Golan Heights demonstrations in support of Iraq: with background
Syria-Regional, International, 2/14/1998

At least four Israeli policemen were injured as angry Syrians living in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights town of Majdal Shams demonstrated Saturday marking the 16 anniversary of their famous six-month general total strike that they held back in 1982 to protest Israel's decision to annex the Heights. Israeli police used tear gas canisters to disperse the demonstrators, whose violent revolt against the policemen culminated weeks of tension between the two sides against the background of pro-Iraq demonstrations the Druze population of the Golan Heights held.

The Druze living in the Golan Heights cannot be considered traditional fans of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. They loyalty to their mother country, Syria, and to its ruling Ba'ath Party, made them side more with the Damascus-based faction of the Ba'ath Party against the other faction based in Baghdad. But the shift started back in 1991, during the Gulf War and the allied air strikes on Iraq. Contrary to the official stand of their government in Damascus, Druze in the Golan demonstrated and expressed support for Saddam Hussein. They even condemned all Arab armies that joined the international coalition against Iraq. Syria was one of them. It had sent some of its troops to Saudi Arabia to fight the Iraqis.

This year, however, siding with Iraq was less controversial for the Druze in the Golan Heights. The Syrian government had already declared its full rejection of any military action by the US or Britain against Iraq. Iraqi officials, including deputy prime minister Tareq Aziz and foreign minister Mohammed Said Sahhaf had lately visited Damascus and met with top Syrian officials to discuss the current standoff in the Gulf. During demonstrations last week in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, Druze chanted slogans and songs calling on Iraq to "hit Tel Aviv" again, in reference to Iraqi Scud missile attacks on the Jewish state during the 1991 Gulf War.

Relations between the Syrian Druze in the Golan Heights and Israel have always been tense. They date back to the first day of the fall of the Heights under Israeli military occupation right after the June 1967 war. In years that followed that war, which also gave Israel full control of the rest of Palestine and Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, the Israeli army demolished dozens of Arab villages in the Golan Heights. Today, only four out of almost 170 villages remained. In the pre-1967 era, there were at least 150,000 people living in the Golan Heights. Most of them were evicted and forced to seek refuge in Syria, leaving behind 20,000 people who currently live there, dispersed among the four villages of Ein Qinya, Buq'atha, Mas'ada, and Majdal Shams, which is the largest and the uncrowned capital of the Golan.

The Golan Heights were the most fertile areas in Syria but right after the 1967 war, Israel prevented digging any more irrigation wells in the area and took over the overwhelming area of the strategic heights for military purposes. After they enjoyed the best income out of their agricultural product in Syria before 1967, Syrian Druze who remained in the Golan Heights under the Israeli occupation had to apply for financial help from their mother country, Syria, and from their relatives there. Their businesses drowned with extra rulings issued by the Israeli military banning freedom of movement in the area and imposed high taxes on them.

Sheikh Atef Sha'alan, the spiritual leader of Ein Qinya village was a leading member of the ruling Ba'ath Party in Syria until 1969 when he decided to quit his party activity saying that "resisting Israeli occupation is beyond all party loyalty." It is a national question of the first degree, said Sha'alan. Israel, said Sha'alan, has been trying since the fall of the Heights under its military occupation in 1967 to change the Arab identity and appearance of the Heights. "It started with forcing the Syrians living in the Heights to accept the Israeli system of civil life by means of enforcing on them the national and health insurance systems applied in Israel itself. Eventually, the Syrians had to pay taxes to the Israeli government. Hebrew language was also enforced on the local schools and students from the early elementary classes had to sit for their Hebrew lessons," he said.

Majid Sha'alan, also a resident of Ein Qinya, underwent a heart surgery a few months ago. The cost of the surgery was around US $25,000 but because he was a member in one of the health insurance funds, he did it for free. "I admit that my health insurance helped me. I also admit that my life could have been at stake had I been required to pay for my surgery. Yet this is not a reason good enough for us to accept the Israeli occupation. Even if Israel plants our Golan Heights with gold, we do not want her occupation." He added that had Israel allowed the people in the Golan to receive aide from their mother country, Syria, they wouldn't have been in such a condition to use her own services.

Hayel Sharaf, a farmer in the Golan Heights, said that Israel had prevented him and many others from digging irrigation wells in their areas. "The Israeli authorities brought irrigation experts who claimed that rain water is enough to irrigate our lands and that there was no need for wells. One of them, though, claimed that if we were allowed to store rain water, that would affect the annual storage percentage of water in the Lake of Tiberias. How? I do not know and cannot understand."

This Israeli argument, however, sounds sensible from an Israeli point of view. Israel considers the Sea of Galilee (Lake of Tiberias in Arabic) to be the main water reservoir that receives its water from River Jordan which starts in the Golan Heights' Mount of Hermon. Any extra amount of rain water that falls over the Golan Heights, and of course the melted snow that cover parts of the area for a long period of time, goes immediately to the Sea of Galilee, adding up to Israel's national water reservoir."

Apart from being banned from digging their own wells, Syrian Druze are also forced to buy water from Israel. And even here, they complain of a exorbitant discrimination.
The price Arabs in the Golan pay for water is as five times as higher than the price Jewish settlers in the Heights pay.

Most of the Syrian Druze earn their living from farming. Others go to Israel for work. Jewish settlers, by contrast, also make their living from farming but also from a variety of businesses including wine industry. Israeli wines made in the Golan Heights are considered to be of international reputation. Tourism is also another source of income for Jewish settlers, mainly on Mount Hermon where visitors go for skiing. There are over 40 Jewish settlements in the Golan Heights, the largest of which is Katzrin, a Hebrew modification of the original Arab name "Qassrin", a village which existed before 1967 and was demolished to become the site of the Jewish settlement.

There are no social relations between Arabs and Jewish settlers in the Golan Heights. Yet clashes between the two sides were rare too, thanks to the fact that Jewish settlers are located in remote areas from the four villages of the Arabs.

On December 14, 1981, the Israeli Knesset passed the so-called Golan Law, annexing the strategic heights to Israel. On 14 February 1982, the Syrian population there went on a total general strike for six months, during which time no clashes took place with the settlers but scores of nationals were arrested by Israel. They were charged with incitement after the overwhelming majority of the Arabs living there refused to receive Israeli identity cards. Only a few accepted and those were branded collaborators with Israel. They were excommunicated from their society. No relations were allowed with them. Not even business, family or marriage relations.

In the occupied Golan Heights, the sentiment of Majid Sha'alan statement that "Even if Israel plants our Golan Heights with gold, we do not want her occupation" seems to be shared by all.

Previous Stories:
  US outlines goals on Iraq, Congressional support wavering   (2/13/1998)
  Syrian Golan citizens clashed with Israeli soldiers   (2/3/1998)
  UN General Assembly urges Israel to withdraw from Golan   (12/10/1997)

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