Worldandnation: Golan families dream of reunion: "'Why can I not see them any more?' he wondered.
In the four decades since, the 20,000 Druze of the Golan Heights have found advantages and drawbacks to their 'unidentified nationality' - as it says on their Israeli-issued travel documents.
Druze and Jews get along well. Hundreds work together at the Mount Hermon ski resort or on farms and kibbutzim, growing the apples and other fruits for which the Golan is famous.
Druze also appreciate their freedom of speech in Israel, far different from autocratic Syria where 'the only time you open your mouth is at the dentist,' Salih jokes.
But he and most other Druze in the Golan rejected Israel's offer of citizenship, fearing Syria might punish them if the area ever returned to Syrian control. For that reason, they don't serve in the Israeli army, either.
'It would be so difficult to take a gun and tank and kill my uncles in Syria,' said Salih, a former teacher who owns a guest house near Mount Hermon."
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