4 Druze demonstrators injured by Israeli fire in Syria’s Golan Heights

By Zein Khalil

JERUSALEM (AA) – Four Druze demonstrators were injured by Israeli police fire in demonstrations in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights on Wednesday, according to Israeli media.

Thousands of Druze residents demonstrated for the second day against the construction of a win farm in the town of Majdal Shams, The Times of Israel newspaper reported.

In a statement, Israeli police accused demonstrators of throwing stones, fireworks and Molotov cocktails at police forces securing the area.

Police said 12 officers were injured in the violence.

According to witnesses, Israeli police used tear gas canisters and rubber-coated bullets to disperse the protesters.

Druze residents view Israeli government plans to build wind farms in their areas as a threat to their agrarian way of life and hinder the cultivation of their land.

Israel’s Ministry of Energy, meanwhile, sees the Golan Heights, with its high altitude and windswept valleys, as an optimal location for wind farms.

A petition filed by Druze residents against the wind farm project was rejected by the Israeli judiciary.

Israel occupies roughly two-thirds of the wider Golan Heights as a de facto result of the 1967 Middle East war. It moved to formally annex the territory in 1981 -- an action unanimously rejected at the time by the UN Security Council.

*Writing by Ikram Kouachi