ICRC brings together the split Syrian people of the Golan
Syria, Politics, 9/30/1999

"The International Committee of the Red Cross' main activity is to maintain degrees of contacts between the Syrian people in the occupied Syrian Golan heights and their families and relatives in Syria," said the chief of the ICRC delegation in Syria, Claude Voillat.

Voillat explained to ArabicNews.com that the problem lies in that citizens in between the demarcation lines separating the Golan from Syria cannot call each other or send letters, nor can contacts can be made.

He went on: "For us occupation is one thing. It is a political issue. The most important thing is that the people under occupation should have maintained a sort of communication with their people, a task we ever try to fulfill."

He continued that the ICRC has a delegation in Damascus and a similar one in Tel Aviv. "Both sides trust us," he said.

He added: "And as the Syrians and the Israelis do not talk to each other, they use the associations (ICRC) to organize the operation of making contacts along the demarcation line."

Giving more depth to this matter, Voillat said that these contacts between the Syrians under the occupation in the Golan and their people in Syria fall into three different categories of people who are green lighted to cross the border to Syria from both sides.

He said that the first group is university students under 20, who finished their high school in the Golan and want to follow up higher studies at the Syrian universities. He added that for this academic year, 1999-2000, "we" will have between 350-400 Golanese students in Syria.

The ICRC delegation chief proceeded that the second category is the pilgrims, noting that more than 200 Sheikhs from the Golan crossed the borders to visit the holy shrines in Syria (especially for the Druze).

He hinted that the third group is people involved in marriages, "which we make possible." He continued that over the last two years over 20 marriages were done, and they are usually "arranged marriages" or marriages taken place when university students from both sides meet in Syria.

On the importance of such contacts between the people under the occupation in the Golan and their people inside Syria, Voillat said: "Even though that a tiny group of people from the Golan can come, yet the visit is important, because these groups represent the whole community in keeping the contacts between the two sides."

Concerning other activities carried out by the ICRC, Voillat said: "We are trying to work with the Syrian Red Crescent and to continue helping them develop their activities in teaching the human activities laws, and to finance some projects in this area."

He said that among the most recent contributions of the ICRC in Syria is the financing of a bimonthly newsletter in Arabic.

Previous Stories:
  People of the Golan protest Israeli measures   (9/21/1999)
  Syrians of the Golan stress commitment to homeland, reject normalization   (9/10/1999)
  Science monitor: the people of the Golan commit themselves to homeland Syria   (6/16/1999)

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