DAMASCUS, Feb 8 (AFP) - Damascus said Tuesday it would buy thousands of tonnes of apples from Syrian farmers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights in the first trade deal between the two arch enemies -- via the United Nations.
"Given the difficult economic predicament of our kinsmen in the occupied Syrian Golan, we have decided to cater to their repeated requests and buy 10,000 tonnes of their apples," said a foreign ministry statement.
In December, Israel authorised Syrian farmers, replete with a bumper apple production, to sell 15,000 tonnes of the fruit to Syria -- the first trade deal between the countries, which are still technically at war.
The apples will transmit via Kuneitra in the UN-manned border zone between Israel, Syria and Lebanon, on the Golan Heights, Damascus said.
"Our objective is to alleviate the sufferings of our citizens under (Israeli) occupation," the official said.
Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War and in 1981 annexed the strategic plateau where some 15,000 Israeli settlers now live.
Around 17, 000 Druze, an offshoot of Shiite Islam, also live in four towns of the Golan and have refused to give up their Syrian nationality.
All attempts to broker peace between Israel and Syria have floundered over the fate of the Golan, which has become the centre of Israel's wine industry.
Syria has recently offered to reopen negotiations with Israel but Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has reacted cooly to the overtures from Damascus.
02/08/2005 14:52 GMT - AFP