A delegation of sheikhs Druzes de Syria crossed, Friday, March 14, the ceasefire line on the Golanin for a pilgrimage in Israel, journalists from the France-Presse (AFP) found; A first for Syrian Druze for fifty years.
On board three buses escorted by Israeli military vehicles, the religious, a few dozen, crossed the line in Majdal Shams shortly before 10:30 a.m. in the Golan’s part of Israel.
According to a source in the Druze community, they must go to the north of Israel, to Julis, to meet the religious leader of the Druzes of Israel, Cheikh Mowafaq Price, before going to pray near Tiberias to the site of the tomb of Nabi Chouaïb, the highest holy place in Israel. Nabi (“prophet” in Arabic) Chouaïb is one of the prophets mentioned in the Koran, whose figure is associated with Jéthro, the stepfather of Moses, in the biblical story.
“Strong opposition” within the Syrian community
In Majdal Shams, visitors were welcomed by a hundred druze who sang welcome songs, tapping in their hands. Among them, several young boys waved druze flags (green, red, yellow, blue, white) and men in traditional black suit wore the white and red cap typical of the Druze.
“We waited for this moment for many years to meet them, it’s a strong moment in emotions”told AFP Jamal Ayoub, 61, a farmer from Galileo (northern Israel) to accommodate an uncle in the sheikh delegation.
However, this visit met “Strong opposition” Within the Syrian community, according to a Druze source. The Druzes, followers of an esoteric religion from Islam, are divided between Jordan, Lebanon, Israel, the Golan Plateau and Syria where they are concentrated in the province of Souweida (South), close to Israel.
As soon as the power of Bashar al-Assad on December 8, I Israel sent troops in a demilitarized buffer area of the Golan, in the southwest of Syria, on the edge of this set of this set of this set of this set of 1967 since the war of 1967, and annexed in 1981.