Golan Syrians make rare visit to their homeland

QUNAITERA, Syria (Reuters) - Hundreds of Syrians living under Israeli occupation in the Golan Heights crossed no man's land on Thursday in a rare visit to their homeland.

Wearing an all-black dress denoting their Druze religion, the male contingent walked through a U.N. checkpoint accompanied by Red Cross officials. Their relatives were waiting for them on the Syrian side in the city of Qunaitera.

"Thank God our relatives are well. We will remain firmly rooted in Syria," said Hassan Hayel, who came from Baqata, one of five occupied villages in the Golan, a 1,750 sq-km (676 square mile) mountainous plateau overlooking Damascus.

Hassan al-Qaten, from the same village, said he had been to Syria only once since Israel occupied the Golan in the 1967 Middle East war. His son studies at Damascus university under an arrangement reached with Israel through the Red Cross.

"We all want peace and for the Golan to return to our homeland, Syria," he said.

Most of the Golan's residents fled when Israel attacked the territory in 1967. It annexed the Golan in 1981 but a U.N. Security Council resolution adopted unanimously three days later said the Israeli action was "null and void and without international legal effect."

The Golan's remaining Arab population - Israel has settled thousands of Jews there -- are mostly from the Druze sect.

The Red Cross has been working on facilitating their visits to Syria, but they have to secure permission from Israeli and Syrian authorities.

Red Cross official Hala Sidawi said 595 men crossed on Thursday and they were due to return to the Golan on Sunday.

"I just learned that the Israelis prevented my relative from coming," said Qassem Hamad.

Every house in Qunaitera was demolished by Israeli forces before they withdrew under a truce in 1974.

Late Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, father of the current president, refused to rebuild the city, saying the houses must remain demolished as a reminder of Israeli "barbarity."

No man's land separates the Israeli and Syrian sides. Israeli army posts occupy the high ground.

President Bashar al-Assad, who is shaped by his late father's lifetime of struggle against Israel, said in a recent speech that Syria had no problem in waiting to liberate the Golan, rather than accepting a humiliating peace deal.

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