[News] Golan; adhering to Syrian identity, resisting 'Israelization' attempts

[Anti-Imperialist News]

english.almayadeen.net
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/golan--adhering-to-syrian-identity--resisting--israelization>
Golan; adhering to Syrian identity, resisting 'Israelization' attempts
Ahmad Karakira
August 2, 2024
------------------------------

>From armed Resistance to nonviolent strikes, the residents of the occupied
Syrian Golan Heights have foiled Israeli conspiracies and confirmed their
Syrian Arab identity.
[image: 17cf3475-a6c2-4788-bbfb-4fbee6f3178b.png]

   - Golan; adhering to Syrian identity resisting 'Israelization' attempts

The Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights made headlines on Saturday after
a missile landed on a football field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams,
killing 12 people and injuring dozens.

"Israel" was quick to pin the blame on Hezbollah and claimed that the
Lebanese group targeted the town with an "Iranian rocket".

Playing the role of the "hero", Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu also vowed that "Israel will not let this murderous attack go
unanswered and Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for it, a price it has not
paid before," according to a statement from his office.

Hezbollah denied
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hezbollah-denies-responsibility-for-majdal-shams-strike>
that it targeted Majdal Shams, a town where many residents have rejected
Israeli nationality since the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights in
1967.

In a statement, the Lebanese Resistance group said it "categorically denies
the allegations reported by certain enemy media and various media platforms
concerning the targeting of Majdal Shams."

"The Islamic Resistance has no connection to this incident," it affirmed.

Later, *Axios* cited an American official as saying that Hezbollah
officials told the UN that the Golan Heights incident was the result of an
Israeli interceptor missile
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hezbollah-told-un--israel--was-behind-golan-strike-as-us-war>
hitting the playground in Majdal Shams, the largest town in the Golan.

Moreover, reporters of several media outlets cited some anonymous
eyewitnesses as saying they saw an interceptor missile falling on the field
but noted that they refused to speak in front of the camera out of fear of
retaliation from Israeli authorities.

A couple of days later, Israeli occupation forces launched an aggression on
Beirut's southern suburbs, resulting in the assassination of Hezbollah's
top military leader Sayyed Fouad Shokor
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/hezbollah-announces-martyrdom-of-cmdr--fouad-shokor--sayyed>
.

In a speech
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/you-will-shed-tears--we-entered-a-new-phase--nasrallah-to-is>
delivered at a large funeral ceremony held for Shokor, Hezbollah
Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the Israeli regime tried to
label its aggression on Beirut as a "response" to the incident in Majdal
Shams.

He reiterated that the Resistance has rejected this accusation and denied
responsibility after a thorough investigation, adding that "we have the
courage to take responsibility if it was our attack, even if it was a
mistake, and we have precedents in this matter."

Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out that "Israel cannot accept the hypothesis that
the incident in Majdal Shams was due to an Israeli interceptor missile"
despite the massive evidence suggesting it, which was even put forward by
numerous military experts.

He affirmed that "the aim of accusing the Resistance is to incite sectarian
strife between the [Druze] people of the occupied Golan and [Hezbollah] and
behind it the Shiite sect, in order to undermine the most significant
achievements of Al-Aqsa Flood" of unity and solidarity among Arabs and the
people of the region.

The Hezbollah chief confirmed that this strife was quelled and disabled
"thanks to the awareness and firm positions of the leaders of the Druze
community," extending his gratitude to the political and spiritual leaders
of the Druze for their stance.

The town held Saturday a funeral ceremony for the victims of the attack,
with the Israeli *Channel 13* reporting that residents of Majdal Shams
attacked members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party who
showed up for the ceremony.

Meanwhile, the Israeli news website *Walla* mentioned that Finance Minister
Bezalel Smotrich was met with rejection
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/majdal-shams-residents-mourn-martyrs--reject-any-israeli-pre>
and protests upon his arrival in the town.

"Get out of here. We don't want you here, you killer," the residents told
Smotrich, accusing the Israeli minister of making use of their children's
blood.

*Al Mayadeen*'s correspondent Hanaa Mahameed visited the site where the
projectile landed and gathered testimonies from the town's residents, who
challenged the Israeli narrative that Hezbollah was behind the attack.

The *Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA)* also reported that the residents of
Majdal Shams attempted to kick out Netanyahu from the town, calling him a
"fascist" and a "criminal".

Netanyahu had arrived in Majdal Shams alongside a convoy of high-ranking
security officials.

*Al Mayadeen*'s correspondent in the occupied territories reported that
Netanyahu arrived in Majdal Shams at around 2:00 pm (local time) and was
received by the town's Israeli-appointed council chief in an administrative
building. Netanyahu entered through the back door of the building to avoid
being seen.

After news had gotten around to the town's residents, hundreds gathered
outside the said building, protesting Netanyahu's visit to the occupied
Syrian town.

The demonstrators berated the Israeli prime minister, denouncing him as a
"child killer" and a "criminal".

Netanyuahu's visit to the town did not last for more than 15 minutes,
locals told *Al Mayadeen*, after the incident had enraged residents who
refused to receive the Israeli prime minister.

