Hundreds of Druze protested against the Israeli government on Friday evening against National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir’s plans for resuming the construction of turbines in the Golan Heights, Hebrew media reported.
The protests were in the Arab village of Kafr Yasif in northern Israel near Acre.
Ben-Gvir’s plans for resuming infrastructure work for the construction of the turbines are in the agricultural plantations near the settlements in the Golan Heights area.
Demonstrators chanted: “We have redeemed the Golan Heights with blood and fire” during the protest.
“We have redeemed the Golan Heights with blood and fire!”
Protesters
The spiritual leader of the Druze community, Sheikh Mowafaq Tarif, spoke to about 2,000 members of the community in the village, saying that “the resistance against the construction of the turbines in the Golan Heights is justified,” Ynet quoted him as saying.
Druze protest while police guard during a protest against the construction of a new wind farm near the Druze village of Majdal Shams, in the Golan Heights, June 21, 2023. (credit: AYAL MARGOLIN/FLASH90)What were the spiritual leader’s demands?
Tarif presented a list of demands of the Druze community to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, saying that “if they are not met, there will be a clear and decisive response in a way that the state has not seen since its establishment.”
The demands, the Ynet report states, include the complete stop of the turbine constructions and approving the expansion of the Druze settlements.
Tarif also stated that the Druze “don’t receive instructions from Ben-Gvir. Any attempt to undermine the Druze connection to the place will receive an immediate response from the community.”
Police forces arrived to secure the construction of wind turbines in the northern Golan on Tuesday, N12 reported, and their arrival ignited clashes that lasted for hours between police and the Druze residents, who claimed that the turbines were being built on agricultural land. The clashes included live shooting, throwing stones and Molotov cocktails – all of which led to a joint meeting between Netanyahu and Tarif.
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