An ADC Background Paper (DRAFT)
THE GOLAN HEIGHTS: THE FORGOTTEN OCCUPATION
By
Marvin Wingfield[1]
Table of Contents
Executive Summary2
Introduction3
History and Background4
The Golan before 19674
Origins of the War: Israel’s Territorial Ambitions7
The Displacement of the Syrian Population9
The Consolidation of Israeli Dominance on the Golan 12
Israeli Occupation Techniques 12 The Destruction of Villages and Towns 13
Dismantling Syrian Society 15
Annexation and Resistance 17
Settlement and Expropriation 19
Establishing an Israeli Presence 19
Settlement Development 20
Land, Water and Economic Life 23
The Long Haul under the Occupation 27
Family Life: Separation and Reunion 27
Economy and Community Life 30
Continuing Occupation, Continuing Struggle 32
“Internally Displaced Persons” 33
Appendix: Map of the Occupied Syrian Golan 38
Executive Summary
This paper provides an overview of the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights[2] and the displacement of most of the indigenous Syrian population. Unlike most journalism and scholarship on the Golan, which primarily focuses on diplomatic and strategic issues, it attempts to enable Americans to hear the voices and understand the experience of the people who have lived through war, occupation, and the loss of a homeland.
After a brief sketch of the pre-war social order on the Golan, the paper examines the origins of the war in Israel’s territorial ambitions at the Syrian border. Israeli expansionism provoked a forceful Syrian response, creating a volatile border situation and an escalating series of military confrontations.
In 1967, Israel seized control of the entire Golan in a 30-hour war with Syria, which resulted in the flight and expulsion of nearly the entire Syrian population from the Golan. The exception was a handful of villages in the north, which have lived under Israeli occupation ever since. The first Israeli settlers arrived only five weeks after the war ended.
The occupation involves a “matrix of control” similar to that over the Palestinian territories – Israeli rule through military force, laws and bureaucratic regulations, and physical “facts on the ground,” such as military bases and settlements. The occupation set about reorganizing the political, economic, and social system of the remaining villagers, even attempting to erase their identity as Syrians and Arabs. Ultimately, Israel annexed the Golan and made it a de facto part of Israel, in clear violation of international law, which forbids the acquisition of territory by force.
These policies inevitably generated resistance from the villagers that culminated in a General Strike in 1982, in which virtually the whole population rose up in opposition and refused to allow Israeli citizenship to be imposed on them. Their non-violent tactics succeeded and they retained their Syrian citizenship.
Nonetheless, the settlement process continued with the establishment of dozens of Israeli agricultural communities, industrial centers, ranches, orchards, and tourist attractions. The Israeli army took large areas for bases, minefields, and training grounds. But in spite of severe restrictions on the use of their own land and water, the Golanis defended their communities through innovative projects, planting more apple orchards, developing new techniques for storing rainwater and organizing civic associations, as well as through political and other resistance activities. The separation of families divided by the Israeli/Syrian ceasefire line was especially painful. Villagers never let up in their reaffirmation of Syrian national identity and the demand for the restoration of Syrian sovereignty over the Golan.
The last section of the article reviews the experience of those who were displaced by the war – the flight from Israeli attacks in 1967 and the expulsions, their uprootedness and reintegration into Syrian society, the government’s response to their needs, and the attenuation of traditions and community ties in an urbanized society. The yearning for lost homes, villages, and a way of life remains strong.
The article is based largely on secondary materials, and we gratefully acknowledge the primary work done by the researchers and writers cited in the notes. Special thanks to Dr. Munir Fakher Eldin for sharing his insight into the current and historical experience of the people of the Golan. Dr. Eldin is Assistant Professor of Philosophy and Cultural Studies at BirzeitUniversity and a member of the board of directors of Al-Marsad – The Arab Center for Human Rights in the Golan Heights. Al-Marsad has been a major source of materials for this paper.
Introduction
The Golan Heights is home to some 20,000 Syrian citizens living under Israeli occupation and the homeland of nearly half a million living elsewhere in Syria. In addition, it has become the residence of about 20,000 Israelis who have settled (the indigenous inhabitants would say “colonized”) the region. The future of the people of the Golan has for decades hinged on the issue of Israeli withdrawal from the Golan in exchange for a formal “land for peace” agreement with Syria.
The Syrian/Israeli “border” has been called “the quiet frontier.” Despite Israeli alarmism about potential dangers, it has, for decades, not been the scene of border clashes with Syrian troops, nor of unwanted incursions or other infiltration. Since the 1973 war, both sides have exercised caution and restraint. One thousand United Nations Disengagement Observer troops patrol a narrow demilitarized zone. The few small Syrian villages that remain have not organized a long-term Intifada or waged a campaign for international support in “throwing off” the occupation. As a result, the Golan, in great contrast to the Palestinian territories, has become the scene of a “forgotten occupation.”
