CIVIL rights organisations were joined by officials in a sit-down protest at the Quneitra crossing on Monday in protest at Israel’s unlawful occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights,

They were demonstrating in solidarity with Syrian citizens who face having their land confiscated by the occupying forces in the villages of Majdal Shams, Baqa’ata and Mas’a’da.

Israel plans to build wind turbines on farmland in the occupied Golan Heights as Tel Aviv seeks to increase its authority over land it has occupied since the 1967 six-day war and annexed in 1981.

One of those protesting said the families would continue their actions “until the whole territory of Golan is liberated” and the Syrian flag has been raised on that land.

The farmer accused the occupying forces of behaving in “an unprecedented, aggressive and racial way under fake pretexts” in an attempt to steal the land and hand it to those involved in the wind turbine project.

Organisers called for the international community to “play their legal and human role” and pressure Israel to end the occupation and stop the oppression of Syrians.