His Excellency President Bashar Al Assad issued today, Tuesday, October 23 2007, the necessary directions for granting the Syrian Identity Cards and National Number for the Syrian Arab Citizens inside the occupied Golan Heights.

President Assad’s directions came out of His Excellency’s keenness on the affirmation of the Syrian Citizens of the Golan Heights belonging to their Motherland, Syria, and their rejection of the Israeli Identity, the rejection for which they have offered every sacrifice.

President Assad’s Directions, further, came as to alleviate the Syrians daily suffering under the yoke of the Israeli occupation and the Israeli violations of the Human International Law and the Basic Rights enshrined by the International Conventions of Human Rights.

The Israeli Occupation issued a decision in November 1980 under which the Israeli Naturalization Law was amended in order to entitle the Interior Minister the authority of granting the Israeli Nationality to any inhabitant if this meets Israel's interest. By the end of that year, Israel practiced pressure on the Golan inhabitants to accept the Israeli identity card. But despite terror and desire, they did not yield and all attempts of obliterating their identity were in vain. They refused the Israeli identity card so vigorously that the Israeli Interior Ministry opened offices on 23 September 1981 in the Golan to restore the identity cards after 250 out of 348 people returned their cards. Moreover, there were many applications of card returning under the lawyers consideration pending the corresponding administrative procedure. It is worth mentioning that thwarting of the Israelis attempt of imposing the Israeli identity on the Golan Inhabitants came in the aftermath of a decision issued by the head Sheiks to excommunicate any of the Golan inhabitants who would accept the Israeli identity card. Such decision implied that Israeli identity card holders would be prevented from entering the places of prayers, be economically and socially boycotted; no trading; no business; no inter-marriage; no sharing or participation in his joys or sorrows; a total seclusion. Upon the death of an Israeli identity card holder, no one followed his coffin except four of his immediate kinsfolk who carried out the usual funereal religious and social rites.

The excommunication decision was the prime of the series of the Golan inhabitants political struggle throughout 1981, the foremost being the issue and release of the famous National Document on 25 March 1981 which was signed by thirty of the Golan Inhabitants chiefs and representatives, and a statement handed out to the Israeli and world public opinion many days after. Quoted from this Document: ‘We, the Syrian Arab Citizens in the occupied , for the sake of truth and history, see that we must inevitably, very clearly and expressly announce our position to all public and official entities all over the world, UN and its foundations, world and Israeli public opinion. Due to the Israeli occupation, there is a clear persistence to; swallow our national character, annex the occupied Syrian Occupied Golan, have us in one way or another mingled into the Israeli entity, molten into its crucible, deprived of our Syrian Arab nationality of which we are very proud, and to which we are much honored to belong, and of which we shall never accept a replacement because we have inherited it from our ancestors and great forefathers who have endowed us with our Arabic Language which is our only national tongue that we very boastfully communicate with, and who left us our very dear lands which were inherited from father to son ever since the Arab inhabited this territory many thousands of years ago and which were kneaded with the sweat and blood of such forefathers who had bravely defended them throughout the history against conquerors and invaders, and which we sincerely pledge an everlasting loyalty, seizure and death on every inch until the last of our race or the expelling of the Israeli occupation; not taking into account the time, sacrifices, costs and the pressure it would exercise to force or seduce us to give up our Nationality. This is our position which is so natural and axiomatic that we adopt being the position of all and every person whose territory is totally or partially occupied.

Initiated by our historical liability towards ourselves, our children and the generations to come, we have adopted and proclaimed this Document:

• The occupied Golan are an integral part of the Arab Syrian territory.

• The Syrian Arab Nationality is an inherent inseparable character that will pass on from fathers to children.

• Our territory is a sacred property of our Syrian Society members; any one who sells, relinquishes or gives away a grain thereof to Israeli occupiers will be committing a grave crime against our society and a non-forgiven national treason.

• We do not acknowledge any decision that Israel issues to mingle us into the Israeli entity, and we decisively reject the decisions of the Israeli government that aim to deprive us of our Syrian Arab personality.

