The chaos affecting the Druze community on the Israel-Syria border is a microcosm of the uncertainty plaguing all the hot spots across the Middle East, where nearly every organization with a role in the fighting in the Libya-Iraq-Yemen triangle is finding itself both a friend and a foe to the others doing the same. This is an ambiguous situation that can be presented as both one against all and all against one, and where partial and contradictory ad hoc collaborations are formed in various places. World and regional powers are finding themselves playing dual roles, as the situation and geography dictates, and Israel, which has so far been able to avoid being dragged into the "Arab Spring wars," is no exception. The Druze mob in Majdal Shams that lynched wounded Syrians en route to an Israeli hospital on Monday night are considered more hostile to Israel than any of their brethren on either side of the Golan Heights border. On the one hand, these individuals despise the Israeli military, on the other they decry its decision not to intervene for their brothers in Syria. It is a world gone mad. Why has Israel chosen to help the wounded rebels fighting Syrian President Bashar Assad? It is possible Israel has conditioned its assistance on their organization, the Nusra Front, agreeing to spare the Druze village of Hader in the Syrian Golan Heights, despite its alliance with Assad. This means that Israel is lending Assad's enemies medical assistance to ensure no harm comes to Syrian Druze. But their brethren in Majdal Shams, and some elsewhere as well, are irked by it. A riddle indeed. Druze who cooperate with Israel and understand the dilemma it faces said they know who initiated Monday's terrible lynch. They have named names, and claimed these individuals are Assad's primary agents in the area. The incident took place when a relative calm had finally graced both Jabal al-Druze and Hader, only to be cut short. Senior members of the Druze community, including Brig. Gen. (ret.) Imad Fares and Druze Zionist Council for Israel Chairman Ataf Farchat, have expressed concern over the situation and have urged cooler heads to prevail. The Druze community in Israel is versed in the concepts of the "rule of law" and "you must never take the law into your own hands," but as useful as that may be, the overall situation indicates that unless a solution for the situation in Syria is resolved soon, Israel may inevitably be dragged into the fray.
