GOLAN HEIGHTS: GHAJAR: PRESIDENT ASSAD MOURNED

(11 Jun 2000) English/Nat
XFA
Hundreds of people gathered in the Golan Heights village of Ghajar on Sunday to mourn the death of Syrian President Hafez Assad.

Villagers carrying black flags and bearing posters of the deceased president congregated in the main square reciting prayers.

Many were in tears as a tide of emotion swept the village.

Ghajar's 18-hundred residents belong to the Alawite tribe, the same tribe as Assad, and though the village is now in Israel, its members still consider themselves Syrian.

Ghajar was captured when Israel invaded the Golan Heights in 1967 and finally annexed with the rest of the region in 1981.

Its people have steadfastly refused to accept Israeli citizenship claiming that they want to remain Syrian and swore allegiance to Assad.

To them, losing Assad was like losing a member of their family.

SOUNDBITE: (English)
"We are very sorry, very sad, because our leader is dead now and you can see now how people are. Very sad, especially when we have the problem of the land, that they want to take our land from us. We are very, very sorry and very sad, because he was like our father."
SUPER CAPTION: Hassan Khatib, Ghajar Resident

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