Press Release  

Immediate Release

Ref. 0001/2008
Date: 01/05/2008  

 Death of Young Golan mother in Syria highlights the great suffering of the families         separated due to Israel’s strict entry and exit policy on the Occupied Syrian Golan


Al Marsad, the Arab Center for Human Rights in the Occupied Golan is deeply alarmed at the continued suffering inflicted on thousands of people caused by the separation of families as a result of Israel’s strict entry and exit policy between Occupied Syrian Golan and Syria proper.

The Following account is a brief example of the horror that occurs because of Israel’s strict entry and exit policy between Occupied Syrian Golan and Syria. According to the information received by Al Marsad, Ms. Mai Atef Shalah, a 25 year mother of two and former resident of Ein Qinyeh, Occupied Syrian Golan, died on the 5 March 2008, unable to see her parents before passing away. Ms. Shalan left the Occupied Syrian Golan to study in Damascus where she married Mr. Eyad Nimer Shalan a Syrian Golan IDP. Ms. Shalan had become seriously ill with hepatitis A and was on her death bed. Knowing this, she requested to see her mother for one last time. Her family applied to the Israeli authorities, requesting the permission for her family to visit her 3rd March 2008. However, the Israeli authorities started to delay the application by requesting further information such as a physicians and hospital report. Unfortunately, it was too late, Ms. Shalan died on the 5th March 2008. On the 10th March the Israeli authorities informed Mai’s parents and the rest of the family that they had been granted permission to travel to Damascus. However, when the family arrived at the Israeli controlled crossing point, only the parents were granted permission to travel to Damascus, refusing the rest of the family members.

These Israeli policies are contradictory to both international human rights law and international humanitarian law. The 1907 Hague regulations, which Israel have accepted because of their customary nature, states in Article 46 that the occupying power must respect ‘Family honor and rights’ similarly, Article 27 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that protected persons in occupied territory are entitled to ‘In all circumstances, to respect…their family rights’. The convention in Article 49 prohibits the forcible transfer and deportation of protected persons from occupied territory and urges an occupying power to ensure ‘to the greatest possible practicable extent…that members of the same family are not separated’. The importance of family unity is also highlighted in a number of human rights treaties. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights states in Article 12 that ‘No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his…family’ a similar point is highlighted in Article 17 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights refers to the family as ‘the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the state’ as does the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights, International Convention on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Al Marsad would like to remind the high contracting parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention of their obligation under Article 1 to ‘undertake respect and ensure respect for the present convention in all circumstances’. The international community should take appropriate measures to ensure the rights of the protected people of the Occupied Syrian Golan as enshrined in the relevant provisions and principles outlined above are respected at all times by Israel, the occupying power. The international community must ensure Israel respect there obligations under international law and Israel’s must do more to alleviate the suffering caused by the separation of families resulting from Israel’s policy of forcible transfer and its strict entry and exit policy between the Occupied Syrian Golan and the Syrian homeland.
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Tel/Fax: +972 4 687 0644/5     Email: marsad@golan-marsad.org     Web: www.golan-marsad.org