Golan weddings in ICRC photo exhibition
Syria-Israel, Culture, 6/3/2000

The International committee of the Red Cross in Syria hosts on June 6 through 13 a photo exhibition under the title Golan Weddings.

The exhibition's 40 photos is for one collective wedding party pictured in 1998.

The weddings of Syrian women to the Golan started in 1983 and number of so far registered marriages since between 1990-2000 are 54. Marriages often happen between young men who have come from the occupied Golan to study in Syrian universities, and young women whose parents had left the Golan because of the war and the occupation and have settled in Damascus more than thirty years ago.

When the decision to get married is taken, both sides approach the respective authorities to ask for official permissions. When these permissions are issued, the ICRC starts the administrative procedures.

The couple will have to meet on the narrow stretch of land between the last Syrian and Israeli fences.

On the declared wedding day, the brides and their families arrive from one side of the line of separation, while the groom is escorted by his own group from the occupied Syrian Golan. Both groups meet in the middle, between two fences. For some, those weddings are a unique opportunity where they hope to meet relatives who have come with the group from the other side: they can speak to each other instead of screaming their news across the Shouting Hill.

That day, the bride is handed over by her parents to her new family: the family of the groom, who has come to pick her up. She will then cross over to the Occupied Golan and to her new life. Often, and for practical reasons, several brides cross over the same day: weddings are therefore collective and Golan weddings are therefore a meeting place for people who have not seen each other for years. Such meetings always witness outbursts of emotions: laughs and tear, happiness and frustration, a melting pot of feelings before the bride bids her single life and her family farewell.

However, when a young girl living in Damascus agrees to marry to a young Golanese man living in the occupied Golan heights, she literally puts all her life behind. For once she crosses the line of separation ( a line set by the 1974 agreement) towards her in-laws, she knows she can never have coffee at her parent 's house again, at least not until Israel withdraws from the Golan and a peace accord between Syria and Israel is signed.

The Syrian Golan heights has been occupied by Israel since the Arab- Israeli war of 1967.

The direct humanitarian consequence of the Israeli occupation was the separation of the Golanese families: those who fled to Damascus ( and other Syrian cities) and parts of their families who still live until today in the occupied Golan. The latter families are under the protection of the Fourth Geneva Convention ( Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilians in Times of War).

However, the International committee of the Red Cross started operation in Israel in 1967 and in Syria in 1968. Since then, the ICRC has been engaged in operations allowing for certain people from the occupied Syrian Golan heights to cross the line of separation. The ICRC also regularly reminds the Israeli occupation forces of their duties under international humanitarian law regarding the civilian populations.

It is within the ICRC 's mission to keep the contact flowing between the families separated by occupation. And therefore the ICRC acts as a neutral intermediary between Syrian and Israeli authorities on issues relating to the Golanese people living under occupation.

The main tasks carried by the ICRC in the occupied Golan are the following: It has been agreed that a number of students from the occupied Golan can cross over to study in Syrian universities. Their passage is organized by the ICRC. They spend their university years at the university of Damascus ( going back home for Summer holidays) until they graduate and go back home for good, ( or decide to settle in Syria).

Annually, a group of Golanese from the occupied Golan are allowed to visit the holy shrines in their homeland Syria, thus crossing over for religious purposes. This pilgrimage process is facilitated by the ICRC, which handles all the administrative procedures.

It is also when a couple from different sides of the line of separation decided to get married, the ICRC undertakes the appropriate steps to make that possible with the logistical support of the UN Truce Supervision Organization ( UNSTO) and the UN Disengagement Observer Force ( UNDOF).

The ICRC also carried out administrative issues ( such as official family papers) that need handling across the line of separation.

As for ICRC activities run for the Golan in 1999 some 275 Golanese students crossed the line of separation to attend classes at Syrian universities, some 11 couples got married, while other 215 Syrian pilgrims from the occupied Golan visited the holy shrines in Syria.

Previous Stories:
  British Council director: A wide and growing interest to retain cultural links with Syria   (3/25/2000)
  Bedouins hospitality in the desert   (2/15/2000)
  Marriages and divorce rates in Syria   (1/27/2000)
  Father bids bride goodbye as she crosses one part of Syria to another   (9/5/1998)
  Father bids bride goodbye as she crosses one part of Syria to another   (9/5/1998)

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