The 39th anniversary of the Israeli occupation’s ill-famed decision to annex the Syrian Golan
December 14th marks the 39th anniversary of the ill-famed Israeli decision to annex the occupied Syrian Golan. People in the occupied Syrian Golan mark this anniversary every year to affirm that they will continue to be adherent to the Syrian national identity, that the Golan will continue to be a Syrian Arab land and that the Israeli annexation decision is null and void.
Since 1981, the people in the occupied Syrian Golan confronted the Israeli occupation’s arbitrary measures and thwarted the implementation of the administrative rules of this vicious decision by adhering to the “National Document” that they issued on March 25th, 1981, and by affirming that the occupied Golan is an integral part of Syria and that the Syrian Arab nationality is an inherent characteristic that never disappears.
On February 14th, 1982, the people in the occupied Golan carried out a national strike that lasted for six months in protest against the Israeli occupation’s annexation decision and attempts to impose the “Israeli identity”. During this period, the Syrian Golan witnessed massive demonstrations against the occupation’s practices during which the citizens managed to impose their will which absolutely rejects this racist decision.
The resistant people in the occupied Golan have considered this decision as void and as nothing but ink on paper. Their resistance has been faced by aggressive and repressive practices by the Israeli occupation, through imposing a complete siege and a curfew that lasted for forty days, during which the occupation set up military checkpoints, prevented patients from going to hospitals, confiscated the property of the locals in the Golan, raided their houses, carried out wide-scale arrest campaigns, cut off water and electricity and blocked food supplies for citizens. All these criminal practices were carried out amid a total blackout by mainstream media.
On December, 17th, 1981, the UN Security Council issued Resolution No. 497 which rejected the ill-fated Israeli annexation decision, considering it as null and void, and affirmed the Syrian Arab identity of the Golan.
Today, the people in the occupied Golan reiterate their adherence to their roots in this sacred land and affirm their determination to continue the struggle to confront the aggressive measures and plans of the Israeli occupation until they liberate their occupied land. This was evident a few days ago in the Golan people’s general strike in protest against the occupation’s plan to build huge turbines on their agricultural lands.
Last year, locals in the occupied Golan also stressed their absolute rejection of the US President Donald Trump’s declaration which recognizes the Israeli “sovereignty” over the occupied Syrian Golan.
Hamda Mustafa