Druze villages on the Golan Heights celebrated last night the return of 20 Druze from 23 years of Syrian captivity. The Syrians returned 26 Druze to Israel yesterday through the Red Cross representatives. Two of them were captured by the Syrians in the opening stages of the Yom Kippur War and the other four were Druze women who were married to four of the Druze who were released a few months ago from jail.
The 20 Druze were detained by the Syrians in 1951 in the Druze villages on the Golan Heights and were charged with espionage for Israel. They were sentenced to death but the sentence was then commuted to life imprisonment. They spent 23 years in various Syrian jails, most of the time in the notorious Palmira Jail in the Syrian desert. They were released from jail five months ago and the Red Cross was requested to intervene and secure their return to the villages which have been in Israeli hands since the Six-Day War.
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