For decades, voting in Israeli elections was off-limits for the Druze of the Golan Heights, who remained loyal to Syria. That taboo is now crumbling: 45% of the community holds Israeli citizenship today, compared with just 2% forty years ago, according to Ici Beyrouth.
With Israelis heading to the polls on October 27, the question of how many Golan Druze will now take part in the vote has taken on new significance © Mena Today
For decades, voting in Israeli elections was off-limits for the Druze of the Golan Heights, who remained loyal to Syria. That taboo is now crumbling: 45% of the community holds Israeli citizenship today, compared with just 2% forty years ago, according to Ici Beyrouth.
Since Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and later annexed the territory, most of its Druze residents refused Israeli citizenship. Taking it, or casting a ballot in Israeli elections, was met with a social and religious boycott within the community.
That resistance has steadily eroded as successive tragedies have struck the community, prompting a growing number of Golan Druze to reconsider their ties to Damascus and seek Israeli nationality.
The shift, examined by the Lebanese news outlet Ici Beyrouth, is changing the picture in both Israel and Syria.
With Israelis heading to the polls on October 27, the question of how many Golan Druze will now take part in the vote has taken on new significance.
Lebanese security forces arrested five Hezbollah members on Tuesday in a mountainous, mainly Christian area of North Lebanon. The case highlights the danger the Iran-backed militia still poses to Lebanon’s fragile stability.
The European Union is weighing a broad upgrade in ties with Syria, including security sector reform, investment and a revival of a long-frozen trade accord, according to an EU document seen by Reuters, as the bloc seeks to draw Damascus closer to Europe and counter lingering Russian influence after Bashar al-Assad's overthrow.
Russian and Ukrainian negotiators reported some progress in two days of peace talks in Abu Dhabi that ended on Wednesday, but US mediators said there was a lack of trust between the warring sides and differences remained on major issues, including territory.
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