A Tale of Heroism

“Our land is Syrian Arab .. It is our identity, our address, and our  most sacred possession .. We would shed  our blood for it  and sacrifice our lives . We will not compromise  or give up an inch of it.” This is what the people of the Golan chanted as they defied  the Israeli   occupation, whose forces, accompanied by bulldozers, stormed the Al-Hafayer area, east of the village of Masada, to raze its agricultural land, in preparation for the implementation of its settlement plan to establish wind turbines on it under the pretext of generating electricity from wind energy, while the real goal is to seize the land and displace its people.

The heroic resistance  of the  people of the Golan   in the Hafayer region is part of an old tale that tells  of their continuous struggle to reject the turbine plan – for  they have been carrying out general and comprehensive strikes, sit-ins, demonstrations and vigils since 2019 to thwart this settlement scheme, which is one of the most dangerous Judaization colonial schemes targeting the Golan.This scheme  threatens to seize more than six thousands  dunums of their lands- lands that are cultivated with cherries and apples and this scheme is a  violation of United Nations resolutions, foremost of which is Security Council Resolution No. 497 of 1981, which confirms that all occupation measures in the occupied Syrian Golan are null and void and have no legal effect.

On Tuesday morning 20th of June , the occupation forces brought in large reinforcements to besiege and cut off  the agricultural lands in the al-Hafayir area, preventing their owners from reaching them. However, hundreds of Golan residents rose up, heading to the area to confront the occupation forces, expelling them and preventing them from razing their land , confirming their categorical refusal to set up turbines on them.The Israeli  occupation forces met them with a barrage of bullets and poison gas bombs, which resulted in the injury of dozens  but they clung to their land, and their steadfastness forced the occupation forces to leave the area.The Golanese declared the next day a day of anger and strike, rejecting the occupation’s measures and criminal practices against them and their land. 

The  day of anger began with hundreds of Golan residents gathering since seven in the morning in the Abu Dhar Al-Ghafari complex in the Al-Marj area, between the villages of Masada and Majdal Shams, in preparation to head to the Al-Hafayer area, which the occupation had already closed all roads leading to it., The occupation  began to bulldoze large swathes   of  agricultural land . However, this did not prevent the arrival of the people who took rugged side roads  , and were able to prevent the occupation  from completing the bulldozing operations despite the assault of its forces

The Golanese  then went to the village of Masada, and demonstrated in front of an occupation site where the ten young men were detained, demanding their release, but the occupation forces responded with bullets and poison gas bombs, which resulted in the injury of more than 50 people.

In solidarity with the people in the Golan, the  governorates of the rest of Syria  organized vigils in a number of cities  denouncing the aggression of the occupation against the Golanese , and rejecting its attempt to confiscate Golanese lands and to  set up wind turbines on them. The Palestinians in the Galilee region also staged a mass demonstration and blocked a number of roads, calling for an end to the occupation’s attacks on the people of the Golan, while  a delegation from the occupied territories in 1948 visited  the village of Masada, in support of its people and confirmation of the unity of the struggle against the occupation and its plans.

The danger of setting up turbines lies in that it will lead to the  suffocation of the villages of the occupied Golan, dismembering them, and isolating them from each other, in addition to stopping their urban expansion.It will also lead to displacing their people. The entire area will be   turned into an industrial zone controlled by the occupation, in addition to severe damage to the environment.The  occupation insists on proceeding with it to harass the people of the occupied Syrian Golan to implement its real goal of displacing them and replacing them with settlers.

Reem Haddad

Editor – in – Chief