Syria asks Ban to press "Israel" over Golan residents

Source: AFP, 19-12-2007
DAMASCUS: Syria is asking UN chief Ban Ki-moon to pressure "Israel" to allow Syrians living in the occupied Golan Heights to visit family in Syria, according to a letter seen by AFP on Tuesday. Foreign Minister Walid Moallem wrote that, "'Israel's' ban on residents of occupied Syrian Golan visiting their families and parents in their homeland of Syria, as called for by international law and the Declaration of the Rights of Man, increases the suffering of the inhabitants under occupation. It is a flagrant violation by 'Israel' of its obligation as an occupying authority." The letter added that, "'Israel' refuses to return Golan to Syria in line with UN Security Council resolutions and to reach a just and comprehensive peace in the region." Resolutions 242 and 338 call for "Israel" to return Arab territories it captured in the 1967 war.