Abdullah's Visit May Rekindle
Unsettled Golan Heights Issue
From P. Vijian
http://www.bernama.com
DAMASCUS, Feb 25 (Bernama) - The Golan Heights, an unsettled issue between Israel and Syria, is likely to gain more attention with additional pressure coming from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) for an amicable solution to a prolonged discord.
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, chairman of the 57-member OIC, is due to visit some parts of the Golan Heights when he arrives in Damascus today to begin a three-day visit to Syria.
The Golan Heights, located to the southwest of Syria, is a strategic military and water resources plateau spanning some 1,860 sq km. About 1,260 sq km of it has been under Israeli control since the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.
The area is said to provide a third of Israel's water supply and offers a strategic position to monitor military movements from the Syrian side.
It is also the meeting point of three countries -- Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan -- and its terrain cuts through the vital road to Damascus. Besides, it is a sectarian territory, a home to Muslims, Arabs, Druze and Christians.
In the Arab world, besides flashpoints like Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon, the Golan Heights continues to haunt the OIC and the Muslim community, which have failed to resolve these thorny disputes for decades.
Like the Palestinians, almost 500,000 people have been displaced from their homeland, a fertile and water-rich territory that Israel has refused to give up despite international pressure over the years.
Given the backdrop of other pressing problems, like war-torn Iraq, volatile Palestine and nuclear-ambitious Iran, international attention has slightly faded away from the Golan Heights, but Abdullah's visit, as an OIC representative, could tilt the focus and tweak the attention of world leaders.
Both Syria and Israel, through backroom channels and Track 2 diplomacy (using non-governmental organisations, think-tanks and individuals), have been engaging each other to settle the issue.
A leading Damascus researcher and author, Hamad Said Al-Mawed, said some positive signs are emerging from the Israeli camp to settle the Golan Heights controversy.
"Syria is not a political or military threat to Israel now, so there is no reason why Golan should not be returned.
"The half a million displaced refugees from the Golan Heights have the right to return and want to return to their homeland," he told Bernama in an interview in the Syrian capital.
About 25,000 of the 500,000 displaced people are still residing in areas occupied by Israel, another 85,000 live in the liberated villages nearby and in Quneitra, while many others have moved to Damascus.
Among others, the dispute between Israel and Syria over the Golan Heights needs to be addressed quickly to ensure that much-wanted peace returns to West Asia, say political observers.
"Don't forget that the global focus is on the Palestine-Israel issue, even if we all know that without a solution to the Golan Heights issue, there cannot be a comprehensive settlement to the Middle East problem," commented a senior Kuala Lumpur-based Malaysian diplomat.
BERNAMA
Unsettled Golan Heights Issue
From P. Vijian
http://www.bernama.com
DAMASCUS, Feb 25 (Bernama) - The Golan Heights, an unsettled issue between Israel and Syria, is likely to gain more attention with additional pressure coming from the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) for an amicable solution to a prolonged discord.
Malaysian Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi, chairman of the 57-member OIC, is due to visit some parts of the Golan Heights when he arrives in Damascus today to begin a three-day visit to Syria.
The Golan Heights, located to the southwest of Syria, is a strategic military and water resources plateau spanning some 1,860 sq km. About 1,260 sq km of it has been under Israeli control since the Arab-Israeli war of 1967.
The area is said to provide a third of Israel's water supply and offers a strategic position to monitor military movements from the Syrian side.
It is also the meeting point of three countries -- Lebanon, Palestine and Jordan -- and its terrain cuts through the vital road to Damascus. Besides, it is a sectarian territory, a home to Muslims, Arabs, Druze and Christians.
In the Arab world, besides flashpoints like Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon, the Golan Heights continues to haunt the OIC and the Muslim community, which have failed to resolve these thorny disputes for decades.
Like the Palestinians, almost 500,000 people have been displaced from their homeland, a fertile and water-rich territory that Israel has refused to give up despite international pressure over the years.
Given the backdrop of other pressing problems, like war-torn Iraq, volatile Palestine and nuclear-ambitious Iran, international attention has slightly faded away from the Golan Heights, but Abdullah's visit, as an OIC representative, could tilt the focus and tweak the attention of world leaders.
Both Syria and Israel, through backroom channels and Track 2 diplomacy (using non-governmental organisations, think-tanks and individuals), have been engaging each other to settle the issue.
A leading Damascus researcher and author, Hamad Said Al-Mawed, said some positive signs are emerging from the Israeli camp to settle the Golan Heights controversy.
"Syria is not a political or military threat to Israel now, so there is no reason why Golan should not be returned.
"The half a million displaced refugees from the Golan Heights have the right to return and want to return to their homeland," he told Bernama in an interview in the Syrian capital.
About 25,000 of the 500,000 displaced people are still residing in areas occupied by Israel, another 85,000 live in the liberated villages nearby and in Quneitra, while many others have moved to Damascus.
Among others, the dispute between Israel and Syria over the Golan Heights needs to be addressed quickly to ensure that much-wanted peace returns to West Asia, say political observers.
"Don't forget that the global focus is on the Palestine-Israel issue, even if we all know that without a solution to the Golan Heights issue, there cannot be a comprehensive settlement to the Middle East problem," commented a senior Kuala Lumpur-based Malaysian diplomat.
BERNAMA
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