Many in Israel-occupied Golan want peace, return to Syrian control

Kamil Khater, a barber in the Druze Arab town of Majdal Shams, said: "We, the Syrians... want peace with everyone, including Israel." But once the transition in Damascus is complete, he said, they want Golan to "return to the homeland, Syria". Israel conquered most of the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war and annexed those areas in 1981, in a move only the United States has recognised. Many in the area still hold Syrian nationality, and residents have the right to apply for Israeli citizenship.