Protestors call for release of Syrian prisoners in Israel

Feb 15, 2007, 12:11 GMT

Syria - Some 200 Syrians from the Quneitra province, which Syria recaptured from Israel in the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, staged a sit-in in front of the United Nations Development Programme's offices in Damascus Thursday to demand the release of Syrian prisoners in Israel.

The protesters, who called on the UN to put pressure on Israel to release the prisoners, were carrying Syrian flags and photos of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

The mayor of the Quneitra province, Nawaf Fares, handed over a statement to the UNDP's representative in Damascus, Ali al-Zae'tari, to be handed on to the United Nations Secretary General.

The statement denounced 'the double-standard policy adopted by the United States administration - that controls the UN Security Council - in dealing with international resolutions and implementing them in a selective way.'

It urged the United Nations to intervene and force Israel to release some 17 Syrian detainees in Israeli jails, some of whom have been in prison for 21 years, and to force Israel to implement United Nations resolutions calling on it to abandon lands it occupied from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War.

Fuad Mustafa, 30, from the Majdel Shams village, said the sit-in aimed to show solidarity with the Syrian prisoners and to focus on their sufferings, complaining that Israel does not implement U.N. resolutions.

Syrian-Israeli peace negotiations broke down in January 2000 with the two sides apparently close to agreement. Syria demanded that Israel return all of the strategic Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 Mideast war.