In a rather unusual move, an Israeli man and woman moved from Syria to the country yesterday through the Quneitra crossing, even though the crossing has been closed in recent years.
The passage of the two was defined as a humanitarian gesture and approved by Defense Minister Bnei Gantz after a long deliberation, thanks to the involvement of the Red Cross, as well as members of the Knesset and heads of the Druze community in Israel.
The two students who returned to Israel yesterday are Nadine Brick, a Druze from Majdal Shams, who left for Damascus in 2008 to study dentistry as part of a group of students, and Khatib Jaber from the village of Ajar, who also went to Damascus seven years ago to study medicine.
Following the Syrian civil war, in 2015 the Quneitra crossing was closed to students from the Golan Heights to and from Syria.
After the crossing was closed, some students managed to return to the Golan Heights via Jordan, but recently the Jordan crossing was also closed to them due to a decision by the Syrian government, which apparently tried to put pressure on Israel.
As a result, neither Brick nor Jaber were able to return to Israel in any way for about a year.
The two young men, residents of Israel but not its citizens, found themselves in a situation where they were trapped in Syria for many months, unable to return to their homes in any way.
Under pressure from their families, quite a few people mobilized to help them, including Sheikh Mawafek Tarif, the spiritual leader of the Druze community in Israel, and MK Mofid Marai (blue and white).
Defense Minister Bnei Gantz, Photo: Oren Ben Hakon
In the end, Minister Gantz approved the two's request, and yesterday Brick and Jaber crossed the border from Syria to Israel via the Quneitra crossing.
In response to Israel Today's request, Gantz's bureau confirmed the report and said that the transfer of the two to Israel yesterday "was carried out on humanitarian grounds and in light of their families 'appeal to the defense minister by representatives of the Druze community in Israel, and in light of the Red Cross' request."
Get back to smiling
A senior Druze source told Israel Today yesterday: "We have been working on returning them to Israel for almost a year. The girl is a resident of Israel from the Druze community. The Assad regime took her passport so she could not leave Syria. Sheikh Tarif, who visited Russia about three weeks ago. "He raised the humanitarian issue there, and the idea arose that she would fly to Moscow and from there to Israel. In the end, Defense Minister Ganz made a first-class humanitarian decision, and allowed the Quneitra crossing to be opened in an unusual way."
Nidi Brick from Majdal Shams posted photos of the two on his Facebook page yesterday, writing: "On International Women's Day, there is no better gift than to make sure that the daughter from Majdal Shams, who studied in Syria, returns to her mother and family, and puts a smile on the father's hugged son. Ma'jar after a long period of study. "
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