*Al Mayadeen* also found that several locals refused to allow Israeli
occupation forces to use their homes and rooftops as guarding points ahead
of Netanyahu's arrival.

It is noteworthy that, to this day, the vast majority of Majdal Shams'
residents maintain their Syrian identity, with only about 20% having
accepted Israeli citizenship.

Israeli media previously reported that in 2018, only 272 people out of a
population of about 12,000 voted in local elections held by the Israeli
occupation authorities.
Illegal Israeli occupation of Syrian Golan Heights

To better understand the current situation in the Golan Heights following
the Majdal Shams incident, it is only crucial to look back at the history
of this region since its occupation by "Israel".

In the 1967 war, known as the Six-Day War, between the Arab and Israeli
forces, the latter managed to occupy the Gaza Strip, West Bank, al-Quds,
the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights.

The Golan spans an area of 1,860 square kilometers, accounting for 1% of
Syria's total land area. During the June 1967 war, "Israel" occupied
approximately 1,250 square kilometers of this territory, of which Syria
regained 100 square kilometers following the October 1973 war.

Israeli occupation forces displaced over 95% of the Golan's
population—around 140,000 Syrian citizens—and demolished their villages,
totaling 340 villages and the city of Quneitra.

As part of its settler colonial project, "Israel" has gradually established
33 agricultural settlements and the city of Katzrin on the ruins of Syrian
villages, with a settler population of at least 26,000. They also planted
76 minefields containing approximately two million mines, some within and
around inhabited villages.

Currently, "Israel" occupies about 1,176 square kilometers of the Golan
Heights, including 100 square kilometers of demilitarized zones as per a
1949 Armistice Agreement.

There are five villages in the occupied Golan Heights: Majdal Shams,
Mas'ada, Buq'ata, Ein Qiniya, and Ghajar. About 10% of the residents of the
five villages work in the agricultural sector, utilizing only about 21,000
dunams for farming compared to 110,000 dunams used by Israeli settlers,
according to local data.

The people of Golan have cultivated the region for decades, if not
centuries, and are renowned for their olives and fruits, particularly
apples. However, the limited use of water does not meet local irrigation
needs, with farmers receiving approximately five million cubic millimeters
of water annually, affecting the quantity of their agricultural production.

According to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination,
expanding Israeli settlements and their activities have limited Syrian
farmers' access to water through discriminatory pricing and fees.

Some of the main water sources in the Golan have been seized for exclusive
use by settlers, and other water sources are partially diverted for use in
"Israel", according to a study by researcher Scott Kennedy titled "The
Druze of the Golan: A Case of Non-Violent Resistance."

Central Golan is also known as one of the richest areas in livestock, but
this sector has disappeared from the local economy due to the Israeli
occupation's usurping of grazing lands.

In a move reflecting its savage nature, in 1981, the Israeli government
officially "annexed" the Golan Heights through the "Golan Heights Law"
passed by the Knesset, violating international resolutions that deemed the
decision "null, void, and without international legal effect," a stance
reaffirmed by the United Nations on November 28, 2023.

Despite the UN and the international community not recognizing the
"annexation" of these territories and international law considering the 33
Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights illegal, "Israel" has desperately
sought recognition of its step, finally receiving it in 2019 by then-US
President Donald Trump.

Subsequently, a new settlement was established in the occupied Golan
Heights named after Trump.

Even after Joe Biden assumed office in 2020, his administration did not
reverse the decision and has referred to the region as "northern Israel"
rather than occupied Syrian territory.

In the same context, on December 26, 2021, the Israeli government, led then
by Naftali Bennett, approved a plan to double the Jewish population in the
Golan by 2030, with an initial budget of one billion dollars aimed at
attracting 23,000 settlers to the area.
Golan residents refuse Israeli citizenship, affirm Syrian identity

The void Israeli decisions did not prevent the residents of the occupied
territory from asserting their right to self-determination, where more than
90% of the Golan Heights residents rejected Israeli "citizenship" in 1981.

Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian attorney and human rights activist, recalled
in an interview in 1983 that "those who accepted Israeli identity cards
were often shunned by the entire community."

"They decided that anyone who accepts Israeli identity cards is really
cutting themselves off from the community 'They are no longer one of us, no
longer a Druze,'" he says.

In his study, *The Druze of the Golan: A Case of Non-Violent Resistance*,
Scott Kennedy also detailed the matter, writing:

"A harsh reception greeted those who took Israeli identification: few would
speak to them or enter their homes; they were not invited to community
events, weddings or funerals; and they were not welcomed to religious
gatherings. Their dead were denied the community's prayers. Such tremendous
social pressure was exerted on them that all but a few diehard quislings
returned their cards. Those who repented were required to recant publicly,
or to go door-to-door to apologize to their neighbors, and to contribute
money to support the families of those imprisoned."

According to Kuttab, after the Israeli Knesset passed a law authorizing the
"annexation" of the Golan, the region's residents appealed to the Israeli
government and petitioned for a reversal of the decision, which would
entail forcing Israeli citizenship on them. When their demands were
rejected, they announced that they would not comply with the occupation
authorities' measures.

