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The Times, Gainesville, Georgia | gainesvilletimes.com
Sunday, October 28, 2018 7C
First elections for Druze residents
in Israeli Golan divide community
EIN QINIYA, Golan
Heights — Sameera Rada
Emran’s face should be
everywhere. The 46-year-old
Druze resident of the Israeli-
controlled Golan Heights is
running to head her village’s
local council. But there
are no posters bearing her
image or campaign ads bel
lowing her name.
Druze residents of the
Golan will for the first time
join millions of Israelis vot
ing in local elections next
week. But candidates have
had to keep a low profile
amid a call by some Druze
— who are members of a
secretive offshoot of Islam
— to boycott the polls, expos
ing a deep rift in the com
munity over identity and
the future of the occupied
territory.
The chasm has pit com
munity elders who pledge
fealty to Syria and activists
opposed to Israel’s occupa
tion against those with looser
ties to their ancestral home
land who seek to have a
stake in how their own com
munities are managed.
“I understand the oppo
sition and where it comes
from because we still live it.
The Golan Heights is occu
pied and that is a fact. No one
can deny that. On the other
hand, we have been in this
situation for more than 50
years,” Emran said. “There
are young people who need
to live and we need to pro
vide them a healthy and
beneficial environment that
allows them to progress. ”
Israel occupied the Golan
Heights in the 1967 Mideast
war and annexed the ter
ritory in 1981 — a move
that is not internationally
recognized.
In contrast to the Pales
tinian territories captured
in 1967, however, the Golan
has remained quiet under
Israeli rule. While most of
the Golan’s 26,000 Druze
have chosen not to take
Israeli citizenship, they
hold Israeli residency status
that gives them the right to
travel and work freely. Resi
dents speak Hebrew and the
Golan, with its rugged land
Above: Israeli and
Druze flags flutter on
the village’s council
building in Ein Qiniya,
Wednesday, Oct. 17,
in the Israeli-controlled
Golan Heights. Left:
Sameera Rada Emran
holds a ballot paper with
her name in Ein Qiniya,
Wednesday, Oct. 17,
in the Israeli-controlled
Golan Heights.
Photos by ARIEL SCHALIT
Associated Press
scape and many restaurants,
is a popular destination for
Israeli tourists.
Still, the community
largely sees itself as inextri
cably linked to Syria. Many
hope the territory might one
day be returned to Syria as
part of a peace deal.
Boycott supporters have
been holding meetings to
convince — or pressure —
candidates not to run and
voters to abstain and sev
eral would-be candidates
have already withdrawn.
Demonstrations against the
elections have been held
and a general strike is being
planned for election day.
Emran said some of her
relationships with neighbors
have soured over her choice
to run.
The divide has meant the
frenzy of election campaign
ing has skipped over the
sleepy Druze villages. Candi
dates have had to keep cam
paigning a hushed, low-key
affair, with many appeal
ing to voters through social
media and quiet gatherings
indoors.
Since the annexation,
Israel has appointed repre
sentatives to local councils
in the Golan’s four Druze
villages. But a yearning by
more educated, younger
Druze for economic oppor
tunities and greater inte
gration into Israeli society,
coupled with a realization
that the territory will not
return to Syria in the near
future, has sparked a desire
by some to control their own
fate, even if it means cooper
ating with what’s still largely
seen as an occupying power.
That, and a sense the
appointees did not properly
represent the community,
prompted a group of lawyers
from the area to appeal to
Israel’s Supreme Court for a
say in choosing their leaders.
Their petition succeeded,
paving the way for the first-
ever elections on Oct. 30.
Israel has cast the elec
tions as an “historic” event.
Interior Minister Aryeh
Deri called it “a move that
strengthens Israel’s democ
racy” when he announced
the vote.
Israel’s government sees
the Golan Heights as an inte
gral part of the country and
a bulwark against radical
Islam and growing Iranian
influence in Lebanon and
Syria. The Syrian civil war,
in which hundreds of thou
sands have died and millions
displaced, has only deep
ened this sentiment.
“Israel on the Golan
Heights is a guarantee for
stability in the surrounding
area,” Prime Minister Benja
min Netanyahu said during
a recent visit to an ancient
Golan Heights synagogue.
“Israel on the Golan Heights
is a fact that the interna
tional community must
recognize and as long as it
depends on me, the Golan
Heights will always remain
under Israeli sovereignty.”
Sri Lanka president
suspends parliament
amid political crisis
BY BHARATHA
MALLAWARACHI
Associated Press
COLOMBO, Sri Lanka
— Sri Lanka’s president
suspended parliament on
Saturday even as the prime
minister he fired the pre
vious day claimed he has
majority support, adding to
a political crisis in the South
Asian island nation.
Chaminda Gamage, a
spokesman for the par
liamentary speaker, con
firmed that President
Maithripala Sirisena had
suspended parliament until
Nov. 16.
The suspension came
while ousted Prime Minis
ter Ranil Wickremesinghe
was holding a news confer
ence in which he asserted
he could prove his majority
support in parliament.
Sirisena sacked Wick
remesinghe and his Cabi
net on Friday and replaced
him with former strong
man Mahinda Rajapaksa,
creating what some observ
ers said could be a constitu
tional crisis.
The suspension of par
liament is expected to give
Rajapaksa time to muster
enough support to survive
any no confidence vote.
Several members of
Rajapaksa’s family — for
mer Cabinet members and
government officials —
are facing charges of cor
ruption and a special high
court has been set up to
hear the cases quickly. Raj
apaksa’s appointment as
prime minister is expected
to provide relief to them.
Wickremesinghe said
at the news conference
that parliament should be
allowed to resolve the polit
ical crisis.
“As far as the prime
ministership is concerned,
the person who has the
majority support in parlia
ment has to be the prime
minister, and I have that
majority of support,” he
said. “When a motion of no
confidence was moved (in
the past), we defeated it,
showing that the house has
the confidence in me.”
“It is not necessary for
us to create a crisis. It is not
necessary for the people
of the country to suffer,”
Wickremesinghe said.
An Indian External
Affairs Ministry official
said New Delhi “is aware
of the developments and
is watching the situation
closely.”
Sri Lanka became a
center for the India-China
rivalry for control of the
Indian Ocean region dur
ing Rajapaksa’s presi
dency, which displayed
heavy pro-China leanings.
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