Jihad Makdissi (the official spokesperson of the Syrian Foreign Ministry) wrote this on Facebook and a reader posted it on my wall. It says: "One of the most difficult things is to have in your county a guest who is honored and welcomed to the maximum degree...and then you see some of them not respecting the rules of hospitality...Like an opposition Syrian or a wanderer or an armed man...Rule of God...But the guest (or some of them) have to respect the rules of hospitality and if he fails at that he should depart to the oases of democracy in Arab countries. (Personal opinion and please don't harm or mention nationality)." I saw that on my wall posted by a Syrian opposition supporter and I swiftly unfriended Jihad on Facebook because I saw in it a despicable swipe at the Palestinian people in Syria. I then sent him a message asking if he actually wrote this because some complained that my reaction was knee-jerk and that the quote was fabricated. He responded by confirming what he wrote although he said that he did not mean to refer to Palestinians and that the word "guest" was misinterpreted. He said that he was referring to Arabs who are involved in armed activities in Syria. I wrote him back saying: that he represents a regime that ostensibly adheres to Arab nationalist principles and that a distinction between a Syrian and other Arabs should (theoretically) be non-existent. The regime is sliding and is desperately holding to the straws of chauvinistic Syrian nationalism in a manner that only reminds me of repugnant Lebanese Phoenician nationalism. This is a regime that can't accept that many (if not most) Syrians are opposed to the regime so it conveniently blames its problems of Arab "guests". Compare the rhetoric of the regime with the early rhetoric of Ba`th founders--and I never was a fan of that Party, which I regard as the worst--by far--contemporary Arab political party.