Google searches provide a rough idea of the relative degree of world attention to the Golan. A search on “Golan Heights” turned up about 800,000 items (many of which were Israeli websites promoting tourism and industry), while a search on “West Bank” produced over nine million. A search on “Gaza Strip” found six and a half million and on “Gaza” over 48 million. Searches on Israeli occupation, land confiscation, and human rights also showed a higher level of attention to the West Bank and Gaza (although there are more references to settlements on the Golan than to those in the West Bank/Gaza).
The Golan Heights has simply not been a primary focus of the world press, high profile governmental policy, or grassroots activist organizations. Frequently, it has rated no more than a mention in the laundry list of Israeli-occupied Arab territories.
The news and political analysis that does appear in the world press usually address the diplomatic, geopolitical, and strategic aspects of the Syria-Israel relationship. Reports appear intermittently about negotiations or the possibility of negotiations or about an incident like the 2007 Israeli bombing of what it claimed was a Syrian nuclear reactor under construction. The influence of internal Israeli politics on relations with Syria gets its share of attention.
But Golan itself and the Israeli occupation receive little attention. And much political commentary about the Golan lacks any significant human dimension. What is largely ignored are the lives and well being of the people of the Golan Heights, whether under occupation or displaced. Those who fled or were driven out in 1967 are almost totally forgotten. Nearly the only exception is the colorful press coverage of the “Syrian brides” who marry across the UN-patrolled demilitarized zone and can never return home to their families again.
This background paper attempts to draw attention to the Golan itself, to the experience of its people, and to the Israeli occupation.[3] The footnotes to the text have links to many websites, where the source materials can be found. [To facilitate access to these materials and further study of the issue, this background paper can be found on the website of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) at
History and Background
The Golan before 1967
The Golan Heights is a plateau and mountainous region in southwestern Syria. During the Ottoman Empire it was part of the vilayet[4] of Damascus. The majority population in the Golan, about 85%, was Sunni Muslim. Historically, the highland regions also attracted minority communities. The Golan region was home to Druze, Christians, Alawites,[5] Turkomans, Bedouin tribes, and descendants of 19th century Circassian Muslim refugees from imperial Russian domination in the Caucasus. Palestinians refugees arrived during the 1948 war. Some villages were religiously or ethnically mixed; others were inhabited by mostly one group. The Golan was integrally linked to the surrounding region by ties of language, religion, trade, and kinship. Until the British, the French, and the League of Nations began drawing lines on a map, there were no barriers.[6]
It was a land of small villages, agriculture, and livestock herding with fertile soil and abundant water resources. People worked small plots in 163 villages and 108 individual farms. Wives and children helped in the fields. The official Syrian population figures for the area in 1966 were 147,613. The city of Quneitra with a population of 17,080 in 1960 was the governmental center of the region. Once a caravan stop on the route between Damascus and the Mediterranean, it still lived from agricultural commerce, with large markets each Wednesday and some light industry to process local raw materials. Villagers would drive livestock to sell there and purchase supplies.[7]
Water resources were derived from the abundant rainfall, runoff from snow on Mount Hermon, underground aquifers, the large Baniyas Spring in the north (a major source of the Jordan River), a 100 other springs, and the Yarmouk River in the south. The streams of the Golan feed the Sea of Galilee, Israel’s primary water source.
Economy and society had not been modernized. There was apparently little in the way of agricultural machinery, tractors, harvesters, or water pumps. There were spring-fed irrigation canals. Some houses might have a little electricity from generators. Traditional labor-intensive farming, sheep and cattle herding, and fishing on the Sea of Galilee (Lake Tiberias to Syrians; Lake Kinneret to Israelis) employed 64 percent of the work force. Wheat, barley, vegetables, grapes, olives, apples, sheep, cattle, and poultry were mainstays of the economy. Until 1948, Golanis worked in Palestine as seasonal laborers. The economy was “flourishing,” fed by the abundant water resources. Syrian fishermen sailed the Sea of Galilee, as they had done for centuries.[8]
Muhammad Jum’a ‘Isa, a postman from the village of Butayha, recalled, perhaps through the eyes of nostalgia, “We lived a simple life, without difficulties. Everything was widely available, and all necessities were cheap. All a peasant needs are sugar, tea, and tobacco, since everything else can be had from what he produces.” It was a “good poor man’s country.”[9]
Still, there were major inequalities. Large “feudal” landowners took on tenant farmers. Isa also recalls that “none of us villagers owned land” until a 1958 land reform law began the process of distributing land to villagers. Many Palestinians who were displaced in 1948 became tenant farmers, “farming, rearing livestock and planting grains.” They built homes and, in some places, were “absorbed into our society.” Landlords got one third of the crop. Abdallah Mar’i Hassan says, “We lived as fellahin did, that is, at a subsistence level.”[10]
The government provided assistance through liaison committees elected in each village. Benefits included free fertilizer, agricultural loans, fruit tree seedlings, and assistance in marketing produce.[11]
There were 142 elementary schools and 15 intermediate and secondary schools, but no university or teachers’ college; a half-dozen government dispensaries and health centers, and a hospital. Trade unions and cooperative enterprises were “rudimentary.” There were a few charitable organizations and a women’s society.
