syria’s sovereignty, independence, and territorial integrity, and rejected foreign interference in its internal affairs.
Budaiwi also condemned repeated Israeli strikes on Syrian territory and called for adherence to the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, noting that Syria’s security and stability are a cornerstone of stability for the wider region.
Palestinian leader to address UN General Assembly as peace push gathers steam
President Mahmud Abbas will address UNGA three days after a slew of Western nations recognized a state of Palestine
Trump administration adamantly rejected statehood and barred Abbas from traveling to New York for the annual gathering of world leaders
Updated 25 September 2025
AFP
UNITED NATIONS: Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas will address the United Nations virtually on Thursday as the United States, despite its opposition to him, weighs whether to try to stop Israeli annexation of the West Bank.
The veteran 89-year-old Palestinian Authority president will address the UN General Assembly three days after a slew of Western nations recognized a state of Palestine.
US President Donald Trump’s administration adamantly rejected statehood and, in a highly unusual step, barred Abbas and his senior aides from traveling to New York for the annual gathering of world leaders.
The General Assembly overwhelmingly voted to let Abbas address the world body with a video message.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has vowed not to allow a Palestinian state and far-right members of his cabinet have threatened to annex the West Bank in a bid to kill any prospect of true independence.
French President Emmanuel Macron, despite his disagreements with Trump on statehood, said Wednesday that the US leader joined him in opposing annexation.
“What President Trump told me yesterday was that the Europeans and Americans have the same position,” Macron said in an interview jointly with France 24 and Radio France Internationale.
Steve Witkoff, Trump’s golfing friend turned roving global negotiator, said that Trump in a separate meeting with a group of leaders of Arab and Islamic nations presented a 21-point plan for ending the war.
“I think it addresses Israeli concerns as well as the concerns of all the neighbors in the region,” he told the Concordia summit on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly.
“We’re hopeful, and I might say even confident, that in the coming days we’ll be able to announce some sort of breakthrough.”
A White House official told AFP that Trump wants to bring the conflict “to an expeditious close” and that foreign partners from the meeting “expressed the hope that they could work together with Special Envoy Witkoff to consider the President’s plan.”
Divide on Palestinian Authority
Macron said that the US proposal incorporates core elements of a French plan including disarmament of Hamas and the dispatch of an international stabilization force.
A French position paper seen by AFP calls for the gradual transfer of security control in Gaza to a reformed Palestinian Authority once a ceasefire is in place.
Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto, one of the leaders who met jointly with Trump, said that the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country was willing to offer at least 20,000 troops.
Abbas’s Palestinian Authority enjoys limited control over parts of the West Bank under agreements reached through the Oslo peace accords that started in 1993.
Abbas’s Fatah is the rival of Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, although Netanyahu’s government has sought to conflate the two.
Abbas in his address on Monday condemned the massive October 7, 2023, attacks by Hamas on Israel, which has responded with a relentless military offensive.
He also called on Hamas to disarm to the Palestinian Authority.
France and other European powers, while not joining Israeli and US efforts to delegitimize the Palestinian Authority, have said that it needs major reforms.
Netanyahu will address the UN General Assembly on Friday.
GCC, UK ministers condemn humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza
The GCC and UK also condemned Israel’s strike on Doha on September 9
Updated 9 min 38 sec ago
Arab News
RIYADH: A ministerial meeting between the Gulf Cooperation Council and Britain condemned on Wednesday the humanitarian catastrophe in the Gaza Strip and Israel’s restrictions on aid that have exacerbated famine and human suffering.
The ministers, meeting on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly, called on all parties to the conflict to comply with their obligations under International Humanitarian Law, including those related to the protection of civilians and civilian infrastructure.
The UK and the GCC resolved to continue working closely together to pursue peace in unstable and conflict-afflicted regions, a joint statement said.
They underscored their countries commitment to promoting peace and working together to resolve conflicts and address instability.
The ministers also welcomed the high-level international conference on the peaceful settlement of the Palestinian Cause and the implementation of the two-state solution, co-chaired by the Kingdom of ֱ and France.
There must be unified Palestinian-led governance in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank under the Palestinian Authority, said the statement.
The GCC and UK also condemned Israel’s strike on Doha on Sept. 9, which constituted a flagrant violation of Qatar’s sovereignty. They underscored their support for Qatar’s sovereignty and territorial integrity, in line with the principles of the United Nations Charter.
