The Referendum

I was listening to the news this morning announcing that today’s referendum in Scotland will determine the future status of Scotland.  The commentaries definitely expressed the fury of the British government and a lot of English people.   However the first thing that came to my mind was the Psyches Piccot agreement of 1916* when our whole region known as Greater Syria or the Levant  (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine, Jordan and Iraq) was split up and divided between colonial powers by no choice of its people or any sort of referendum.  Ironically Britain and France were the  major partners of  that agreement.  As if that was not bad enough it had to be followed by the Balfour Declaration.   And ever since,  we have not enjoyed the liberation, democracy and peace that we were promised should we  help the allies to bring  an end to  the rule of the Ottoman Empire which had lasted for  four hundred years.  I just hope the Israeli occupation does not last that long.  However Israel proceeded with the same colonial mentality of divide and rule.  It might be worthwhile reading the document “A Strategy for Israel in the Nineteen Eighties, ”  which was brought to my attention through a recent article by Ali Kazaz in which he mentions that the strategy aims to encourage separatist groups to establish religious and sectarian states in the region in order to justify the establishment of its Jewish State and to weaken and destabilize the Arab countries, fuelling endless sectarian wars between Arabs and Muslims and to prevent Arab unity.  And yes indeed that is what is happening,  even after the very tragic events in Gaza with all the devastation and loss of lives.  Will we ever be able to stand up against this trap? Samia



*From Wikipedea:The Sykes–Picot Agreement, officially known as the Asia Minor Agreement, was a secret agreement between the governments of the United Kingdom and France,[1] with the assent of Russia, defining their proposed spheres of influence and control in the Middle East should the Triple Entente succeed in defeating the Ottoman Empire during World War I. The negotiation of the treaty occurred between November 1915 and March 1916.[2] The agreement was concluded on 16 May 1916.[3]