2 Druze suspected of spying for Syria

Majdal Shmas residents Fares Shaer and Said Abu-Zayad accused of working for Syrian intelligence service. One of them tells investigators he was asked to kidnap IDF soldier in exchange for money

Sharon Roffe-Ofir |Published: 09.28.10 , 13:32

Cleared for publication: Fares Shaer and Said Abu-Zayad, residents of the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the northern Golan Heights, were indicted Tuesday at the Nazareth District Court for allegedly contacting Syrian intelligence officials.

According to the Shin Bet, the two were operated by a Syrian intelligence officer named Madhat Salah, who is responsible for the Golan Heights area in the Damascus government.

Salah himself was born in Majdal Shams and served a prison sentence in Israel after being convicted of committing security offenses. In 1998 he managed to cross the border to Syria, where he lives and works to this very day. He operated both the father and the son who were arrested in July.

According to the indictment, Salah and Shaer met while serving a prison sentence together. Shaer told his investigators that he had been contacted by Salah, who offered to pay him for kidnapping an IDF soldier, but said he turned down the offer.

The prosecution also claimed that Shaer had been involved in the past three years in the funneling of funds from Syria to Druze security prisoners and to their family members in the Golan Heights.

According to the Shin Bet, Shaer's sister served as a contact between him and Salah, as did Said Abu-Zayad, who met with Salah during a visit to Syria as part of a delegation of Druze clerics from the Golan Heights.

The indictment claims that during one of the visits, Abu-Zayad transferred a secret letter form Salah to Shaer.

The trial of another suspect in the affair which was revealed in July, a resident of Baqa al-Gharbiyye, is being held these days.

Hanan Greenberg contributed to this report