On the issue of trade between the UK and the Gulf nations, the ministers agreed on the importance of growing two-way trade and investment further to advance mutual growth and prosperity.
Bilateral trade exceeded $72 billion in 2024.
The GCC and UK also reaffirmed their commitment to the promotion of free trade. Both sides restated their commitment to prioritizing conclusion of the GCC-UK Free Trade Agreement, recognizing that a commercially meaningful deal would further enhance trade and investment ties, benefit businesses, and support high skilled job creation in the UK and GCC member states, the statement added.
Saudi-led global Palestine peace effort rallies support at UN
High-level ministerial meeting held on sidelines of General Assembly
It follows recognition of Palestine by almost a dozen countries over the last week
Updated 25 September 2025
Caspar Webb
NEW YORK: The Saudi-led global initiative to implement the two-state solution has rallied support for the peace process as its member countries roundly condemned Israel’s actions in Gaza.
The high-level meeting of the Global Alliance for the Implementation of the Two-State Solution — founded last year by the Kingdom — was held on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly in New York on Wednesday.
The event was co-hosted by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas and Norwegian Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide.
It was attended by representatives, including foreign ministers and ambassadors, of almost 100 countries that have backed Saudi and French efforts to end the war in Gaza and bring about a two-state solution.
They overwhelmingly voiced their desire to see peace between Israel and the Palestinians, and laid out a ceasefire, the disarmament of Hamas and the return of hostages as immediate prerequisites.
Many speakers called for the strengthening of the Palestinian Authority through the initiative, and for the PA to serve as an interim government in Gaza in any postwar scenario.
Prince Faisal, opening the high-level meeting, highlighted the importance of the New York Declaration, a detailed roadmap toward implementing the two-state solution that was adopted on Monday by the UNGA.
The document “is a clear mission to all of us to embody this coalition, to affirm the two-state solution and take into account all measures. We can’t have declarations unless it becomes factual work that would be realized on the field,” he said, repeating his call for the PA to be the sole government of the Occupied Territories when the Gaza war comes to an end.
“We’re also putting international measures to monitor in clear time-bound schedules. We’d also like to support (Palestinian) President Mahmoud Abbas, and we’d also like to laud his efforts despite the tough conditions,” Prince Faisal said.
“The Kingdom will continue its diplomatic and humanitarian work in order to help return the Palestinian borders based on 1967 lines, and to have security and prosperity for the whole nations of the area.”
Kallas called on the alliance to redouble its efforts toward a two-state solution, a year after its founding.
Wednesday’s high-level meeting was “happening in a very challenging global environment,” she said. “It’s clear that the situation on the ground in Gaza is catastrophic and unbearable, and it’s reaching unprecedented levels of suffering and death for the Palestinian people, both in Gaza but also in the West Bank.”
Though “our calls and efforts to cease fire have remained unheeded, I saw some optimism yesterday after the meeting of Arab leaders with (US) President (Donald) Trump,” Kallas added. “Let’s hope that there are concrete results from that.”
A ceasefire is “the only way for the unconditional release of all hostages, and eventually, a permanent end to hostilities and end of human suffering,” she said. “If a military solution was there for Gaza, the war would already be over.”
Kallas highlighted EU efforts to “engage with every actor” and bring an end to the war, and said the bloc is “active on all fronts.”
The meeting was chaired by EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas (left), Saudi foreign minister Prince Faisal bin Farhan (center), and Aspen Barth Eide, Norway’s foreign minister (right). (AN photo/Caspar Webb)
She added: “We’ve been committed to enhance humanitarian access through dialogue with the Israeli government.
“This has allowed an increase in the number of trucks and fuel reaching Gaza after months of blockade.”
The EU, as the largest humanitarian donor to the Palestinian people, has been supporting the PA with “budgetary and political support,” Kallas said.
“The EU has pledged $1.9 billion to support the Palestinian Authority over the next three years. We’ve also decided to launch a Palestine donor group that will be focused on enlarging contributions and long-term support for reforms,” she added.
“Bankruptcy and collapse aren’t an option if we want to preserve any chance of the two-state solution.”
The global alliance can succeed in its efforts to arrange a two-station solution by “applying both pressure and dialogue,” Kallas said.
“All of us who maintain working relations with Israel must do their utmost to persuade the Israeli government that this war doesn’t serve their interests.”
