Golan Heights

The Golan Heights,^[c] or simply the Golan, is a region in the Levant spanning about 1,800 km² (690 sq mi). The region defined as the Golan Heights differs between disciplines: as a geological and biogeographical region, the term refers to a basaltic plateau bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon with Mount Hermon in the north and Wadi Raqqad in the east. As a geopolitical region, it refers to the border region captured from Syria by Israel during the Six-Day War of 1967; the territory has been occupied by the latter since then and was subject to a de facto Israeli annexation in 1981. This region includes the western two-thirds of the geological Golan Heights and the Israeli-occupied part of Mount Hermon.

Golan Heights هَضْبَة الجَوْلَان רָמַת הַגּוֹלָן
Location of the Golan Heights
Coordinates: 33°00′N 35°45′E / 33.000°N 35.750°E / 33.000; 35.750
Status	Internationally recognized as Syrian territory occupied by Israel^[1]^[2]^[a]^[b]
Area
• Total	1,800 km^2 (700 sq mi)
• Occupied by State of Israel	1,200 km^2 (500 sq mi)
• Controlled by Syrian Arab Republic (including de jure 235 km^2 (91 sq mi) UNDOF Zone)	600 km^2 (200 sq mi)
Highest elevation	2,814 m (9,232 ft)
Lowest elevation	−212 m (−696 ft)
Population of Israeli-occupied area^[5]^[6]^[7]^[8]
• Total	40,000–50,000+
• Arabs (nearly all Druze)	20,000–25,700
• Israeli Jewish settlers	c. 25,000
Time zone	UTC+2
• Summer (DST)	UTC+3

The earliest evidence of human habitation on the Golan dates to the Upper Paleolithic period.^[9] After Assyrian and Babylonian rule, the region came under the domination of Persia, and later under the control of Alexander the Great in 332 BC.^[10][11][12] The Itureans, an Arab or Aramaic people, settled in the area in the 2nd century BC.^[13][14][15] By the third century AD, the Christian Arab Ghassanid kingdom controlled the Golan.^[16] The region was later annexed by the Rashidun Caliphate during the Muslim conquest of the Levant in the early seventh century. In the 16th century, the Golan was conquered by the Ottoman Empire. Within Ottoman Syria, the Golan was part of the Syria Vilayet.^[17] The area later became part of the French Mandate in Syria and the State of Damascus.^[18] When the mandate terminated in 1946, it became part of the newly independent Syrian Arab Republic.

Since the Six-Day War of 1967, the western two-thirds of the Golan Heights has been occupied and administered by Israel,^[1][2] whereas the eastern third remains under the control of Syria. Following the war, Syria dismissed any negotiations with Israel as part of the Khartoum Resolution at the 1967 Arab League summit.^[19] Construction of Israeli settlements began in the remainder of the territory held by Israel, which was under a military administration until the Knesset passed the Golan Heights Law in 1981, which applied Israeli law to the territory;^[20] the move has been described as an annexation. The Golan Heights Law was condemned by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 497,^[2][21] which stated that "the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction, and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect", and Resolution 242, which emphasizes the "inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war". Israel maintains it has a right to retain the Golan, also citing the text^[22] of Resolution 242, which calls for "secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force".^[23]

After the onset of the Syrian Civil War in 2011, control of the Syrian-administered part of the Golan Heights was split between the state government and Syrian opposition forces, with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) maintaining a 266 km² (103 sq mi) buffer zone in between to help implement the Israeli–Syrian ceasefire across the Purple Line.^[24] From 2012 to 2018, the eastern half of the Golan Heights became a scene of repeated battles between the Syrian Army, rebel factions of the Syrian opposition (including the United States-backed Southern Front) as well as various jihadist organizations such as al-Nusra Front and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant-affiliated Khalid ibn al-Walid Army. In July 2018, the Syrian government regained full control over the eastern Golan Heights.^[25]

Etymology

In the Bible, Golan is mentioned as a city of refuge located in Bashan: Deuteronomy 4:43, Joshua 20:8, 1 Chronicles 6:71.^[26] Nineteenth-century authors interpreted the word Golan as meaning "something surrounded, hence a district".^[27][28]

The Greek name for the region is Gaulanîtis (Γαυλανῖτις).^[29] In the Mishna the name is Gablān similar to Aramaic language names for the region: Gawlāna, Guwlana and Gublānā.^[29]

