Every fall, tractors in this Druze village in the Golan Heights ferry 55,000 tons of golden apples from orchards abutting Israel’s ceasefire line with Syria to nearby warehouses, where they wait to be shipped down to central Israeli markets or over the border to Syria. 

These orchards, cordoned off from Israeli minefields by barbed wire, are an economic mainstay for some 25,000 Syrians living here under Israeli control since 1967 and an important link back home to Syria.

In the spring, despite a raging civil war that almost led to a closure of the supply routes through the Quneitra border crossing, Syria still managed to import 18,000 tons of surplus Golan apples at a premium, making up for weak prices on the saturated Israeli market.

Said Farhat, a Buqata apple farmer who coordinates the export shipments among the Golan Druze, says that he wants to prepare another shipment this year, even though the latest harvest is weak. The export will be symbolic – maybe 1,000 tons – but it will preserve commercial ties between the Golan Druze and Syria. 

 "They have a common interests with the [Assad] administration," says Salman Farkhir Aldeen, a human rights activist from the Druze village of Majdal Shams who is part of a vocal minority that opposes the regime crackdown. "They don’t care about democracy or human rights. They consider Assad as a shield."

"We are connected to our land…. We have a dream of returning to Syrian rule," he says. However, Mr. Fahat pauses when asked for his thoughts on returning to a Sunni-led Syria. "The Sunnis never brought democracy, in Egypt or in Saudi Arabia. They destroyed Lebanon. We hope Assad stays."

The Druze of the Golan Heights have permanent residency status in Israel – which formally annexed the territory in 1981 – and can request citizenship. They get social welfare benefits from Israel and their produce is marketed through Israeli distributors, but many say their hearts remain tied to Syria and hope that the Golan Heights will one day be restored to Syrian sovereignty.

While Mahdi Abu Awad, the owner of apple orchards and a restaurant near the main entrance to the town, serves up Middle Eastern barbecue to Israeli tourists, his son studies medicine in Damascus thanks to subsidies from the Syrian government. Asked if he feared for his son’s safety, he shrugged, saying that explosions from the fighting are no further away from his son's Damascus neighborhood than from Buqata.   

In recent weeks, Buqata residents say the Israeli military has stepped up its patrols and exercises, including tank maneuvers nearby.

"We live in the middle. The missiles will go over our heads’’ says Samih Abu Awad, a café owner who displays a 50 Syrian dinar note just under his Israeli-tax authority business certificate.

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http://news.yahoo.com/assad-harvests-support-druze-israel-apples-13...