Israel’s killing on Sunday of scores of Syrian demonstrators approaching the armistice line on occupied Golan Heights is proof, again, of Tel Aviv’s thirst for Arab blood.

Hundreds of unarmed Syrian protesters held a peaceful demonstration to express their rejection of the more than four-decades-long Israeli occupation of Syrian territory.

Trying to cross the ceasefire line through the barbed wire, to enter the Golan Heights, in a repeat of last month’s demonstrations in observance of the Nakbeh, the protesters were met with fire from the Israeli troops.

The soldiers could have prevented the demonstrators from crossing the armistice lines through non-lethal means, but true to form, they preferred to indiscriminately shoot, killing 23 people, including a woman and a child, and wounding 350.

What Israel fears most is not what a few hundred demonstrators will or can do at the temporary Syrian-Israeli borders, but rather to have the world reminded that Israel’s occupation of Syrian land has been going on for so long that it cannot continue with impunity anymore.

The demonstrators clearly sent the message that the end of the Israeli occupation of the Syrian territory is just as important and pressing as the end of the occupation of the West Bank.

What all this means is that the Arab-Israeli conflict must be solved across the board, including on the Syrian front. Only a comprehensive peace with all its neighbours can secure safety for the Israelis.

June 6 is a sad reminder of the Israeli expansionist policy and of its 1967 war against neighbours, which led to the occupation of Arab territories.

There can be no real peace in the region until all the dimensions of the Arab-Israeli conflict are addressed and dealt with equitably, in accordance with UN Security Council resolutions, particularly 242 and 338.