The Arabic name is Jawlān,^[29] sometimes romanized as Djolan, which is an Arabized version of the Canaanite and Hebrew name.^[30] Arab cartographers of the Byzantine period referred to the area as jabal (جَبَل, 'mountain'), though the region is a plateau.^{[31][dubious ]}

The name Golan Heights was not used before the 19th century.^[26]

History

Early history

The Venus of Berekhat Ram, a pebble from the Lower Paleolithic era found in the Golan Heights, may have been carved by Homo erectus between 700,000 and 230,000 BC.^[32]

In the third millennium BC, the Amorites inhabited the Golan, being part of the territories that Labaya, the Canaanite king of Shechem, annexed in the 14th century BC, as stated in the Amarna Letters sent to Ancient Egypt.^[33]

After the Late Bronze Age collapse, the Golan was part of the newly formed kingdom of Geshur, until it was conquered by the Arameans in the 9th century BC.^[33] The Aramean state of Aram-Damascus extended over most of the Golan to the Sea of Galilee.^[34]

In the 8th century BC, the Assyrians gained control of the area, followed by the Babylonian and the Achaemenid Empire. In the 5th century BC, the Achaemenid Empire allowed the region to be resettled by returning Jewish exiles from the Babylonian Captivity, a fact that has been noted in the Mosaic of Rehob.^[10][11][12]

After the Assyrian period, about four centuries provide limited archaeological finds in the Golan.^[35]

Hellenistic and Roman period

 

Temple of Pan at Banias and the white-domed shrine of Nabi Khadr in the background.

The Golan Heights, along with the rest of the region, came under the control of Alexander the Great in 332 BC, following the Battle of Issus. Following Alexander's death, the Golan came under the domination of the Macedonian general Seleucus and remained part of the Seleucid Empire for most of the next two centuries.^{[citation needed]}

In the middle of the 2nd century BC, Itureans moved into the Golan,^[15] occupying over one hundred locations in the region.^[36]

In the 1st century BC, the region as far as Trachonitis, Batanea and Auranitis was put under the administrative control of Herod the Great by Augustus Caesar.^[37] In the Roman and Byzantine periods, the area was administered as part of Phoenicia Prima and Syria Palaestina, and finally Golan/Gaulanitis was included together with Peraea^[31] in Palaestina Secunda, after 218 AD.^[29] Ancient kingdom Bashan was incorporated into the province of Batanea.^[38]

Following the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, Augustus Caesar adjudicated that the Golan fell within the Tetrarchy of Herod's son, Herod Philip I. After Philip's death in 34 AD, the Romans absorbed the Golan into the province of Syria, but Caligula restored the territory to Herod's grandson Agrippa in 37. Following Agrippa's death in 44, the Romans again annexed the Golan to Syria, promptly to return it again when Claudius traded the Golan to Agrippa II, the son of Agrippa I, in 51 as part of a land swap.^{[citation needed]}

Gamla, the capital of Jewish Galaunitis, would play a major role in the Jewish-Roman wars,^[39] and came to house the earliest known urban synagogue from the Hasmonean/Herodian realm.^[40] Although nominally under Agrippa's control and not part of the province of Judaea, the Jewish communities of the Golan participated in the First Jewish-Roman War, only to fall to the Roman armies in its early stages. Gamla, a major Jewish stronghold in the Golan, was captured in 67 AD, with, according to Josephus, its inhabitants committing mass suicide, preferring it to crucifixion and slavery. Agrippa II contributed soldiers to the Roman war effort and attempted to negotiate an end to the revolt. In return for his loyalty, Rome allowed him to retain his kingdom but finally absorbed the Golan for good after his death in 100.^{[citation needed]}

In about 250 AD, the Ghassanids, an Arab Christian tribe from Yemen, established a kingdom that encompassed southern Syria and the Transjordan, building their capital at Jabiyah.^{[citation needed]}

According to current research, the political and economic recovery of the Land of Israel during the reigns of Diocletian and Constantine, towards the close of the 3rd and the early 4th century AD, is what led to the return of Jewish village life in the Golan. The ceramics and coins found during the excavations at various synagogue sites provide evidence of the re-settlement of Jewish settlements in the central Golan.^[41]

Byzantine period

 

 

