SYRIA LOOKS TO BETTER US TIES
Washington decision to name an ambassador seen as positive but some are cautious.
By an IWPR-trained reporter
Syrian analysts and officials have welcomed the United States’ decision to send an ambassador to Damascus after a four-year break but said that Syria was still waiting for Washington to play a stronger role in establishing peace in the region.
On June 24, media reports quoted officials in Washington as saying that the new US administration had decided to send an ambassador to Damascus.
The officials said that the move reflected recognition by the new US administration “of the important role Syria plays” in bringing peace and stability to the Middle East.
Washington withdrew ambassador Margaret Scobey from Damascus in February 2005 as an expression of “profound outrage” over the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri, a crime that was widely blamed on the Syrians. Damascus has denied any involvement in the killing.
Since then, the US kept its embassy open but headed by a chargé d’affaires. The Syrian ambassador in Washington stayed in his post.
Washington has not yet given the name of the new ambassador nor the date of his or her appointment.
The US assistant secretary for diplomatic security, Eric Boswell, visited Damascus in April to examine the possibility of opening a new embassy, according to Syria’s official news agency, SANA.
Observers view the recent rapprochement between the US and Syria as a “reward” for Syria’s improved attitudes in the region, mainly the exchange of diplomatic representation with Lebanon and boosting security along its border with Iraq.
Syria’s presidential and media advisor, Butaina Shaaban, declared in TV interviews that the US decision was “positive” but said that Damascus would not make any official statement about it at present.
Meanwhile, the Syrian ambassador to Washington, Imad Mustafa, told US media that the step was a small improvement. However, he cautioned that it was early to talk about radical changes in contacts between the two countries.
The US move comes at a time when the Iranian regime – Syria’s strongest strategic ally – seems to be shaky and one Damascus-based political analyst, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Washington was trying to weaken that alliance.
He said that the US has also tried to persuade its allies in the region, mainly Saudi Arabia, to be reconciled with the Syrians in order to pull Damascus away from Tehran’s sphere of influence.
There were already signs of divergence between Iran and Syria on some regional issues, he said, and the Iranians were not content that Syria had cooperated with Saudi Arabia on Lebanon and put pressure on its Lebanese allies to compromise with their foes.
But the analyst said that the Syrians realised that “the price of breaking their alliance with Iran would be very costly”.
“What the US has offered to the Syrians is not enough to take that risk,” he added.
Before considering giving up its ties with the Islamic republic, Damascus expects a full commitment by the US to the peace process with the Israelis and eventually the return of the Golan Heights – a strategic patch of land occupied by Israel since 1967, the analyst said.
George Hajouj, a Damascus-based political analyst, told IWPR that Damascus had a clear vision of what role the US should play after the appointment of the new ambassador.
Damascus wants the US to pave the way for a fair settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict based on the “land for peace” principle and Washington is aware of that, Hajouj said.
“What is unknown up to now is the US vision and role in the region during the next phase,” he added.
In the past few months, several US officials visited Damascus including George Mitchell, the special US envoy to the Middle East, who is expected to lead the American efforts to seek peace in the region.
Some Syrian media reports said that the new ambassador would be working on a new US plan for peace between Israel and Syria developed by Mitchell’s team. The plan reportedly would turn the Golan Heights into a demilitarised nature reserve controlled by both Syria and Israel. In return, Damascus would break away from Iran and cut its ties with anti-Israeli militant groups.
Some hope that the appointment of a new ambassador will also boost stagnant economic relations between the two countries.
Ossama al-Qadi, an economics expert based in Damascus, told IWPR that the US should follow the European strategy of establishing economic, scientific and financial agreements with Syria to have a more tangible presence on the ground.
Helping Syrians get jobs and assisting Syria in building an infrastructure suitable for a modern economy would create trust, said Qadi.
The Syrian ambassador in London, Sami al-Khaimi, told the Lebanese TV channel LBC recently that he hoped the new US diplomat would be able to bring US investors to Syria.
Khaimi said Damascus also hoped the US would help with the “billions of dollars” that it costs to deal with a large number of Iraqi refugees in the country.
Despite the recent overtures, Washington decided last month to extend economic sanctions against Syria for another year, which was seen as a setback for the Syrians.
The measures, imposed in 2004, prohibit US exports to Syria except for food and medicine.
Some Syrians are not optimistic that the improvement in relations between Syria and the US will bring real change to the region.
“It does not seem that the US is willing to build peace in the region,” said Nour al-Khatib, a 26 year-old saleswoman living in Damascus.
“Tensions will continue in the region … as long as the US employs double standards in the region.”
