Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin expressed satisfaction over the role of the United Nations Disengagement Observers Force (UNDOF) on the Golan Heights in the area that separates Syrian and Israeli forces.
In a meeting Thursday with Maj. Gen. Gustaf Welin, the outgoing UNDOF commander who is to complete his term of duty soon, Rabin said; “We greatly appreciate UNDOF’s activity, acting on the basis of an agreement between Israel and Syria.”
The defense minister recalled that at the time the agreement was signed in 1974, when Rabin served as Israel’s premier, “many did not believe that the force would be able to maintain itself, yet it has since proven itself, with a new contingent arriving every six months.”
Rabin thanked Welin for the way he directed the force, claiming that UNDOF is “a good example, both of the maintaining of an agreement and the performance of a U.N. force in guarding such an agreement.”
Welin stressed the cooperation and understanding between Israel and Syria regarding UNDOF’s mission and preserving the quiet on the common border.
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