Syrian diplomat elaborates what happened from1916 to 1946

A Syrian diplomat has written a book entitled ‘Syria 1916-1946.. Way to Freedom’ in order to document mandate period and to answer the following question: Have Syrian people achieved freedom by olive branch only?

Walid al-Moallem, Minister of Expatriates and Foreign Affairs, has explained in his book results of Sykes-Picot Agreement, the mandate for Syria and other agreements signed to draw artificial boundaries that has nothing to do with historical and geographical facts.

He said in the preface that the book is an open invitation to historians and analysts to record and analyze this period [ 1916-1946]from Syrian history as it is impossible to understand the present without reading the past.

“It is an attempt to answer essential question: have Syrian people achieved freedom by olive branch only? Was independence realized as a result of international situation then? Or it was  the inevitable result of Syrian people’s struggle against occupation?” al-Moallem added.

The 702-page book  was recently issued by the Syrian Book General Commission, according to the ‘Thawra’ newspaper.

In 2012, a book entitled ’10 years with Hafez al-Assad’ by Presidential Political and Media Advisor Dr. BouthainaShaaban was published in English in New York and it refuted what had been written about Arab-Israeli negotiations .

Dr. Shaaban also wrote another book entitled ‘Homeland’s Document’ in which she focused on talks held between the late President Hafez al-Assad and the American diplomat Henry Kissinger, who served as Secretary of State in the administrations of President Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford.

Basma Qaddour