Maysaloon - ميسلون

I wake up after a day of purposely avoiding any news coverage or twitter feeds. A beautiful day in the sun, a walk in the park, lunch with friends. It is as if, on some level, I wish to escape the horrible reality that is taking place in Syria, and wish to pretend for an instant like life is normal. I want to go listen to music, take someone out for dinner, just feel like I am human again. It works, if only for a few hours.

This morning I wake up and hear that there might be about five thousand Syrian refugees in Turkey with many more waiting to cross over the border. There are villages and fields burning, helicopters hovering overhead and shooting at some hidden enemies, and the Syrian army's tanks undertaking military operations against an elusive and mysterious 'enemy' that nobody has seen or heard of. Yet when Israel shot and killed some people on the Syrian side of the border with the Golan Heights, we did not see or hear a single retaliatory word, let alone bullet, from the courageous Syrian regime. Instead the secret police shoot soldiers who refuse to kill unarmed civilians. I suspect many of those 'marytrs' that the regime beautifies so obscenely on television are more often than not victims of such brutality.

It is disgusting to see many Syrians refusing to believe anything what the official media tells them. Where have I seen this before? Actually it is what we accuse the Israelis of doing every single day with the Palestinians. To undermine a national 'narrative' will cause people to ask uncomfortable questions, and to take responsibility for things that are done in their name.