{"id":17071,"date":"2018-10-02T06:25:45","date_gmt":"2018-10-02T06:25:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=17071"},"modified":"2018-10-02T06:25:45","modified_gmt":"2018-10-02T06:25:45","slug":"palestinians-strike-in-support-of-israels-arab-minority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/?p=17071","title":{"rendered":"Palestinians strike in support of Israel\u2019s Arab minority"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

\nJERUSALEM: Israel is prepared to open its side of the crossing point with Syria following the return of UN peacekeepers to the Golan Heights following a four-year absence, the army said.<\/p>\n

\nDefense Minister Avigdor Lieberman \u201cauthorized the reopening of the Alpha gate of the Quneitra crossing between Israel and Syria, allowing the UN to resume activity via the crossing pending Syria\u2019s reopening their side,\u201d it said in a statement.<\/p>\n

\nThe UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) resumed its patrols in the area of the crossing point in August, after withdrawing in 2014 when Al-Qaeda-linked fighters overran the area, three years into Syria\u2019s civil war.<\/p>\n

\nThe return of UNDOF was made possible after Syrian regime forces, backed by Russia, recaptured territory near the Golan, driving out opposition groups from a \u201cde-escalation zone\u201d agreed by Jordan, Russia and the US.<\/p>\n

\nQuneitra crossing is \u201can operational crossing for UNDOF in the implementation of its mandate,\u201d according to Nick Birnback, a spokesman for UN Peacekeeping in New York.<\/p>\n

\nUNDOF is working to \u201ccomplete the rehabilitation of the Quneitra crossing\u201d which is expected to be reopened soon, Birnback said in an email on Friday.<\/p>\n

\nIsrael seized much of the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move not recognized by the international community.<\/p>\n

\nEstablished in 1974, UNDOF monitors a cease-fire line separating Israeli-occupied parts of the Golan Heights from Syria.<\/p>\n

\nThe Quneitra crossing was used by Druze living on the Israeli side traveling to Syria for higher education or weddings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\nDruze farmers also exported apples to Syria through Quneitra.<\/p>\n

\nAt a tour of the Israeli side of the crossing on Thursday, Lieberman said that once Quneitra was open, authorities would have to \u201cconsider each possibility (for the crossing\u2019s use) according to the security situation.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\u201cWe\u2019re in different times now,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\nIsrael was \u201cready to open the crossing as it had been in the past,\u201d Lieberman told journalists accompanying him at the site.<\/p>\n

\n\u201cThe ball is now in the Syrians\u2019 court.\u201d<\/p>\n

\nSyria\u2019s transport ministry also said Saturday its main border crossing with Jordan would reopen to trade next month for the first time in three years, although Amman said consultations were still ongoing.<\/p>\n

\nSyrian government troops retook the Syrian side of the crossing in July under a deal with fighters brokered by Moscow.<\/p>\n

\nIt had been sealed completely since fighters overran it in April 2015, choking off one of the most important trade routes for the regime.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

JERUSALEM: Israel is prepared to open its side of the crossing point with Syria following the return of UN peacekeepers to the Golan Heights following a four-year absence, the army said. Defense Minister Avigdor Lieberman \u201cauthorized the reopening of the Alpha gate of the Quneitra crossing between Israel and Syria, allowing the UN to resume…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":17072,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17071","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-middle_east_news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17071","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17071"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17071\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/17072"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17071"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17071"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/qatar-news.org\/qatarnewsEn\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17071"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}