Syrians in the occupied Golan: countdown for end of Israeli occupation
Syria-Israel, Politics, 3/22/2006

(This is an ArabiNews.com report from Feb, 2000, not publishing previously, but republished today for its continued relevance in bringing some information about Syrians living under the Israel occupation).

A new meeting place is due to open across the ceasefire line between Syria and Israel after both sides reportedly agreed to put an end to the famous Hill of Tears.

The hill, some call it the Valley of Screams and others name it the Valley of Tears in reference to the valley that separates the two hills on both sides of the line, has been the site where Syrians living in the Occupied Golan Heights have been talking to their relatives who come from Syria to the border. Their means of communication is a huge megaphone.

Israel claimed that Syria has put the request through the Red Cross to shut down the hill. Head of the Knesset interior committee, Saleh Tarif, who himself is an Arab Druze, is said to be preparing to visit Damascus soon to extend thanks to President Hafez al-Assad for agreeing to open up a defined Syrian-Israeli area where Druze families who live on both sides of the border can meet.

Last week, hundreds of Golan Heights residents gathered on the occupied side of the ceasefire line to mark the 18th anniversary of the Israeli decision to impose Israeli law on the Golan Heights. Back in February 1982, the Golan residents declared a six-month general strike and in a bid of defiance they set fire en masse to their newly-issued Israeli identity cards. Since then, they have been marking their revolt every February 14. This year, however, many of them feel that this could be the last time they mark this day under occupation. Despite the reported impasse in negotiations between Syria and Israel, many residents in the Golan believe that Israel will ultimately pull out of the Golan Heights, even before the end of this year. The latest developments in Lebanon and the increasing attacks by Hizbullah on Israeli troops have even strengthened their feeling of imminent liberation.

"We always mark this day with our brothers from the other side. Over the years, the Israeli army has done its maximum to prevent us from doing so. They arrested many of our brothers and dispersed us with tear gas. Yet we never gave up," said one of the speakers. He did not expect that within an hour after he finished his speech, Israeli troops would use tear gas and rubber bullets to disperse the angry demonstrators. At least five Syrians from the Golan were rushed to the local clinic with either rubber bullet wounds or gas inhalation.

Winds of solidarity blew through the chilly weather sending signals of defiance across the ceasefire line.

The first time I visited the Golan Heights was more than 20 years ago. A flashback to the past shows that nothing really changed except for the fact that the children of yesterday are not only the leaders of today but the bridge between the old traditional generation of leadership and a future leadership in making.

There are approximately 20,000 Syrian Druze living on the Golan Heights. They have remained intact as all Israeli attempts to break their unity have failed. Many argue that the Golan Druze have managed to keep their unity because of their limited number. Everyone knows everyone else in the Golan Heights where 138,000 Arabs who originally lived there before the 1967 war were forced out and had their 167 villages destroyed by the Israeli troops.

Agriculture is the main economic activity in the Golan Heights. The Golan is fertile and rich with water resources. The Israelis were free to utilize this fertile zone for their best wineries after they took over almost 90 percent of the land in the Golan Heights. The Israeli occupation has left its fingerprints on the daily life in the Golan Heights. The taxes are very high and the government aid is minimal, unlike what Jewish settlers in the area receive from their government. The Golan Arab residents argue that only one tenth of the water resources are available for their use while the rest goes to the Jewish settlements.

A Druze society is usually seen as a conservative one where man is the dominant member of the family. But in the Golan Heights, things are a bit different. The role of Arab woman has always been active in fighting alongside the Arab men, said Najwa Imasha, a woman activist from the Golan Heights. She added that so was the case since the days of the Ottoman rule, followed by the British and French mandates in the region and finally by the Israeli military occupation. In the first year of occupation after the June 1967 war, she said, six women were arrested. In 1982, when the famous six-month general strike was launched, she added, women also played a leading role. At least 13 women were arrested while those who escaped arrest had to stay behind at home and look after their families with the absence of their jailed husbands.

According to Najwa, the women's struggle was not only in the pure political events but has also taken many other shapes. Working in the fields is one of them, she said. She added that women have also embarked on higher education, saying that women have graduated from Syrian and Russian universities and even from the Israelis universities as well. But there is more to do on the female front, she said. She expressed her dissatisfaction with the situation in the Golan Heights where half of the teachers are women yet none of them has a post of a school master, for instance. "It sounds sometimes that this senior position was exclusively made for man," she said. Najwa herself lost her husband six years ago and yet managed to run a family. "The loss of a father is not as detrimental for a family as is the death of the mother," she said.

Previous Stories:
  Conditions of Syrian prisoners in Israeli jails discussed   (3/20/2006)
  Syria marks the 24th anniversary of general strike on Golan   (2/15/2006)
  Syrian citizens of Golan underline commitment to national unity   (1/26/2006)
  Inhabitants of Golan clash with the occupation troops   (2/15/2000)
  Syrians in the Golan: Liberation day is evident   (2/4/2000)
  Syria, Israel work for a settlement for Israel's withdrawal from the Golan   (1/18/2000)

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