Last update - 00:00 23/10/2007
Assad orders Syrian ID cards be issued for Druze of the Golan
By Yoav Stern, Haaretz Correspondent
Syrian President Bashar Assad has ordered Syrian identification numbers and cards be issued for Druze residents of the Golan Heights.
The Syrian news agency Sana reported on Tuesday that Assad's directive comes in order to "emphasize the belonging of the Syrian residents of the Golan Heights to the Syrian motherland."
The move comes as part of a series of steps Damascus has taken to assert its claim on the Golan Heights, including visits by religious figures and students from the Golan, the crossing of brides from the Golan into Syria and the export of apples grown by Druze farmers in the Golan.
Israeli law allows Druze residents of the Golan to apply for Israeli citizenship, but a vast majority have chosen not to do so, and hold permanent residency status instead.
The Syrian press statement said that the Golan residents "rejected Israeli citizenship, a move for which they have greatly sacrificed," and that the objective of the new move is to help ease their suffering.
Related articles:
Druze women protest in call to open Golan border crossing
Druze bride crosses from Israel into Syria for wedding, never to return