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The area occupied in 1967 equals 1250 km2. The 1973 war and the subsequent
separation of forces led to the return of 100 km2 to Syria.
The population of the Golan Heights on the eve of the 1967 war was roughly
138,000 people living in the two cities (Quneitra and Afiq), 164 villages
and 146 agricultural farms. During and following the war, 131,000 people
were uprooted and expelled eastward, turning into refugees in their own
country, the majority in camps around Damascus. The uprooted populations,
as of today, total half a million people.
Immediately following the expulsion of the residents of the Golan Heights,
the two cities, 130 villages, and 112 agricultural farms were destroyed.
Six villages with a population totaling 7,000 remained. In 1971, the Israelis
destroyed the village of Sukhatah and its residents were deported to the
adjacent village of Masa?dah. The place of the village was turned
into a military base.
Today, the Golan communities are concentrated in five villages: the villages
of Majdal Shams, Masa?dah, Buqa?tah and ?Ain Kinya to the
north and east of the heights, and in the village of Ghajar in the northwest.
Today the number of Syrians living in the Golan totals 18,000, the majority
Druzes and an Alouite minority.
Water in the Golan The average quantity of rainfall in the Golan Heights is 105 billion
m3 per year, but most it evaporates. In general, about 10% of the rainfall
nourishes the underground water reserves and 9% flow in streams and rivers. The water reserves in the Golan are concentrated in the north, west,
and south of the Heights. The surface water has concentrated in two reserves:
the reserve in western Golan which is the Jordan River and the Lake Tiberias
reserve. This is the area of the Banyas River, where 600 million m3 per
year flow. The second is the reserve of Wadi al-Rqad that includes the
water from the eastern part of the Golan, and ends in the south of the
Yarmouk River. In the Yarmouk River, which is a tributary to Lake Tiberias,
flows 500 million m3 of water per year. In the underground water reserves
3 million m3 per year flow, and in the upper reserves flow 37 million
m3 of water per year. There are about 80 water wells in the Golan Heights, the larger ones
being Beit Jin and Al Waiwani in which from each one comes out 1,900 liters
of water per second. According to Dr. Taysir Mara?i, director of the Arab Association
for the Development of the Golan, each settler in the Golan is allotted
700 m3 of water per year per dunam whereas the Syrian residents of the
Golan are allotted 70-100 m3 of water per dunam per year. Syrian Population The Syrian community that still remains in the Golan did not easily come
to terms with the Israeli occupation, and in the first days of occupation
had already begun to organize in order to protect its existence and preserve
its land, identity and national pride. The development of independent
institutions, community solidarity, attachment to the Syrian national
symbols, and the keeping of ties with the homeland typified the daily
lives of the overwhelming majority of the population. Only a negligible
few of the families agreed to collaborate with the Israeli military government,
and to join its institutions. At the same time, underground groups were active, that were in the most
part connected to the Syrian intelligence, and passed to it information
on IDF activities in the Golan. This underground activity came to an end
with the death of ?Izat Abu Jabal, who fell in an ambush while crossing
a mine field located near Majdal Shams. The elimination of the underground opposition encouraged the authorities
to establish control apparatuses based on a few collaborators: the establishment
of funded local legislatures, establishment of a religious court, the
adapting of the educational system to the educational system of the Druzes
in Israel, etc. Yet, the opposition did not disappear, and gradually began
to go beyond small cells of activists, and to go around the entire community. In 1980, the Israeli government began to prepare the grounds for annexation
and seducing the inhabitants with Israeli citizenship. These attempts
received immediate opposition, and in a general and open meeting of all
the inhabitants of the villages of the northern Golan it was decided to
place a total ban on anyone who would receive an Israeli identity card.
The large number of general and open meetings was the way in which the
inhabitants decided their paths of collective opposition. The Knesset
decision in December 1981 to annex the Golan to Israel and to force the
inhabitants to change their Syrian citizenship to Israeli citizenship
ignited opposition from the whole community, and on 14 February 1982 the
inhabitants decided on an open-ended general strike. The strike lasted
over half a year, and was accompanied by a long chain of non-violent actions
that sparked support and solidarity throughout the country and the whole
world. Thousands of soldiers were unable to end the strike and the unity
of the inhabitants; and, the few collaborators that received Israeli citizenship
were outcast. The identity cards that were passed out by the military
were burned in protest in the village squares. Finally, Israel was forced
to retract its decision, and the inhabitants of the Golan Heights kept
their Syrian citizenship. Among those who had chosen to accept Israeli citizenship after the invasion
of the Golan in 1967 were about half of the residents of the Syrian Alouite
village of Rajar. In July 2000 with the aide of the UN, Israel reached
an unwritten agreement with Lebanon in which the borders would be adjusted
to give Lebanon control over the northern half of Rajar, thereby splitting
the village literally in half. Residents were outraged, and demanded that
the village remain intact within Israel, threatening to interfere with
the UN cartographers who would try to enter the village and mark the border.
