Syrians living in the occupied Golan Heights have expressed excitement
about the imminent opening of the border crossing with their home
country.
Salman Fakhreddin, a Golan activist, told Arab News that different
groups in the area had been waiting for years to be able to travel.
“Apple farmers will be able to sell their products in Syria for much
better rates than they are getting now because the market has been
flooded with apples.” Fakhreddin also noted that students could finish
their university studies in Syria, which had provided scholarships for
Golani students.
The UN Disengagement Observer Force, (UNDOF) has begun to slowly return
to the border between the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and Syria. As
of August 2018, UNDOF has 323 Nepalize peacekeeping police, 285 from
Fiji, 180 from India and 127 from Ireland.
Israeli Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman welcomed the return of the
UNDOF soldiers and indicated that Israel would welcome the reopening of
the border posts. “UNDOF troops have started working and patrolling,
with IDF assistance. This shows that we are ready to open the crossing
as it was before. The ball is now in Syria’s court,” Liberman said.
This Israeli offer to reopen the Quneitra Crossing would restore the
situation along the border between the two countries to what it was
prior to the Syrian civil war, which began in 2011.
UNDOF pulled out of their posts four years ago due to the security situation.
Speaking by phone from his apple orchard in the village of Majdel Shams,
Fakhreddin told Arab News that Russian police are now patrolling the
areas closest to the borders with the occupied Golan Heights. “As far as
many of us are concerned the Russian police might be better than the
security of the Syrian government,” he said.
While the Israelis appear to be intent on the reopening of the borders,
it is not clear what is holding up the Syrians. Relations between Russia
and Israel have been tense lately due to the role of the Israelis in
the downing of a Russian plane that caused the death of 15 Russian
soldiers on Sept. 18.
Israeli Defense Minister Liberman stressed to reporters that Israel was
demanding that Syria abide by “every single section” of the 1974
cease-fire agreement between the two countries, which ended the 1973 Yom
Kippur War and created a demilitarized zone along the border.
From early March 1974, the situation in the Israel-Syria sector became
increasingly unstable. The United Nations Disengagement Observer Force
(UNDOF) was established on May 31, 1974 by Security Council resolution
350 (1974), following the agreed disengagement of the Israeli and Syrian
forces in the Golan.
UNDOF stated on its website that during the Syrian conflict there were
violations of the cease-fire, with the escalation of military activity
in the area of separation patrolled by UNDOF peacekeepers. On June 29,
2017, the Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 2361 (2017)
renewing UNDOF’s mandate until December 2017, and strongly condemned the
use of heavy weapons by Syrian armed forces and armed groups in the
area.
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