Following the 1967 Arab-Israeli war the Syrian Golan was occupied by Israel and divided from Syria. Due to Israel’s illegal actions 130,000 people were displaced; a situation that persists. This resulted in families being torn apart and an insurmountable amount of heartache for those affected. After a number of years an application process for permits to visit Syria was introduced. However, this process has proven to be discriminatory and unpredictable. At present only selective categories of ‘religious Druze men’, ‘students’, ‘non-Druze men over 35’, ‘women over 70’ and ‘apples’ are eligible to cross the ceasefire line. Even then those who are eligible are not guaranteed passage. The Israeli authorities have been unable to provide any valid justification for treating the people of the Occupied Syrian Golan in this way. Their actions not only amount to grave violations of human rights and international humanitarian law, but have caused parents to miss their child’s graduation, mothers to miss their daughter’s wedding, grandparents unable to see their grandchildren grow up and children unable to attend their parents’ funerals.
