The apples of the occupied Syrian Golan… a symbol of the people clinging to their land

The apple picking season has started in the occupied Syrian Golan, despite the difficulties faced by our people as a result of the aggressive Israeli occupation practices aimed at displacing them from their land, the most dangerous of which is the plan to erect wind turbines on large areas of it.

Regarding this year’s season, Head of the Apple Import Committee, Yousef Shams, explained in a statement to SANA  that the cold wave that came in late winter and the extremely high temperatures during the past months, affected a large part of the crop, but the quantities are good nevertheless. He pointed out that the occupation measures prevent it from being marketed at prices that compensate the farmer for his loss, as the markets of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip consume good quantities, but they do not compensate for the costs, which constitutes a new economic blockade on the people of the occupied Golan, notably as the occupation has  continued to close the Quneitra crossing since 2014, and prevented the people from marketing their crops to the homeland.

The people of the Golan plant about 15 thousand dunums with apple trees at a rate of 30 thousand tons per year, amid increasing difficulties, especially in the areas of Sahita and Al-hafayer, which face the risks of the occupation seizing more than 4 thousand dunums of them, to establish the settlement wind turbine scheme.

On the 20th and 21st of last June, dozens of our people in the occupied Syrian Golan were injured and others were arrested during their response to the occupation forces that stormed their agricultural lands and cherry and apple orchards in the AL-hafayer area, and forced them to leave, failing their settlement plan.

Since August 27, 2014, the occupation has continued to close the Quneitra crossing, which is the only crossing point for the people of the Golan to communicate with their homeland, Syria and prevents marketing the cherry and apple crops to the markets of the homeland, despite Syria’s constant demands to the international community to pressure Israel, the occupying power, to open the crossing, which represents the artery connecting our people in the occupied Golan with their homeland.

Amal Farhat