Stop Ignoring the Plight of the Syrian Golan

Why has the Syrian Golan and the rights of its people been ignored time and time again by the international community?

Recently the United Nations Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs in the Occupied Territories confirmed that Israeli policies and practices in the Golan isolate the population from their family and cultural ties in Syria, and impose integration with the Israeli economy and educational system because there is no alternative. .

The committee revealed that Israel has sent a battalion known for its violent practices to the Syrian Golan, explaining that this battalion had been subjected to a disciplinary procedure for negligently causing the death of Omar Abdul Majeed Asaad – the 78-year-old Palestinian-American. – North of Ramallah in January 2022.

On January 12th, 2022, Israeli soldiers dragged Omar Asaad out of his West Bank home in the middle of the night during a violent raid. Witnesses say he was bound, gagged, and left in a cold warehouse for hours. He was found face down and unresponsive. An autopsy determined that he had died of a heart attack.

Israel faced widespread calls to open a criminal investigation into Asaad’s death, including public pressure from U.S. lawmakers and the State Department. The Israeli army launched an internal investigation into the matter and concluded that it was merely a “grave and unfortunate event, resulting from a moral failure and poor decision-making on the part of the soldiers.”

Since the committee’s  establishment in 1968, Israel has long refused to respond to its annual requests for consultations with the Israeli authorities, and does not allow its members to enter Israel, the Palestinian territories or the Syrian Golan.

Israel officially announced the annexation of the Golan Heights on December 14, 1981, after its control over it in the Six-Day War in June of 1967. – a move that was considered null and void due to its illegality.

Editor In Chief

Reem Haddad