Occupied Syrian Golan, History and Facts

Damascus, SANA-  Syria has consistently stressed that the occupied Golan is an integral part of Syria’s territory, and it works on reclaiming each inch of its lands by all available means as considered an inalienable right that does not have a statute of limitations.

Syria has confirmed that the measures taken by the Israeli occupation in the occupied Syrian Golan are null, void, and violate the international law and the UN charter.

Syria, also stressed that “nothing could change the “eternal historical fact that the Golan was and will remain Syrian Arab”.

The total area of the Golan is estimated at 1,860 km2 .

The number of villages in the occupied Syrian Golan before its occupation by the Israel in June 1967 reached 164 villages, in addition to 146 farms.

The population of the occupied Golan reached 153,000 according to 1966 statistics.

The area occupied by Israeli spanning about 1250 km2  following the Israeli aggression in 1967.

137 villages and 112 farms have been occupied, in addition to the cities of Quneitra and Fiq.

The Israeli occupation have destroyed 131 villages and 112 farms and committed the heinous massacres against their peoples and displaced them.

The number of people at the occupied part of Golan reached 138,000. The Israeli occupation displaced 131,000, while 7,000 of them remained in 6 villages, which are Majdal Shams, Masada, Baqa’at, Ain Qunya, al-Ghajar, Sahita, and by the end of 2022 the number had reached to 25,000.

The occupation, then, besieged the six villages, isolated them from each other, and prevented their residents from communicating with their families in Syria,  but that did not prevent them from resisting it and rejecting its colonial acts.

Later, the occupation obliged the locals of Sahita village to move to Masada village and then destroyed the whole village and turned it into a military site for its forces.

After that, the occupation worked on changing the geographical and demographic features of the  Golan and established 35 settlements on the ruins of the destroyed villages, and now there are about 30,000 settlers in them.

The occupation planted about two million mines, in 76 mine fields, of various cluster bombs, some of them are inside and around the populated villages.

On November 22nd, 1967, the UN Security Council issued the resolution No. 242, stipulating for the withdrawal of Israel from the territories it occupied in 1967, including Golan.

On October 6th, 1973, October Liberation War started in order to eradicate the repercussions of June setback 1967, reclaiming the rights and liberating the land.

The Syrian Arab Army did honorable epics during the war, inflicting heavy losses upon the Israeli enemy’s ranks

On October 22nd, 1973, UN Security Council Resolution No.338 was issued, which stipulated for the need to implement Resolution No.242 with all its parts.

After October War and Followed-War of Attrition, Disengagement Agreement was signed in May 1974.

On June 26th, 1974, the late founder leader, Hafez al-Assad, raised the nation’s flag in Quneitra after liberating it from the Israeli occupation.

It is notable that the under occupation-remaining area of Golan is 1150 km2

On March 25th, 1981, people of Golan produced “the national document” in which they affirmed that the occupied Golan is an integral part of Syria, voicing commitment to the Syrian Arab nationality as an inherent characteristic which passed on from parents to children and cannot be disappeared.

On July 1982, after more than 6 months of strike, the occupation was forced to subject to the demands of the people of the occupied Golan and retracted from its racist scheme to impose the Israeli identity on them.

The citizens of Golan presented a convoy of martyrs in defense of their land, among them, Izzat Shakib Abu Jabal,  Nazih Abu Zaid, Ghalia Farhat, Nazih Mahmoud, Hayel Abu Zaid, Sitan al-Wali and Asaad al-Wali.

On August 27, 2014, the occupation closed the Quneitra crossing, which is the only legitimate crossing for the people of the occupied Golan to communicate with their relatives in Syria, and to market their agricultural crops, apples and cherries.

On October 30, 2018, the people of the Golan staged a sit-in in the town of Majdal Shams, in rejection of the so-called local council elections, preventing the occupation authorities from conducting them, and burning electoral cards.

On March 25, 2019, US President Donald Trump announced the illegitimate proclamation to recognize the annexation of the Golan to the occupation entity, and Syria affirmed its absolute and categorical rejection of the decision, which represents the highest degree of contempt for international legitimacy, stressing that the entire universe cannot change the historical fact that the Golan will remain Syrian Arab land.

The Syrians staged protests in all the governorates in rejection of Trump’s proclamation , describing it as an international systematic terrorism, asserting that the occupied Golan is Syrian Arab land and will return to Syria.

On March 25, 2019, the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, says that 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 proclamation was met with widespread international rejection.

On March and April 2019, the people of the Golan held protest stands in rejection of Trump’s decision, stressing that it is illegitimate and violates the United Nations relevant resolutions.

On June 14th, 2019, the occupation announced the establishment of a settlement named Trump on an area of ​​about 276 dunums of the lands of the occupied village of al-Qanabeh in the occupied Golan.

On June 18th, 2019, the people in occupied Golan staged a comprehensive strike in rejection of the occupation’s colonial scheme to establish wind turbines on about 6,000 dunums of their lands.

On February 2nd , 2020, a second comprehensive strike by the people of the Golan, in rejection of the Judaizing wind turbines scheme.

Report by: Jomaa al-Jasem- Alya Issa

Rafah al-Allouni/Bushra Dabin/ Hala Zain

 

 

 

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