The residents demanded that the UN “permit us to exercise our legal right to take part in the upcoming presidential elections in Syria.”
By ARIEL BEN SOLOMONDruse student at Syria border crossing 370(photo credit: Baz Ratner/Reuters)
Druse residents on the Golan Heights wrote a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon demanding the ability to vote in the June 3 Syrian presidential election.The residents called for action by the international community and the United Nations related to “permitting us to exercise our legal right to take part in the upcoming presidential elections in Syria,” the London- based Arab daily Al-Hayat reported on Thursday.“Since most Druse in the Golan have always maintained that they are Syrian citizens, a pro forma letter to the UN emphasizing this claim in the context of the Syrian election doesn’t strike me as a groundbreaking development,” Gary C. Gambill, an expert on Syria and Lebanon and a Shillman- Ginsberg Fellow at the Middle East Forum, told The Jerusalem Post.“The more interesting question is what letters they will write when Islamist- dominated Syrian rebels inevitably regain the upper hand,” he added.Damascenes fear rebels will mark Syria’s presidential election with mortar bombardment on the capital, or even a devastating tunnel bomb similar to attacks in northern Syria.The government has launched its “Together, We Rebuild” campaign that now peppers the capital’s streets with posters that feature hands clasped together.Reuters contributed to this report.
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