Syrians live with the tension of maintaining their centuries-old traditions and the invasion of “globalization”—as culture and economics. Located between Iraq and a hard place, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Syrians identify with their historical mosaic symbolized by ancient Roman ruins in Bosra, the Krak des Chevaliers crusader fortress and churches and mosques—bereft of tourists after the 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq.

A Syrian filmmaker returns to Quneitra, his Golan Heights hometown that the Israeli army destroyed after the 1973 war. The camera shows the barbed wire separating the two hostile nations and films UN vehicles that patrol the tense border. A Syrian Cabinet Minister, academics, professionals and people on the Damascus streets offer advice to President George W. Bush and pleas for peace as US-Syrian relations steadily decline following the Iraq War.

By Saul Landau, Sonia Angulo and Farrah Hassen. For an article about Syria by Saul Landau and Farrah Hassen, click here.