Highlighting events and facts in occupied Syrian Golan
Syria constantly affirms that the occupied Golan is an integral part of its territory, and that it is working to return every inch of its land by all available means, as it is an eternal right that does not expire by statute of limitations.
Syria stresses that the Israeli occupation’s measures in the Golan are invalid, and violate international law and the United Nations Charter, and that the whole world cannot change the historical fact that the Golan was and will remain Arab and Syrian.
The total area of the Golan is estimated at 1860 square kilometers. The number of villages in the Golan before its occupation in June 1967 was 164 villages, in addition to 146 farms. The number of people in the Golan was 153,000, according to the 1966 census. The area occupied by “Israel” was 1250 km2, in the wake of the 1967 aggression. 137 villages and 112 farms fell under occupation, in addition to the cities of Quneitra and Wafik.
The Israeli occupation destroyed 131 villages and 112 farms, and committed the most heinous massacres against its people and expelled them.
The number of the people of the Golan in the occupied part estimated at 138 thousand, 131 thousand of them were abandoned by the occupation, and 7 thousand remained in 6 villages, which are: Majdal Shams, Masada, Baqatha, Ain Qunya, Ghajar, Sahita. The number reached 25 thousand at the end of 2022.
The occupation besieged the 6 villages, isolating them from each other, and preventing their people from communicating with their families back home, but that did not prevent them from resisting the occupation and rejecting its colonial practices.
The occupation later displaced the people of the village of Sahita and they fled to Masada.Sahita was destroyed and turned into a military site for its forces.
The occupation worked to change the geographical and demographic features of the Golan, and established 35 settlements on the ruins of the villages it destroyed. There are currently about 30,000 settlers.
The Israeli occupation planted about two million mines of various cluster bombs and deadly types in 76 minefields in the Golan, some of them in and around populated villages.
On November 22, 1967, UN Security Council Resolution 242 was passed, which stipulated the withdrawal of “Israel” from the lands it occupied in 1967, including the Golan Heights.
On October 6, 1973, the start of the October Liberation War to erase the repercussions of the June 1967 setback, restore rights and liberate the land.
The Syrian Arab Army realized heroic and honorable achievements during the war, and the Israeli enemy suffered great losses.
On October 22, 1973, UN Security Council Resolution 338 was passed, which stipulated the need to implement Resolution 242 in all of its parts.
After the October War of Liberation and the War of Attrition that followed it, the Disengagement Agreement was signed in May 1974.
On June 26, 1974, the founding leader Hafez al-Assad raised the nation’s flag over the sky of Quneitra after its liberation from the Israeli occupation.
1150 km2 is the remaining area of the Golan under occupation.
On March 25, 1981, the people of the Golan issued the national document in which they affirmed that the occupied Golan is an integral part of Syria, and that the Syrian Arab nationality is an inherent characteristic that does not disappear, and is passed on from parents to sons.
On December 14, 1981, the occupation announced its invalid decision to “annex the Golan” and impose its laws and jurisdiction over it.
On December 17, 1981, UN Security Council Resolution 497 was issued confirming the identity of the Syrian Arab Golan, and the annexation decision is considered null and void, and has no legal effect.
On February 14, 1982, our people in the Golan responded to the false annexation decision by announcing a national strike that lasted for 6 months. Demonstrations spread throughout the Golan, rejecting the racist decision.
On March 30, 1982, the occupation announced that it would impose the “Israeli identity” on the people of the Golan. On the first of April, its forces stormed the occupied villages and abused the people.
On April 1, 1982, the people fought the “Battle of Identity”, confirming their adherence to their Syrian Arab identity and rejecting the occupation’s decision, as they burned “Israeli identities cards” in front of Israeli heavily armed forces.
On July 1982, after more than 6 months of strike, the occupation was forced to yield to the demands of the people of the Golan and back down from its racist plan, to impose the “Israeli identity” on them.
Many people from Golan martyred in defense of their land, among them: Izzat Shakib Abu Jabal, Nazih Abu Zaid, Ghalia Farahat, Nazih Mahmoud, Hayel Abu Zaid, Sitan al-Wali, Asaad al-Wali.
On August 27, 2014, the occupation closed the Quneitra crossing, which is the only legal crossing for the people of the occupied Golan to communicate with their homeland, Syria, and to market their agricultural crops “apples and cherries” there.
On October 30, 2018, the people of the Golan held a sit-in in the town of Majdal Shams, rejecting the so-called “local council elections.” They prevented the occupation authorities from holding them and burned the “electoral cards.”
On March 25, 2019, US President Donald Trump announced his illegal decision to accept “the annexation of the Golan” to the occupying entity. Syria affirmed its absolute and categorical rejection of the decision, which represents the highest degree of contempt for international legitimacy. It also stressed that the whole world cannot change the historical fact that the Golan was and will remain an Arab Syrian area.
The Syrians organized protest stops in all governorates, in rejection of Trump’s decision, stressing that it is organized international terrorism, and that the occupied Golan is Syrian Arab, and will return to the homeland.
On March 25, 2019, Secretary-General of the United Nations, Antonio Guterres, said: The status of the occupied Syrian Golan has not changed, and it is reflected in the resolutions of the Security Council and the General Assembly, and the decision was met with widespread international rejection.
In March and April 2019, the people of the Golan held vigils to reject Trump’s decision, stressing that it is illegal and violates the relevant United Nations resolutions.
On June 14, 2019, the occupation announced the establishment of a settlement called “Trump” on an area of about 276 dunums of the lands of the displaced village of Al-Qanabeh in occupied Golan.
On June 18, 2019, people of Golan held a comprehensive strike, rejecting the colonial occupation’s plan to establish wind turbines on about 6 thousand dunums of their land.
On February 2, 2020, the people of the Golan carried out a second comprehensive strike, rejecting the wind turbines scheme.
On December 9, 2020, a third strike in rejection of the turbine plan and the occupation forces’ assault with bullets and poisonous gas on the people of Golan who were holding a sit-in, which led to the injury of scores.
On October 11, 2021, the Golan’s people organized a protest in the village of Masada, rejecting the occupation government’s holding a provocative meeting on the Golan Heights and announcing a plan to establish 7 thousand settlement units, to double the number of settlers in the Golan Heights.
On December 26, 2021, the occupation government held a meeting in the Golan Heights, during which it announced the establishment of two new settlements on its land that would include 12,000 settlement units. Syria confirmed that this was a clear violation of the rules of international law, the Fourth Geneva Convention, and Security Council Resolution 497, stressing that it worked to restore the entire Golan Heights by all available means guaranteed by international law, as it is an eternal right that does not expire by statute of limitations.
On April 29, 2022, people in the Golan set up an open sit-in in the al-Manfukha area, east of the displaced village of Baraka, in rejection of the turbine plan, calling on the international community to stop it.
On May 14, 2022, the people in the Golan organized demonstrations in Sahita, Al-Hafayer and Al-Manfouha, in rejection of the turbines plan, which threatened to seize their lands.
On June 11, 2022, a protest stand in the Marj Al-Yafouri area, between the villages of Masada and Majdal Shams, took place to confirm the continuation of the struggle to thwart the settlement turbine scheme.
The General Assembly of the United Nations annually renews the adoption of resolutions confirming that the Golan is Arab and Syrian, and that the actions of Israel, the occupying power, are invalid, and it must completely withdraw from it until the line of June 4, 1967, and the need to implement the relevant Security Council resolutions, foremost of which is Resolution 497.
Inas Abdulkareem