Residents in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights said they received guarantees from insider sources within the Syrian regime that negotiations with Israel for prisoner exchanges are still ongoing.
Two Syrian prisoners from the Druze town of Majdal Shams in the Golan Heights were expected to be released, following the return of the body of Israeli soldier Zachary Baumel. But Israel did not release those two prisoners, Sidqi al-Maqt and Amal Abu Saleh.
Instead, Ahmed Khamis and Zidan Tawil were handed over to the Red Cross via the Quneitra crossing on Sunday.
The al-Maqt and Abu Saleh families voiced their anger to both the Syrian regime and Russia. They were reassured that Damascus still has the remains of other Israeli soldiers and that it is exerting great efforts into negotiating with Tel Aviv, under Russian mediation, for the release of the Majdal Shams prisoners.
Al-Maqt, who had served 27 years in an Israeli prison for security violations, was re-incarcerated after being convicted of spying for Syria.
Blasting the Syrian regime’s inability to release more prisoners from jail in exchange for Baumel’s remains, one of Abu Saleh’s relatives, speaking on the conditions of anonymity, said: “Since the 1980s, to this day, Israel has released at least 14,000 Palestinian inmates over the course of several exchanges.”
Palestinians often pin hopes on Syrian prisoner swaps, saying that they may pave the way for Tel Aviv to strike prisoner deals with them.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has however, faced challenges in this issue given that his government has bound itself to regulations that make it difficult to make such exchanges.
