A delegation of some 30 leading Arab-Israelis including a member of Israel's parliament left Tuesday for Syria to pay their respects for the nation's late president Hafez Assad.
Arab-Israeli MP Mohammed Kanaan told AFP that the group would go to Damascus via Jordan to pay their respects to Assad, who died last month.
The traditional mourning period lasts 40 days.
On June 12th, seven Arab-Israeli members of parliament and eight mayors crossed from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights into Syria to attend Assad's funeral.
It was the first time that Syria had allowed Israelis to enter through the Golan Heights and not via a third country.
Israel occupied the Golan from Syria in 1967.
A delegation of Palestinian legislators is also due to visit Syria on July 25th, Nabil Amr, a member of the Palestinian legislative assembly, told Voice of Palestine radio.
Amr said the Palestinians would pay their respects to Assad and prepare for a visit to Syria by Palestinian President Yasser Arafat -- MAJDAL SHAMS, Golan Heights (AFP)
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