Students Stage Sit-in Against Israeli Annexation of Golan HeightStudents of Damascus University, including some from Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Wednesday, December 20, staged a sit-in on the occasion of the 19th anniversary of Israeli annexation of the strategic plateau.The sit-in was held in front of offices of the UN and the International Red Cross Society. Israel occupied the Golan Heights during the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981. The protestors waved Syrian national flags, photos of Arab prisoners held in Israeli jails and placards that denounce the annexation decree and Israeli practices against people living in the occupied Golan and Palestinian territories. The also shouted slogans such as "Life and Blood for Golan," "Down with the Annexation Decision (by Israel)" and " Golan is Syrian and Palestine is Arabian." Meanwhile, they hand delivered a message to resident chief of the red cross society David Dulapra and UN Development Program envoy Tawfik Bin Emarah to appeal to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan to speed up the implementation of the UN Resolutions 242, 338 and 497. The resolutions call on Israel to withdraw from all occupied Arab territories. The message also condemned Israel's dangerous measures in burying toxic waste and distributing pollutant paints in the Golan villages, which led to newborns' deformities, the spread of cancer and environmental pollution. The letter urged all human rights and environmental activists in the world to take prompt actions against the Israeli policies in the Golan. The demonstrators also requested an international mission to be sent to the Heights to investigate the illegal disposal of contaminants in the Golan and stressed that U.N. and the International Red Cross Society should help release all jailed Arab prisoners in Israel. |
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