• We renounce the legitimacy of the local and Sectarian councils which have been installed by the Israeli military reign and which receive their instructions from it; the heads and members of such councils are not considered under all circumstances as our representatives. Only those who openly reject the Israeli occupation and evidently show their belonging to our social classes are eligible and qualified to express the consciousness of their society members.

• Every Occupied Golan inhabitant who seeks to replace his Nationality with the Israeli one, humiliates our dignity, violates our national honor, recants our Religion, breaches our traditions and is considered a traitor to our Country.

• We have peremptorily resolved that anyone who embraces the Israeli nationality or disrespects the contents of this Document shall be apostate and renegade from our Religion and social integrity. All and every kind of trading, sharing his sorrows and joys and inter-marriage with him shall be banned until he acknowledges his sin, repents, asks forgiveness from his society and restores his real Nationality so that he is reinstated within us.

• Having drawn strength from our original spiritual, national and human heritage that urges us to allege to our HOMEland, safeguard our kinsfolk, order goodness and forbid evils, we have adopted this Document.

Compelled by the continuous struggle of the Syrian Arab Citizens in the occupied villages, Secon Stevens, the Head of the Zionist settlers, requested General Dani Matt , who was in charge of the occupied Territories in Israel, not to lift the marshal law applied in the Golan despite being annexed to Israel. Police patrols all over the Golan, aided by the Border Guards, were reinforced in order to eliminate any anti-occupation action. The Golan roads were stuffed with tanks, soldier carriers and a great number of policemen who were brought from Hebron to the Golan. France Press quoted Sheik Mahmood Al-Safadi on 18 December 1981 as saying in Majdal Shams, "Regardless of how long the occupation and annexation last, Israel won’t be able to annex or occupy the faithful hearts that beats in our Arab HOMEland. We won’t forget our Syrian nativen origin and nationality, nor betray our HOMEland. Ever since Israel occupied our land, we have confirmed and insisted that the Golan is a piece of the Syrian body which could never be detached from". The Daily "Al-Ittihad" indicated that Sheik Faresss Sulayman Ibrahim, over 70 years old, was arrested with a group of young people, among them were Mamdooh Al-Safadi, Khaled Al-Kahloony and Riad Abou Jabal, because they had committed themselves to the Majdal Shams decision unanimously taken to boycott all who accept the Israeli nationality.

Special Reports from the Daily Al-Ahram, Issue N° 40819 of September 9, 1998 on the conditions of the Golan Prisoners in Israel. Long imprisonment rulings, sufferings from repression and torture, lack of medical treatment, all were protested in the mass sit-in strike in front of the Majdal Shams Red Cross Head Quarter in the occupied Syrian Golan and the Israeli Shatta Prison. The latest in the many manifestations of Arab public anger towards the filthy occupation’s methods practiced either by Israel itself or by some of its Arab agents against the Arabs in the Golan and Palestine. The Daily "Al-Ahram" has obtained documents and statements telefaxed from the occupied Golan to Damascus after smuggling some of them from Shatta Prison to the Syrian ex-prisoner Midhat Al-Saleh who marvelously fled to Damascus through the cease fire lines. This information reveals the regretful condition inside the Israeli prisons, how the Arab strivers are arrested, how hard the rulings of Israeli courts against them are, which diseases they are suffering from and what are the current situations of their families. Such tragic situation was revealed when, few days ago at 02.30 hr., a great number of soldiers, policemen and special forces N° 11 surprised Shatta Prison, took the prisoners out of their cells to the main prison yard and started shooting over their heads while sirens were horning. Then they broke through the prisoners cells and took away all the prisoners clothes and personal belongings. This incident continued until 17.00 hr. The following day these forces gathered another 140 prisoners and began beating them at random, sorted 80 prisoners and carried them in the prison truck, known as "the van", to the "Nafha" Prison in Negeb Desert where they were subjected to assault, beating with clubs, kicking and inflicting obscene vile upon them. The prisoners were forbidden from baths, drinks and food by the Occupation Authorities. These actions continued for many days, after which the prisoners requested to restore their belongings. When their clothes were returned to them they were so filthy that they could not be put on.

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