In November 2000, another informal agreement was reached in which Israel
agreed to honor Lebanon?s sovereignty in the northern part of the
village, but to erect a fence on the outskirts for security reasons while
also not dividing the community. Many see this fence as a problem, and
believe its presence will be provocative to Lebanon. Despite the presence of Israeli citizenship, since 1967 21 people have
been killed and 31 injured from shots fired by the Israeli occupation
forces. Seven hundred people were sentenced to prison for their political
activities, and at this moment 13 people are still serving a sentence
and 5 are in detention. Israeli Settlers On the ruins of the Golan Heights, and on the agricultural lands of its
residents (that in 1966 equaled 43,000 dunams), were established Jewish
settlements. These settlements were founded with an undisguised lust for
the land and little more justification. According to a 1976 interview
with Moshe Dayan by Rami Tal and published in Yediot Aharonot on 27 April
1997, Dayan revealed the methods of capturing land in roughly 80% of the
cases. Tractors were sent to plough in the demiliterized areas with full
knowledge that the Syrians would open fire. If this did not happen, the
advance into the territory was furthered in an effort to provoke Syrian
fire, after which Israeli forces could initiate the artillery and then
the airforce attacks. Systematically in this manner, Israeli settlers
gained access to the region, and today number around 17,000. Next to the
settlements, there are 60 military bases and training areas expanding
on hundreds of thousands of dunams, including Peak Strip, and air landing
strip in the southern Golan. From the 31 million square meters of water
that is extracted each year, 28 million is allotted to the settlers, and
only 4 million to the Syrian inhabitants. In the midst of the Israeli occupation, the Syrian inhabitants of the
Golan are relegated to a significantly narrower realm of property and
opportunity. Spread across the Golan are 33 Israeli settlements, including
10 Kibbutzim, or agricultural collective settlements; 19 moshavim, or
agricultural cooperative settlements; 2 regional community centers in
one larger township, and the local council center, Qatzrin. The land farmed
by these settlers encompasses 80 square kilometers and produces anywhere
from native deciduous crops to more exotic produce for export, such as
citrus orchards, wine vineyards, and hothouse flowers. The Syrian population,
though comparable in size to the settler population, farms a mere 20 square
kilometers, producing mainly deciduous crops. 246 square kilometers of
the total Golan and Mt. Hermon area are set aside for a nature preserve,
and pasture land encompasses roughly 500 square kilometers. In addition to the region?s chief activity of agriculture, the settlements
have allowed for the development of Israeli operated and staffed industrial
centers in Qatzrin and Bnei Yehuda. These centers include metal production,
printing and communications, plastics, electronics, and technological
incubators. Despite this significant industrial development, the employment
available to the Syrian population in the Golan remains incredibly restricted
and available only in the form of unskilled or semi-skilled wage labor,
with no access to appropriate health or social benefits. Outside of Israeli agriculture and industry, the Golan serves as a rather
profitable tourism center for the whole of Israel. Despite the controversial
local and the supposed threat of possible settlement evacuation as part
of a peace agreement with Syria, over 1,000 rooms have been built to accommodate
tourists while they enjoy attractions like museums, ski resorts, battle
sites, and nature reserves. These activities ironically attract some 2.1
million visitors annually and show no sign of being curtailed by the Israeli
government. In April 2000, the government approved a tourism project involving
the building of a 400 room hotel, a commercial center and a boardwalk
at Kursi Junction on the shore of Lake Kinneret. This development further
included plans in 2000 for 2,500 new homes in the settlements of Had-Ness,
Knaf, Gamala and Ramot. Besides being an agricultural land reserve for settlers, and a source
of water for Israel, the Golan Heights is also one large military base.
Huge areas are used as training areas on behalf of the military and its
corps, and in every place explosives can be found. An additional hazard
lies in unexploded grenades and missiles, which endanger the inhabitants
of the place. The problem of the land mines in especially serious. In
a study done by the organization Al-Haq, with the support of activists
from Majdal Shams, 76 minefields were counted in the Golan Heights. Some
of these fields were close if not bordering the inhabited villages, and
sometimes in the heart of those very villages. Since the Israeli occupation,
16 people have been killed by land mines, and 45 have become disabled.
According to the Ottowa Declaration, the occupying country is responsible
for eliminating the land mines that endanger the lives of the inhabitants.
The annexation of the Golan only emphasizes the responsibility of the
Israeli government and the IDF to clear the minefields. Organizations Active in the Syrian Community in the Golan Heights The Arab Association for Development A non-profit organization established
in 1991 by local residents active in community development. AAD aims at
compensating for the lack of state services in health care, culture, education,
and infrastructure development by means of independent initiatives. AAD
runs a health care clinic, organizes kindergartens and summer camps for
children and youth and holds seminars on social and political issues.
It also has a unit for consulting and advising local farmers. AAD provides
information as well as arranges lectures and tours, upon request, in the
Golan Heights. Contact: Dr. Taysir Mara?i
Majdal Shams 12438
Tel/Fax: 06-6984149
Medical Center: 04-6982672
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