Church of Deir Qeruh and the reconstructed synagogue at Umm el-Qanatir

Like the Herodians before them, the Ghassanids ruled as clients of Rome – this time, the Christianized Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium; the Ghassanids were able to hold on to the Golan until the Sassanid invasion of 614. Following a brief restoration under the Emperor Heraclius, the Golan again fell, this time to the invading Arabs after the Battle of Yarmouk in 636.^{[citation needed]}

During the same period, several synagogues were built in the Golan Heights. Currently, there are 25 locations where ancient synagogues or their remnants have been discovered. These are all located in the Golan's center. They were built from basalt stones, which are abundant in the Golan Heights, and were influenced by the synagogues of the Galilee but had their own distinctive characteristics. The extravagant synagogues were possibly the result of years of producing and selling olive oil.^[41] Pre-Islamic Arab poet Muraqquish the Younger mentions wine that Jewish traders brought from the Golan.^[42]

Data from surveys and excavations combined show that the bulk of sites in the Golan were abandoned between the late sixth and early seventh century as a result of military incursions, the breakdown of law and order, and the economy brought on by the weakening of the Byzantine rule. Some settlements lasted till the end of the Umayyad era.^[41]

Early Muslim period

After the Battle of Yarmouk, Muawiyah I, a member of Muhammad's tribe, the Quraish, was appointed governor of Syria, including the Golan. Following the assassination of his cousin, the Caliph Uthman, Muawiya claimed the Caliphate for himself, initiating the Umayyad dynasty. Over the next few centuries, while remaining in Muslim hands, the Golan passed through many dynastic changes, falling first to the Abbasids, then to the Shi'ite Fatimids, then to the Seljuk Turks.^{[citation needed]}

An earthquake devastated the Jewish village of Katzrin in 746 AD. Following it, there was a brief period of greatly diminished occupation during the Abbasid period (approximately 750–878). Jewish communities persisted at least into the Middle Ages in the towns of Fiq in the southern Golan and Nawa in Batanaea.^[41]

For many centuries nomadic tribes lived together with the sedentary population in the region. At times, the central government attempted to settle the nomads which would result in the establishment of permanent communities. When the power of the governing regime declined, as happened during the early Muslim period, nomadic trends increased and many of the rural agricultural villages were abandoned due to harassment from the Bedouins. They were not resettled until the second half of the 19th century.^[43]

Crusader/Ayyubid period

 

Nimrod Fortress, built by the Ayyubids and hugely enlarged by the Mamluks

During the Crusades, the Heights represented an obstacle to the Crusader armies,^[44][45] who nevertheless held the strategically important town of Banias twice, in 1128–32 and 1140–64.^[46] After victories by Sultan Nur ad-Din Zangi, it was the Kurdish dynasty of the Ayyubids under Sultan Saladin who ruled the area. The Mongols swept through in 1259, but were driven off by the Mamluk commander and future sultan Qutuz at the Battle of Ain Jalut in 1260.^{[citation needed]}

The victory at Ain Jalut ensured Mamluk dominance of the region for the next 250 years.^{[citation needed]}

Ottoman period

 

Sykes–Picot Agreement map signed 8 May 1916 showing the Golan Heights in area "A", an independent Arab state in the French sphere of influence.^[47]

In the 16th century, the Ottoman Turks conquered Syria. During this time, the Golan formed part of the southern district of their empire. Some Druze communities were established in the Golan during the 17th and 18th centuries.^[48] The villages abandoned during previous periods due to raids by Bedouin tribes were not resettled until the second half of the 19th century.^[43] In 1868, the region was described as "almost entirely desolate". According to a travel handbook of the time, only 11 of 127 ancient towns and villages in the Golan were inhabited.^[49]

As a result of the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, there was a huge influx of refugees from the Caucasus into the empire. The Ottomans encouraged them to settle in southern Syria, particularly the Golan Heights, by granting them land with a 12-year tax exemption.^[50][51][52] In 1885, civil engineer and architect, Gottlieb Schumacher, conducted a survey of the entire Golan Heights on behalf of the German Society for the Exploration of the Holy Land, publishing his findings in a map and book entitled The Jaulân.^[53][54]

In the late-19th century, the Golan Heights was mostly inhabited by Arabs, Turkmen and Circassians.^[55]

