Armed troops sealed off four Druze villages on the Golan Heights last night for what appeared to be an effort to end a 12-day general strike by the Druze protesting the extension of Israeli civil law to the area. Officially, the measure of sealing off the villages was said to be for “security reasons” and to prevent local and foreign reporters and leftwing sympathizers and Druze supporters from entering the villages for solidarity meetings.
Gen. Amir Drori, commander of Israel’s northern command, ordered the four villages sealed off, with entry and exit to and from the areas banned to all except local workers not observing the general strike. Yisrael Koenig, Interior Minister official in charge of the northern area, met with Druze leaders last night in an unsuccessful attempt to persuade them to cancel the strike.
The Druze leaders reportedly told him they wanted the government to withdraw the Golan Law which they said would not apply to them since they were Syrian citizens. They said they would not accept Israel identity cards or let their sons serve in the Israel army.
Spokesmen for the Druze said they were appealing to Amnesty International for protection against what they termed repressive actions by the Israeli authorities. Koenig reportedly told the Druze that there was no intention of forcing any Druze to serve in the army unless he volunteered, that none would be forced to accept Israeli citizenship, and that there were no plans to appropriate Druze land as had been rumored to be the case.
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