Eyad Jarrous, 27, a Damascus-based engineer, said that the Syrians were weary of the “no-peace but no-war situation” with the Americans.
“We don’t want our government to continue oppressing us economically under the pretext of needing to finance the army,” he added.
WOMEN ADVANCE IN MEDIA AGAINST ODDS
A few senior jobs have gone to women but they still face an uphill struggle to be accepted as equals.
By an IWPR-trained reporter
Women are making a name for themselves in the Syrian media as never before, however some say they have to work a lot harder than men to prove themselves.
Last December, for the first time in the country’s history, a woman was chosen as editor-in-chief of one of the main official newspapers, Tishreen.
The appointment of Samira Masalma to this important position in Syrian society raised many eyebrows in a country where men occupy most of the leading posts, but was welcomed by some as a sign that more and more women are gaining importance in media institutions in Syria.
One of the most prominent is Intisar Younes, who presents Chessboard, a new political programme on national television that brings her face to face with mostly male analysts and politicians to tackle questions about Syria and the Middle East.
“Women in the media today are like women working in any other institution here. They basically have to carve out their careers,” said Diana Jabbour, a leading female figure who has been director of Syrian state-run television for three years.
“For women to make achievements, they have to pass through strenuous tests on a daily basis,” Jabbour said.
When a female journalist makes a mistake she will frequently be stigmatised for being a woman, she said.
Rim Haddad, an editor at the private Syrian TV station Dunya, said that she was once removed from her position as a producer of a TV programme that discussed articles in the local press.
Haddad, who headed a team of six men, said her colleagues kept complaining to the director of the channel that they refused to be headed by a woman and that they were more competent as men.
Female journalists face the patronising judgements of a male-dominated society that often regards them as professionally less competent than men, some say.
Abdel-Hamid Tawfik, director of the Damascus bureau of the Arab satellite TV station Al-Jazeera, told IWPR, "I am not against women working in the media but these women are in the end wives and mothers so their lifestyles obliges [them] to be present a lot of time in their homes.
“Therefore, I am not for women journalists occupying leading positions in media institutions because they get distracted a lot from their work. When I am away, I prefer to be replaced by a male reporter.
"It is true that [some] women have reached high-ranking positions in Arab and Syrian media but they are still considered to be minors in the eyes of men no matter how knowledgeable and experienced they are."
Women’s physiology and their role at home as mothers and wives limit their capacity for work, said Hisham Ghabra, director of the news department at a Damascus radio station.
Shahinza Bissani, a news editor at a Damascus radio station, said that her neighbours insulted her behind her back her because she returned late from work.
“I had to change my shifts at work to save my parents’ reputation,” Bissani said.
Although men and women working in the media earn much the same, it is more difficult for a female journalist to get promoted, observers say.
Souad Jarrous, who works in Damascus as a correspondent for the London-based Arabic newspaper Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, said that for a long time she had to accept a low income for the stories she wrote before getting a fixed job.
Many female journalists also complain that there are certain areas of journalism that are considered out of reach for them.
Female journalists are mostly confined to writing about art or women-related issues like fashion, said Jabbour at Syrian TV. Women are told that they are not good enough to analyse politics and culture because they cannot grasp these topics, she added.
“I had to fight to enter the world of politics,” said Jarrous, adding that for ten years she was only allowed to write about local news and crime before becoming a political reporter.
Many female journalists also find it hard to cover events in the field, which pushes many of them into desk jobs editing or compiling news reports.
Arij Bouwadakji, a news editor at the eSyria website, said that as a journalist it was difficult for her to report on the ground about controversial social issues like so-called honour crimes because as a woman she was looked down on by the relatives of the victims and even the investigators.
Honour crimes, where men kill female relatives who engage in extramarital sexual activities to save the family’s reputation, are common in certain areas of Syria and the rest of the Arab world and largely go unpunished.
Bouwadakji also said that women reporters were treated with condescension by police officers and so avoided reporting from police stations as well as court rooms.
Some observers also say that good looks, not competence, are the driving force behind the employment of female journalists, especially in TV.
The journalist at a Damascus radio station, Bissani, said appearance is the most important criterion today when hiring a female journalist, even in radio.
She lamented that many media institutions rejected competent female reporters if they were not attractive, which, she said, is bluntly expressed by some male directors or implied from their behaviour.
Mays Orfali, a presenter on Syrian national TV, said that as a veiled woman she was unable at first to find a job in television. She finally removed her headscarf after feeling it was the only way to get the work she wanted.
Meanwhile, many observers say that women in the media are also challenged by general difficulties that are equally faced by their male counterparts, such as restrictions on freedom of expression and nepotism.
“I have lost any ambition to change the current situation,” said Jarrous.
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