"Israel can do whatever it wants to us: they can confiscate our land. They
can kill us. But they cannot tell us who we are. They cannot change our
identity," Kuttab cited Golan villagers as saying.

Following the "annexation" decision, Golan residents launched a heroic
nonviolent Resistance in an attempt to defy Israeli diktats.

Detailing these steps, Kennedy indicated that the laborers' refusal to work
disrupted industry in northern occupied Palestine for several weeks, and
the elderly and young defied Israeli-imposed curfews to harvest crops.

Groups of women confronted Israeli soldiers, seizing at least 16 weapons
and handing them over to army officers, demanding the withdrawal of troops.
The weapons were sometimes exchanged for the release of detainees.

One village, taking advantage of the strike, completed a major sewer
project that had been denied funding and permits by Israeli authorities for
years. The strike also saw trenches dug and pipelines installed.

Villagers began developing cooperative economic structures, such as
community-wide tree spraying with the understanding that the crops would be
shared by all. They also started establishing their own schools.

After four months, Israeli authorities indicated that efforts to force
Golan residents to accept Israeli "citizenship" would be suspended. The
residents were led to believe that, on April 1, 1982, the Israeli efforts
to impose "citizenship" on them would cease, only for "Israel" to further
escalate its repressive measures against the people of the Golan.

Amid a media blackout, an estimated 14,000-15,000 Israeli soldiers raided
the region and imposed a 43-day siege, cutting off electricity and water to
the villages and destroying several homes.

In one demonstration, nine people were injured, and at least two died as
ambulance services to nearby hospitals were blocked. At least 150 people
were detained daily, with fourteen receiving four-to-five-month sentences
and most fined for not having Israeli identification.

During the siege, Israeli troops conducted door-to-door raids, seizing
Syrian-era identification papers and replacing them with Israeli IDs. The
following morning, the town squares of various Golan villages were littered
with discarded Israeli identity cards, a sign of the resident's firm
refusal of Israeli identification, even if it means that they have to
endure direct threats of personal harm and communal suppression.

As a result of the residents' fierce resistance and adherence to their land
and Syrian Arab identity, the Israeli government eventually lifted the
siege, withdrawing troops, removing checkpoints, and leaving the Golan
residents alone.

But today, most Golan residents unwillingly hold Israeli ID cards, where
their status is described as residents and non-citizens, primarily to
travel to their workplaces. Their situation is similar to that of the
residents of the eastern part of occupied al-Quds who have refused Israeli
"citizenship".

Israeli media highlight that the residents of the occupied Golan Heights
have maintained close ties with homeland Syria even after "Israel" occupied
the area in 1967 and "annexed" it in 1981, which proves that the occupation
has failed to isolate and detach the Golan from its true Arab identity and
surroundings.

Amid the Israeli restrictions imposed on the movement of residents in the
occupied Golan Heights, the region's citizens still head to a hill that
separates Majdal Shams from the liberated part of Syria and use
loudspeakers to communicate with their separated relatives during weekends
and holidays to exchange greetings, well-wishes, and conversations, which
led to the site being named "The Shouting Hill."

According to Israeli figures, among the 21,000 Druze living in the Golan,
only 4,300 are considered Israelis, including some who inherited their
"legal status" from parents who previously accepted citizenship, while the
vast majority identify as Syrian.

The aforementioned historical details are evidence that the residents of
the occupied Golan Heights have historically resisted Israeli laws aimed at
their "Israelization". Now, it seems that "Israel" is using the Majdal
Shams incident as a pretext to further tighten its occupation of the Golan
and detach its people from their Syrian Arab identity.

Armed Resistance

Regarding armed Resistance, Eduardo Aboultaif's study traced the history of
the military Resistance against Israeli occupation in the Golan Heights.

The study, based on interviews with Resistance members, indicated that a
group of about 50 young men from the Golan formed a secret Resistance
movement immediately after the Israeli occupation of the region.

According to one of the founding members, the group's aim was to provide
intelligence to the Syrian army, motivated purely by its members'
patriotism, without any religious, familial, tribal, or sectarian
affiliations.

The main activity of this Resistance network, which comprised three
operational cells, was gathering intelligence and establishing
communication with the Syrian army.

A group of 12 young men also escalated their military Resistance by
planting mines near Israeli military sites in the Golan, culminating in a
successful attack on an Israeli tank ammunition depot containing 1,200
rockets.

Following the discovery of the Resistance cell, some members were sentenced
to 25-32 years in Israeli prisons and two were killed at the hands of
Israeli occupation forces.

*Read more: Did an Israeli Iron Dome missile cause the Majdal Shams
massacre?
<https://english.almayadeen.net/news/politics/did-an-israeli-iron-dome-missile-cause-the-majdal-shams-mass>*
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20240802/bae6c080/attachment-0001.htm>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: 17cf3475-a6c2-4788-bbfb-4fbee6f3178b.png
Type: image/png
Size: 1425429 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://freedomarchives.org/pipermail/news_freedomarchives.org/attachments/20240802/bae6c080/attachment-0001.png>