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Mustafa addressed the meeting via a pre-recorded video.
Palestinian representatives were unable to attend the UNGA this year after the US denied them visas.
“I want to thank the Kingdom of ֱ for its outstanding leadership, both as a co-chair of the high-level international conference together with France, and as a driving force for this global alliance,” Mustafa said.
“The New York Declaration charted an urgent and irreversible pathway to an independent and sovereign Palestinian state living side by side in peace and security with Israel,” he added.
“I think we all agree that the measures outlined in the declaration need to be translated into policies and actions by all the states assembled here.
“We must act more rapidly, more decisively and more collectively for these actions to lead to the fundamental shift needed.”
Eide said the situation experienced on a daily basis by Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank has gone from “bad to terrible.”
He added that Norway had “always wanted to” recognize a State of Palestine, which it did last year.
But Norway’s foreign policy establishment had thought that recognition would only occur at the end of a successful peace process based on resolving long-standing issues from the Oslo Accords, Eide said.
“There have been many years since that there were anything resembling negotiations, and we had to break out of that paradigm and establish a new one,” he added.
That led to Norwegian recognition of Palestinian statehood, and Eide praised the almost a dozen countries — including France, the UK, Canada and Australia — that followed suit over the past week.
“The goal is the same as it always was, but now the tactics have changed,” he said. “Universal recognition is just one of the many recommendations that the global alliance came out with in the New York Declaration when we met in July.
“The idea is that we’ll identify all the parts that are missing, which is of course to work … toward normalization between those Arab states that haven’t done it yet with Israel once Palestine is in place.”
Eide identified all the moving parts required in the practical establishment of a Palestinian state, including security guarantees for both it and Israel, demobilization, decommissioning of all weapons beyond the armed forces, and economic stability.
These are all guided by the New York Declaration, which provides “elements of a plan on how we can move forward,” he said.
“My appeal to you is that we continue to build on this. What are the practicalities? What are the concrete measures that should be taken from now on to do what the alliance is all about, which is to implement the two-state solution for real, not only in theory, but also for real?”
Comoros president slams Israel’s ‘genocide’ in Gaza
‘It’s our moral responsibility to act,’ Azali Assoumani tells UN General Assembly
Palestinian history ‘a succession of pages written in blood, indifference and scorn’
Updated 25 September 2025
RAY HANANIA
NEW YORK: The president of Comoros accused Israel of committing genocide in Gaza during his address to the UN General Assembly on Wednesday, and rejected claims that supporting a two-state solution is a “gift to Hamas.”
Azali Assoumani said the UN cannot achieve its ambitious Sustainable Development Goals if it cannot prevent genocide from taking place in Gaza or violence in other regions.
“With five years to go before the (SDG) deadline, it’s notable that the world isn’t more peaceful or more equitable. On the contrary, inequalities have increased, conflicts have multiplied, and humanity is moving further and further away from the vision that once drove us,” he added.
“The Palestinian tragedy is perhaps the most shocking demonstration of this. For more than 70 years now, and today even more so than before, the Palestinian people have been suffering the pillaging of their ancestral lands, suffering exile, torture and humiliation. Their recent history is simply a succession of pages written in blood, indifference and scorn.”
Assoumani denounced as “barbaric” the Hamas attack on Israel of Oct. 7, 2023, but “the disproportionate response that has been unleashed in Gaza since then is indeed a genocide.
“Eighty percent of the victims are children, older persons or the ill. They’ve been killed by shelling which doesn’t spare hospitals, aid distribution centers, schools, UN staff or journalists.”
He added: “The crimes perpetrated against Palestine stem from an untenable contradiction. Indeed, how can a government elected by a people who are victim of the Holocaust now commit a genocide before the very eyes of the entire world?”
He continued: “When we look at the tragedy of the Holocaust, Arab, African and Muslim countries have never been on the side of the perpetrators of genocide.
“On the contrary, our forefathers and our ancestors were risking their lives. They fought alongside the Allies to defend the Jewish people and host them, welcomed them, welcomed the survivors into their country.”
He said the two-state solution “with East Jerusalem as the capital of a State of Palestine” is “the only solution for peace and security for Israel and for the entire … Middle East.”
He urged the UNGA “to put the future of a Palestinian state once and for all on our common agenda. It’s our moral responsibility to act, because with every day that goes by without action being taken, thousands of innocent people, women and children die.”
