Hundreds of Druse, including the Governor of Damascus, gathered on the Syrian side of the border.

355. On 10 February, hundreds of Golan Heights Druse demonstrated in Majdal Shams in support of Iraq and President Saddam Hussein.

Residents of the Druse villages of Majdal Shams, Masada, Bukata and Ein Kinieh refused to accept Israeli identity cards and staged a strike that lasted over six weeks.

356. On 14 February, hundreds of Druse took part in agitated demonstrations in the Golan Heights to mark the sixteenth anniversary of their general strike against the Israeli Government s decision to extend Israeli law to the region.

360. On 17 April, some 650 policemen, border policemen and soldiers under the command of OC Northern District were deployed in Druse villages in the Golan Heights as the villages marked the Independence Day of the Syrian Arab Republic.

He explained that the subsidies were aimed at changing the demographic balance in the region, where more than 15,000 Israelis and 18,000 Druse lived, and to double the Golan settler population in the next two years. (Ha aretz, Jerusalem Post, 25 May)

88. The Committee hopes to find in the next periodic report a comprehensive statement of the Government s vision of the future of its Arab, Bedouin and Druse citizens, together with an indication of how its objectives are to be attained and a review of the effectiveness of its measures to combat discrimination. Any statistics should show whether governmental expenditure and service provision are proportionate to the size of the different ethnic groups.