Fatima al-Ali reports “Village girls of my generation did not go to school because the school was far away and because each household had about twenty head of livestock, so there was a lot of work. Girls had to milk the animals and do household chores. A few of the boys went to school, but the rest were illiterate. Everybody worked the land.” Fathers could arrange marriages without consulting their daughters, who could not refuse their wishes.[12]
The Druze villages were in the north at the foot of Mount Hermon, the Circassian villages in the central region, and the Sunnis in the less mountainous south and the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Although the religiously and ethnically diverse communities had maintained distinct identities for centuries, it is said that a process of (sometimes contentious) “assimilation” was taking place, as newly independent Syria sought to create a united, modern nation. Under the Ottomans there was emigration to the Americas, and significant in and out migration between the Golan and the rest of Syria. Druze military forces played a leading role in opposition to the French Mandate; and the leader Sultan Pasha al-Atrash became a national hero, when he led an uprising that spread to all of Syria and to Lebanon. Extended family networks were the center of life, and people felt a strong attachment to their villages. The Abu Salah and Safdie families were the traditional religious and political leaders in Majdal Shams. The villagers in Mas’ada “originated from” the same families.
Many Christians moved to Quneitra for education and advancement, while keeping their land, homes, and orchards in the villages. People of different backgrounds mixed easily in Quneitra and there were “warm relations and intermarriage.” Amina al-Khatib, a Druze whose ancestors were from Palestine, recalls, “We also had excellent relations with the neighboring villages. Christians, Sunnis, and Druze lived together like brothers. It was only that they prayed in different places. When it came to other matters, we even dressed alike. We celebrated Christian feasts too.”[13]
In June 1967, all of this changed, overnight.
Origins of the War: Israel’s Territorial Ambitions
The Israeli conquest of the Golan began long before 1967. The Zionist delegation to the Versailles Peace Conference after World War I regarded Mount Hermon as an essential source of water and potential hydroelectric power for the Jewish “homeland” promised by the British in the Balfour Declaration. Their official statement to the Conference read, ‘The economic life of Palestine….depends on the available water supply. It is, therefore, of vital importance….to be able to conserve and control them at their sources. The Hermon is Palestine’s real “Father of Waters” and cannot be severed from it without striking at the very root of its economic life.” The subsequent British and French agreements over the placement of boundaries divided up the water resources of the region and determined the boundaries of modern Syria, Lebanon, and Israel. They also ensured future conflict over territory, water, and security.[14]
In the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, the Syrian army occupied three small territories that had been assigned to Israel by the UN Partition Plan. Both countries signed an armistice agreement in 1949 that made the territories a demilitarized zone (DMZ); they agreed to keep their military forces and fortifications out of the area. Syria withdrew its troops from the zone. While the armistice stated that neither country had sovereignty over the area, pending a peace agreement, Israel reasserted a claim to sovereignty. It began an illegal process of “creeping annexation” to take de facto control over the DMZ through plowing with armored tractors, cultivating land, building fortifications, sending in soldiers disguised as police, sending in military units, sending out military patrols, laying minefields, hampering UN observers, draining off villagers’ water, disrupting villagers’ agricultural work, stealing herds, expelling Arab villagers, and demolishing their homes. It took exclusive control over the Sea of Galilee, using armored boats to attack and drive out Syrian fishermen. This aggressive policy of expansion intentionally provoked Syrian gunfire, which then served to justify further Israeli expansion and military action. Syria was made to appear the troublemaker. UN peacekeeping officer General Carl von Horn commented that the DMZ had become “a network of Israeli canals and irrigation channels edging up against and always encroaching on Arab-owned property.”[15]
During the next years, continuing Israeli encroachments and Syrian responses (some of which were also violations of the 1949 ceasefire agreement) brought about an escalating series of military clashes and hundreds of incidents. Israel repeatedly attacked Syrian forces and villages on the Golan and raided a village to disrupt its agricultural production. The two countries disputed the rights to use the headwaters of the upper Jordan River. Israel developed and successfully completed a major project to divert river water through its National Water Carrier to the dry lands further south within Israel. Syria shelled Israeli construction sites and kibbutzim in the lowlands and allowed Palestinian guerillas to cross the border into Israel. Israel used its air force and bombed Syria’s own water diversion canal in 1965. Events reached a peak in an air battle over the Golan and Damascus in April 1967, when Israel shot down six Syrian fighter planes. The war came two months later, and Israeli seized the Golan.[16]