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Syria reports to UN on Israeli violations in Golan Heights

DAMASCUS, Aug 2 (KUNA) -- Syrian Foreign Ministry handed to a United Nations panel Thursday a report on Israel's "systematic violations of human rights and properties" in the occupied territories in Palestine and the Syrian Golan Heights.
Israel persist in annexing the lands and properties of Arab citizens in the occupied territories and subjecting civilian detainees to inhuman treatment, the ministry said in its 39th report to the UN.
Israel continues to deprive Arab citizens of water resources for the sake of Jewish settlers, representative of the ministry Jala Ateyya told a press conference citing the report.
The Jewish state is still refusing to disclose the maps of landmines with led to ever-growing number of casualties in the region.
It is dumping nuclear waste in some parts of Golan Heights in total disregard to the relevant provisions of the international law and the international declaration of human rights.
It is also trying to blur the Arab identities of the occupied territories and judaize their cities, according to the report.
Fifteen Syrian detainees are still held in Israeli jails in inhuman conditions. Some of the detainees spent more than 20 years and others passed away due to health problems.
Ata Farahat, a Syrian TV reporter, and his colleague Yussef Shams were also detained by Israeli forces in the Golan Heights recently.
Israel is carrying out a massive dam project to usurp some two million cubic meters of water in the Golan Heights, a move that run counter to UN Security Council Resolution 465 for 1980, Ateyya asserted.
The dam will deprive the Syrian inhabitants of the area from water resources for the sake of Jewish settlers whose number is planned to rise to 50,000 there in the near future, he added.
Israel is also levying unfair taxes on the Arab citizens and blackmailing them regardless of their economic hardships.
At a time when Syria adopted peace as a strategic option to solve disputes with Israel, the latter's prime minister Ehud Olmert said he would never give up the Golan Heights as long as he was alive.
Olmert's statement is a clear evidence for Israeli stubborn mentality which sticks to occupation and settlements, the report pointed out.
The UN panel is scheduled to visit Konaitera area in the Golan Heights to have first hand information on the situations there and listen to testimonies of the local citizens and Konaitera governor.
The testimonies will be appended to the report of Syrian Foreign Ministry and tabled to the UN General Assembly.
As part of its tour of the Middle East, the panel visited Egypt and Jordan before coming to Syria. (end) om.gb KUNA 022308 Aug 07NNNN