The Alawites are a secretive religion that lives on the eastern Mediterranean coast, from Turkey to Israel, with the main population centered around the Syrian coast.
Not only is the religion secretive with no proselytizing allowed, but only a few members of the group are initiated into the religion. They also practice taqiyya, concealment of one’s true religious beliefs. Facing persecution by Sunni religious authorities for centuries, they were faced with the unenviable choice between forced or voluntary assimilation into wider society and giving up what makes them Alawites or continued isolation.
They decided to assimilate in the 20th century, attempting integration into broader Syrian society. They embraced Arab nationalism, and in 1937 they accepted incorporation into Syria, increasingly presented themselves as Muslims, and tied their fate to the Syrian state.
Alawites between assimilation and survival
Yet after the fall of Assad, many are being targeted not as former regime officials but as Alawites. Assimilation and integration do not work in the face of outright hate and exclusion.
This reminds us of the story of another people, a people that lost their land and was faced with the choice between assimilation and self-preservation under continued discrimination. In the 20th century, those choices were embodied in two movements – the Bund and the Zionists.
The Bund lost, not because they were wrong to hope for toleration but because assimilation and integration do not work in the face of outright hate and exclusion.
The Alawites took the route of the Bund in 1937 and paid the price. Now it is time for them to choose Zionism.
This allegory is not mine; it is one that most of the Alawites that I talked to adopt readily. In fact, not only do they want an “Alawite-Zionism,” but they themselves, in large part, are Zionists, in the sense that they see a Jewish state as their natural ally and wish to support the Jewish state and receive support from it.
The writer holds an MA in International Relations from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a BA in International Relations and History from the Open University of Israel. He specializes in Europe–Middle East dynamics and works as a specialist in the Europe Program at the Institute for National Security Studies (INSS).