Syrians in the Golan demand the release of relative from Israeli jails

Syrians from the occupied Golan Heights on Sunday called on UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to intervene for the release of 17 Syrian detainees from the Golan held in Israel.

A message addressed to the UN secretary general through the ICRC in Damascus said that among those detainees is Hayel Abu Zaid who suffers many diseases and called for the release of a group of teenagers aged between 14 and 18 recently arrested following a mine explosion in their village.

Some 17,000 Syrians are living under the Israeli occupation in the Golan. They refused the Israeli identity, despite Israel's annexation of the Golan in 1981.

However, the ICRC press controller at its Damascus office, Tamara al-Refaee, said the people of the Golan had planned to observe a sit-in at the headquarters of the IRC in Damascus but were prevented by the Syrian police due to fears that this sit in would develop into a demonstration against the US embassy which is very close on Abu Rummaneh street because of the US backing to Israel in its recent aggressions against Lebanon. She said that this measure was taken to avoid endangering the Middle East peace process on the Syrian track.