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The Western World Refuses to See the Truth About Syria, the Palestinians, and the Middle East
Rebel fighters holds weapons at the Citadel of Aleppo, after Syrian rebels announced that they have ousted Bashar al-Assad, in Aleppo, Syria, Dec. 9, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Karam al-Masri
Anyone who believed that Syria’s new leader — trading his military uniform for a tailored suit — represented a fresh hope for the Middle East has recently come to a sobering realization: the sea remains the same, the mountains remain unchanged, and the Middle East does not transform overnight.
The harrowing images emerging from Syria lay bare a grim reality. The forces of Abu Mohammad al-Julani, ideological heirs of ISIS, are humiliating, beating, and slaughtering members of the Alawite minority, which until recently ruled the country. As expected, the world — including the United Nations — maintains its usual silence, as long as Israel is not directly involved.
The harsh reality is that Syria has never truly been a sovereign nation. It has always been an open battlefield where global powers, terrorist organizations, and sectarian factions compete to establish facts on the ground. Russia, Iran, and Turkey all vie for influence, while the Alawites find themselves mercilessly hunted, after inflicting mass violence for the decades that they ruled the country.
Like Iraq, Lebanon, and many other Middle Eastern states, Syria was never a unified nation but rather a patchwork of sects, religions, and ethnic groups forcibly bound together by oppressive regimes. The notion of a “Palestinian people” was similarly born out of political circumstances rather than historical continuity or a cohesive identity. As history has demonstrated, those identified as “Palestinians” in the modern era originated from various other regions — Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, and beyond. The struggle over Palestinian identity arose from an anti-Zionist political necessity rather than a deep-rooted historical reality.
Today, if someone were to quote former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir’s 1970s assertion that “there is no such thing as a Palestinian people”, they would be labeled as delusional, ultra-right-wing, or even messianic — or all of the above. Yet this famous statement, attributed to a leader of Israel’s leftist establishment, aligns directly with the contemporary reality in Syria. There are tribes, sects, economic and religious interests — but no “nation” in the Western sense of the term.
The shifting realities in Syria and the broader political developments in the region compel us to reconsider the terms we use — “nations”, “states”, “peoples” — which do not always apply to the Middle East in the same way they do in Europe or the United States. The events in Syria are yet another testament to the deep ethnic and religious rifts that prevent the emergence of a united nation — just as we have seen before in Lebanon, Iraq, and other artificially constructed states.
This illusion continues to shatter in fire, blood, and destruction – -yet many still refuse to see the truth. Those who ignore it will inevitably find themselves staring at new ruins, as history continues to dictate the rules of the Middle Eastern game.
Itamar Tzur is the author of The Invention of the Palestinian Narrative and an Israeli scholar specializing in Middle Eastern history. He holds a Bachelor’s degree with honors in Jewish History and a Master’s degree with honors in Middle Eastern studies. As a senior member of the “Forum Kedem for Middle Eastern Studies and Public Diplomacy,” he leverages his academic expertise to deepen understanding of regional dynamics and historical contexts.
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UN Security Council Meets on Iran as Russia, China Push for a Ceasefire
Members of the Security Council cast a vote during a United Nations Security Council meeting on the 3rd anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine at UN headquarters in New York, US, Feb. 24, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/David Dee Delgado
The U.N. Security Council met on Sunday to discuss US strikes on Iran’s nuclear sites as Russia, China and Pakistan proposed the 15-member body adopt a resolution calling for an immediate and unconditional ceasefire in the Middle East.
It was not immediately clear when it could be put to a vote. The three countries circulated the draft text, said diplomats, and asked members to share their comments by Monday evening. A resolution needs at least nine votes in favor and no vetoes by the United States, France, Britain, Russia or China to pass.
The US is likely to oppose the draft resolution, seen by Reuters, which also condemns attacks on Iran’s nuclear sites and facilities. The text does not name the United States or Israel.
“The bombing of Iranian nuclear facilities by the United States marks a perilous turn in a region that is already reeling,” U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres told the Security Council on Sunday. “We now risk descending into a rathole of retaliation after retaliation.”
“We must act – immediately and decisively – to halt the fighting and return to serious, sustained negotiations on the Iran nuclear program,” Guterres said.
The world awaited Iran’s response on Sunday after President Donald Trump said the US had “obliterated” Tehran’s key nuclear sites, joining Israel in the biggest Western military action against the Islamic Republic since its 1979 revolution.
U.N. nuclear watchdog chief Rafael Grossi told the Security Council that while craters were visible at Iran’s enrichment site buried into a mountain at Fordow, “no one – including the IAEA – is in a position to assess the underground damage.”
Grossi said entrances to tunnels used for the storage of enriched material appear to have been hit at Iran’s sprawling Isfahan nuclear complex, while the fuel enrichment plant at Natanz has been struck again.
“Iran has informed the IAEA there has been no increase in off-site radiation levels at all three sites,” said Grossi, who heads the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Iran requested the U.N. Security Council meeting, calling on the 15-member body “to address this blatant and unlawful act of aggression, to condemn it in the strongest possible terms.”
Israel‘s U.N. Ambassador Danny Danon said in a statement on Sunday that the U.S. and Israel “do not deserve any condemnation, but rather an expression of appreciation and gratitude for making the world a safer place.”
Danon told reporters before the council meeting that it was still early when it came to assessing the impact of the U.S. strikes. When asked if Israel was pursuing regime change in Iran, Danon said: “That’s for the Iranian people to decide, not for us.”
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Israel Rejects Critical EU Report Ahead of Ministers’ Meeting
FILE PHOTO: Smoke rises from Gaza after an explosion, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, June 11, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen/File Photo
Israel has rejected a European Union report saying it may be breaching human rights obligations in Gaza and the West Bank as a “moral and methodological failure,” according to a document seen by Reuters on Sunday.
The note, sent to EU officials ahead of a foreign ministers’ meeting on Monday, said the report by the bloc’s diplomatic service failed to consider Israel’s challenges and was based on inaccurate information.
“The Foreign Ministry of the State of Israel rejects the document … and finds it to be a complete moral and methodological failure,” the note said, adding that it should be dismissed entirely.
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Pope Leo Urges International Diplomacy to Prevent ‘Irreparable Abyss’
FILE PHOTO: Pope Leo XIV holds a Jubilee audience on the occasion of the Jubilee of Sport, at St. Peter’s Basilica, at the Vatican June 14, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Yara Nardi/File Photo
Pope Leo on Sunday said the international community must strive to avoid war that risks opening an “irreparable abyss,” and that diplomacy should take the place of conflict.
US forces struck Iran’s three main nuclear sites overnight, joining an Israeli assault in a major new escalation of conflict in the Middle East as Tehran vowed to defend itself.
“Every member of the international community has a moral responsibility: to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss,” Pope Leo said during his weekly prayer with pilgrims.
“No armed victory can compensate for the pain of mothers, the fear of children, the stolen future. Let diplomacy silence the weapons, let nations chart their future with peace efforts, not with violence and bloody conflicts,” he added.
“In this dramatic scenario, which includes Israel and Palestine, the daily suffering of the population, especially in Gaza and other territories, risks being forgotten, where the need for adequate humanitarian support is becoming increasingly urgent,” Pope Leo said.
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