Families and relatives of detainees held in Israeli army prisons staged a sit-in outside the UN headquarters in Damascus, rejecting Israeli army practices and the detention of their relatives, and demanding that their fate be revealed.
The sit-in, held on Tuesday, 19 May, included the handover of demands to the UN team in Damascus, according to Enab Baladi’s correspondent.
Hussein Saad al-Din, the father of a detainee in Israeli army prisons, told Enab Baladi that the protest concerned those abducted and forcibly disappeared in southern Syria, in Quneitra, Daraa, and western Damascus Countryside.
According to the detainee’s father, the protesters addressed a message to “protectors of human rights” from outside the UN building, to raise the voices of “bereaved” families who had trusted international pledges and conventions, and to address an urgent and critical humanitarian issue involving unarmed Syrian civilians, including teachers, students, and farmers.
Hussein said the civilians were “abducted in brutal ways” from inside their homes by Israeli forces in areas of southern Syria in Quneitra, Daraa, and western Damascus Countryside.
A Crime of “Enforced Disappearance”
The relatives’ statement said the 47 detainees are being subjected to a full-fledged crime of “enforced disappearance” that disregards all international laws and the Geneva Conventions concerned with protecting civilians.
The statement affirmed that the names and files of those forcibly disappeared had been officially and accurately documented with the UN team concerned with cases of enforced disappearance, calling for immediate action to pressure for the detainees’ release.
The protesters called on the UN secretary-general and the working group concerned with cases of enforced disappearance to act urgently and exert the strongest possible pressure on the Israeli army authorities to release all detainees unconditionally, reveal their places of detention and conditions, and ensure medical care and physical safety.
The relatives of the detainees also demanded that the International Committee of the Red Cross immediately enter their detention sites to ensure everyone’s safety, especially those who suffered serious physical injuries during the brutal arrest process.
The families’ statement concluded by affirming that legal pursuit would continue until the last abductee returns to his home and family.
Previous Sit-In Outside the Foreign Ministry
Families and relatives of detainees and prisoners held in Israeli army prisons previously organized a protest outside the Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates against what they described as arbitrary arrests carried out by Israel in southern Syria.
On 26 April, the protesters demanded that the Syrian state seek their release and call on the international community and the United Nations to intervene to reveal the fate of the detainees.
One participant in the protest, Khalil Ahmed Leila, told Enab Baladi at the time that Israeli army forces were increasing the pace of arbitrary arrests, calling during the protest outside the Syrian Foreign Ministry for the detainees’ fate to be revealed, especially as some have been held for two years, while others are still minors.
Israeli army incursions continue in the Quneitra countryside, with search campaigns, raids, and arrests, as well as checkpoints being set up on roads.
Calls Over Detained School Students
Families of the detainees called in a statement for the release of their sons. The statement explained that some families have more than one detainee, and some detainees are still school students.
The statement also called for intensified efforts with international organizations to intervene and reveal the fate of the detainees, to make their release a condition in any future negotiation with the Israeli army, and to raise detainee cases in international courts and forums.
The families called for forming a committee from the Syrian Foreign Ministry to follow up on the conditions of the detainees, brief families, and communicate with them in case of developments. They also noted the need to raise detainee cases in official media in depth as a comprehensive national issue, and for the government to take serious action to end the issue of detainees and prisoners, as they put it.
Families Meet with UNDOF
A delegation from the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, UNDOF, had met with a number of families and relatives of detainees held in Israeli prisons in Jubata al-Khashab, in the Quneitra countryside, on 21 April.
The meeting focused on the families’ demands and humanitarian issues, with an emphasis on the violations and breaches residents face, especially regarding the detainees file, according to Enab Baladi’s correspondent in Quneitra.
The correspondent explained that the families demanded the release of detainees held in Israeli army prisons, disclosure of their fate, and an end to Israeli army violations in the area adjacent to the occupied Golan.
UNDOF forces had intensified their presence near the villages of Rafid, Suwaysah, and Sida Golan in southern Quneitra, in preparation for patrols to monitor the separation line with the occupied Syrian Golan, on 9 April.