By NNN-SANA,
Damascus : The Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Population of the Occupied Territories has expressed concern over the situation in the occupied Syria Golan and Israel’s attempts to blot out the Golan’s Syrian Arab identity, its practices of abusing Syrian captives in Israeli prisons, and the obstacles it places to hinder inter-family visits.
In a statement Sunday following its annual field visit to the occupied Arab lands, the Committee called on Israel to adhere to the obligations imposed by international laws for human rights, demanding that Israel take immediate steps to end the ongoing violations of human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan.
The Committee, chaired by Sri Lanka’s Permanent Ambassador to the UN Prasad Kariyawasam, met earlier on Thursday with Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Dr Fayssal al-Mikdad, a number of officials at the Foreign Ministry and representatives of the UN Bureaus in Damascus.
The Committee also visited Quneitra city, meeting its governor and six witnesses who explained the dangerous situation in the occupied Syrian Golan, detailing the Israeli occupation forces’ practices of limiting freedom of movement of Golan citizens and preventing them from visiting their relatives in Syria.
During this visit, the Committee received reports on the economic actions taken by the Israeli forces that affect the Golan citizens’ human rights and livelihood negatively, such as imposing excessive taxes, confiscating lands, uprooting trees, cutting off water sources, destroying farm lands, and replacing Arab curriculums in Arab schools with Israeli curriculums.
The Committee was formed in December 1968 by the UN resolution no. 2443. The committee complained repeatedly of the lack of cooperation on the part of the Israeli occupation forces that deny them access to the occupied Arab lands.