In 2000, I began writing a book called Steel & Silk: Men & Women Who Shaped Syria 1900-2000. This biographical dictionary gave me the honor of meeting, and working with, veteran officers, administrators, politicians, diplomats, artists, and journalists, from Syria's modern history. I can safely say that they had a profound effect on my career, since even at old age, all of them were firm believers in Syria, democracy, and the concept of "Syria first." I found these men to be frail with age, however, and greatly depressed by the miserable conditions the Arab World was going through since 2000, marked by the Israeli atrocities in Palestine, and the occupation of Iraq. Sadly, since 2000, a number of these great men have died—undoubtedly leaving a vacuum in their respective fields. The reason is that the caliber of great men, with very few exceptions, is lacking today. We don't have many professionals in Syria, neither in the civil service, the foreign service, the army, or in the field of politics and journalism. The list of those to pass into the better world since 2000 is long: the politicians Dr Abd al-Wahab Homad, Dr Wahib al-Ghanem, Dr Fu'ad al-Adil, Dr Ma'ruf al-Dawalibi, Dr Munir al-Ajlani, and General Lu'ayy al-Atasi, the diplomats Dr Rafiq Juwayjati and Dr George Toemeh, the academic Dr Yusuf Ibish, and the journalist Abd al-Ghani al-Otri. Most recently, the Syrian diplomat Dr Adib al-Dawoudi has sadly been added to this list, having passed away in Beirut at the age of 79 on August 15, 2004. I interviewed Dr Dawoudi for my book, and called him to Geneva a few months ago, where he spent his final years, to discuss some events in modern Syrian history. The qualities of Adib al-Dawoudi are rare, and he served Syria well, as a professional career diplomat in the Western world, from the 1940s to the 1980s. I am writing this article to commemorate an articulate and seasoned statesman who did many favors for Syria during the 20^th century, and sadly, is unknown among a new generation of young Syrian men and women.

Adib al-Dawoudi was born in Damascus in 1925. He studied international law at Damascus University and obtained his graduate degree from the Sorbonne University in Paris in 1949. He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as secretary of the Syrian delegation at the founding conference of the Arab League in Egypt in March 1944. In 1943-1944, he also served as secretary to Foreign Minister Jamil Mardam Bey. In 1945, he became attaché to the Syrian Embassy in France, in-charge of consular affairs. While working at the Embassy, he continued his studies at the Sorbonne. As a career diplomat, he did not take sides in the military-civilian divide that rocked Syria after the Arab-Israeli War of 1948, and was kept at his post in 1949, after a military coup d'etat toppled President Shukri al-Quwatli. In October 1952, President Adib al-Shishakli appointed him director of the Organization of Palestinian Refugee Camps in Syria. Dawoudi was the first to emphasize that Syrians read the Israeli press and know their enemy. Every morning, the main Israeli dailies would be flown-in from Cyprus, reviewed and translated into Arabic by specialists in Hebrew. A bi-weekly bulletin would then be published by the Refugee Organization in Syria, and distributed to ministries, universities, and the armed forces so that Syrians can understand what is being prepared, said, and done in Israel. When Shishakli was overthrown in 1954, Dawoudi kept his job at the Refugee Organization and worked with Prime Minister Said al-Ghazzi on improving the conditions of the Palestinian refugees by bringing them out of the ghettos and into organized camps. Along with Ghazzi and Interior Minister Ali Buzzo, Dawoudi founded the Yarmouk Refugee Camp in 1957, which became the largest in Syria, and currently houses 112,550 Palestinians and has the largest number of UNRWA schools.

In 1955, Dawoudi became consultant to Najib al-Armanazi, the Syrian Ambassador to Great Britain. He held this post during the gridlock in Syrian-British relations, especially when Syria cut its diplomatic ties to London after the Tripartite Aggression against Egypt in 1956. In 1958, Syria and Egypt merged to form the United Arab Republic (UAR) and President Gamal Abd al-Nasser appointed him advisor to the UAR embassy in Pakistan. In 1961, Dawoudi became Minister at the Syrian Embassy in Czechoslovakia.  He also went to the UN as a representative for the UAR to speak about Palestinian refugee problems in Syria, vigorously defending the right of return of the Palestinians. When a coup d’etat dissolved the UAR in September 1961, Dawoudi returned to Syria and allied himself with President Nazim al-Qudsi, who appointed him Ambassador to India in 1962. In July 1962, Syria filed an official complaint against Nasser, claiming that he was interfering in her affairs and trying to get officers in the Syrian Army to rebel against the post-Nasser order. The Arab League called for round-table talks between Syria and Egypt that were held in Shtura, a small Lebanese town near the Syrian border. The Syrian team included Adib al-Dawoudi, who according to the minutes of meeting, argued brilliantly against Nasser's Egypt. The talks were foiled, however, when the Egyptian team walked out before the Arab League issued a verdict against Egypt. In 1964, Dawoudi became assistant secretary-general at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Damascus, at the Department of Political Affairs. He held this post during the Arab-Israel War of 1967. He also became President of the Syrian Human Rights Delegation to an international conference held in Iran in 1968. In 1969, President Nur al-Din al-Atasi appointed him Ambassador to Belgium. He also became non-resident Ambassador to Holland and Luxemburg. In 1974, he returned to Syria and became political advisor to President Hafez al-Asad. By doing so, Dawoudi was among the very few men who worked with every regime to rule Syria since 1943. Dawoudi worked with Asad until 1981, acting at times as his special envoy to foreign capitals, and serving as director of protocol during the President's numerous travels in the 1970s. Dawoudi also served as Asad’s aide-de-camp during his meetings with US President Jimmy Carter. In 1979, the UN Secretary-General, Kurt Waldheim, delegated Dawoudi to serve on an international committee created to mediate between the USA and the leaders in Iran, who had taken seventy American diplomats hostage in Tehran on November 4, 1979. The crisis, and Dawoudi's involvement in it, lasted for 444 days. When the international committee failed to end the hostage crisis, Waldheim made Dawoudi his personal envoy in UN negotiations with the mullahs of Tehran. In 1981, Dawoudi became Syria’s Permanent Ambassador to the UN, and non-resident Ambassador to the Vatican. He held all posts until 1988. He then resigned from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and became an inspector at the UN office in Geneva, becoming director of the 11-man inspection committee in 1992. He continued to live in retirement in Switzerland until his death in Lebanon in August 2004.