JERUSALEM, Aug 11 (AFP) - Members of Israel's Druze community rejected a government offer Wednesday to allow them to visit sacred sites in Syria by crossing from the occupied Golan Heights, legal sources said.
The offer was made at a supreme court hearing after a petition was filed on behalf of 250 Druze who mainly live in northern Israel but have always been refused permission to travel to the Jewish state's northern neighbour.
Their lawyer, Saed Nafar, said while he welcomed the government's offer to allow the Druze to travel to Syria -- with whom Israel is technically still at war -- it had set impossible conditions by saying that they must transit via the Quneitra area in the Golan and return within 48 hours.
"Their position has changed dramatically by allowing us to go but the conditions are impossible," he told AFP.
"Quneitra is not a border, it's a ceasefire line. If they cross through there, there will be all sorts of political problems," he said, adding that he feared the Syrian authorities would simply arrest the new arrivals.
Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 Six Day War and annexed the area 14 years later. All attempts to reach a peace deal between the two countries have foundered over the issue.
The Druze instead want permission from the government to travel to Syria via Jordan with which Israel does have a peace treaty. At present, any Israeli Druze who tries to re-enter Israel after having visited a "hostile country" such as Syria and Lebanon is liable to be prosecuted.
Nafar added that the government had justified the 48-hour restriction over fears that the Israeli Druze would either be kidnapped or tapped by members of the Syrian security services.
Chief Justice Aharon Barak adjourned the hearing for a fortnight to allow the two sides to try to work out a compromise.
The Druze, whose esoteric faith grew out of a schism with Islam dating from the 11th Century AD, have nearly a million adherents worldwide, mostly in Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Jordan.
There are some 70,000 Druze in Israel who, with the Bedouins, are the only Arabs serving in the Israeli army.