The Syrian Bride
Arab Geopolitics and the Syrian-Iranian Alliance
U.S. Ending Syrian Embargo
Syrian Protests, 2011
Syrian Workers In Lebanon
The World Economic Crisis and the Syrian Economy
One of the most widely known Middle Eastern films (in the West) in recent years is the Arabic-language Israeli drama "The Syrian Bride". The film chronicles the day a Syrian Druze bride living under Israeli occupation in the Golan Heights is supposed to meet her future husband who hails from Damascus.
The Syrian Golan has been under Israeli occupation since 1967, and any future peace deal between both nations will entail Israel relinquishing control. Due to the occupation, a massive fence has been built that runs across most of the Golan-Syria "proper" border. The Golan is most populated with Druze - a sect within Islam - who are strongly identify with "mother Syria". The Druze community is small numbering in the tens of thousands, but the rest of Syria is home to roughly 700,000 Druze. Many of the Golan Druze seek spouses in the rest of the country despite often not being able to meet them firsthand until the wedding day. Communication software like Skype has made this a lot easier.
When the couple arranges to get married, they must decided where to live. And this is the tragedy of the Golan Druze as dramatized in "Syrian Bride". If the prospective, say, groom will move to the Golan then he will in effect have renounced his right to ever go back to the rest of Syria (unless a Syrian-Israeli peace, of course). Upon arriving in the Golan, he will receive a one-year renewable Israeli residency visa. Few, if any, future spouses from Syria "proper" ever cross the border to the Golan. Why live under the indignity of Israeli occupation? But many Golan Druze leave their families and go and start a new life with their spouse in, say, Damascus.
If they leave the Golan, they must sign a document that they have renounced their Israeli nationality and will never return to the Golan as long as it remains under Israeli occupation. Either way, one of them has to cross a border and leave behind their family in order to stay with their new loved one. At the end of the "Syrian Bride" [spoiler alert!), the young bride does cross the border and waves good bye to her family knowing that a cruel occupation has divided her from her parents and siblings.
Modern technology and Israel's peace with Jordan (which border both Israel and Syria) has eased the divide between Druze on both sides of the border. Previously, Druze would shout to loved ones on hills across the fence. Now they Skype and have family reunions in Jordan.
A lot better than before, but still an obstacle to their rights to be united with their loved ones.