Early Jewish settlement

In 1884, there were still open stretches of uncultivated land between villages in the lower Golan, but by the mid-1890s most were owned and cultivated.^[56] Some land had been purchased in the Golan and Hawran by Zionist associations based in Romania, Bulgaria, the United States and England, in the late 19th century and early 20th century.^[57] In 1880, Laurence Oliphant published Eretz ha-Gilad (The Land of Gilead), which described a plan for large-scale Jewish settlement in the Golan.^[58]

In the winter of 1885, members of the Old Yishuv in Safed formed the Beit Yehuda Society and purchased 15,000 dunams of land from the village of Ramthaniye in the central Golan.^[59] Due to financial hardships and the long wait for a kushan (Ottoman land deed) the village, Golan be-Bashan, was abandoned after a year.^{[citation needed]}

Soon afterwards, the society regrouped and purchased 2,000 dunams of land from the village of Bir e-Shagum on the western slopes of the Golan.^[60] The village they established, Bnei Yehuda, existed until 1920.^[61][62] The last families left in the wake of the Passover riots of 1920.^[59] In 1944 the JNF bought the Bnei Yehuda lands from their Jewish owners, but a later attempt to establish Jewish ownership of the property in Bir e-Shagum through the courts was not successful.^[61]

Between 1891 and 1894, Baron Edmond James de Rothschild purchased around 150,000 Dunams of land in the Golan and the Hawran for Jewish settlement.^[59] Legal and political permits were secured and ownership of the land was registered in late 1894.^[59] The Jews also built a road stretching from Lake Hula to Muzayrib.^[61]

The Agudat Ahim society, whose headquarters were in Yekaterinoslav, Russia, acquired 100,000 dunams of land in several locations in the districts of Fiq and Daraa. A plant nursery was established and work began on farm buildings in Djillin.^[59]

A village called Tiferet Binyamin was established on lands purchased from Saham al-Jawlan by the Shavei Zion Association based in New York,^[57] but the project was abandoned after a year when the Turks issued an edict in 1896 evicting the 17 non-Turkish families. A later attempt to resettle the site with Syrian Jews who were Ottoman citizens also failed.^[63]

Between 1904 and 1908, a group of Crimean Jews settled near the Arab village of Al-Butayha in the Bethsaida Valley, initially as tenants of a Kurdish proprietor with the prospects of purchasing the land, but the arrangement faltered.^[64][65]

Jewish settlement in the region dwindled over time, due to Arab hostility, Turkish bureaucracy, disease and economic difficulties.^[66] In 1921–1930, during the French Mandate, the Palestine Jewish Colonization Association (PICA) obtained the deeds to the Rothschild estate and continued to manage it, collecting rents from the Arab peasants living there.^[61]

French and British mandates

 

Boundary changes in the area of the Golan Heights in the 20th century

Great Britain accepted a Mandate for Palestine at the meeting of the Allied Supreme Council at San Remo, but the borders of the territory were not defined at that stage.^[67][68] The boundary between the forthcoming British and French mandates was defined in broad terms by the Franco-British Boundary Agreement of December 1920.^[69] That agreement placed the bulk of the Golan Heights in the French sphere. The treaty also established a joint commission to settle the precise details of the border and mark it on the ground.^[69]

The commission submitted its final report on 3 February 1922, and it was approved with some caveats by the British and French governments on 7 March 1923, several months before Britain and France assumed their Mandatory responsibilities on 29 September 1923.^[70][71] In accordance with the same process, a nearby parcel of land that included the ancient site of Tel Dan and the Dan spring were transferred from Syria to Palestine early in 1924.

The Golan Heights, including the spring at Wazzani and the one at Banias, became part of French Syria, while the Sea of Galilee was placed entirely within British Mandatory Palestine. When the French Mandate for Syria ended in 1944, the Golan Heights became part of the newly independent state of Syria and was later incorporated into Quneitra Governorate.

Border incidents after 1948

 

A minefield warning sign in the Golan

After the 1948–49 Arab–Israeli War, the Golan Heights were partly demilitarized by the Israel-Syria Armistice Agreement. During the following years, the area along the border witnessed thousands of violent incidents; the armistice agreement was being violated by both sides. The underlying causes of the conflict were a disagreement over the legal status of the demilitarised zone (DMZ), cultivation of land within it and competition over water resources. Syria claimed that neither party had sovereignty over the DMZ.^[72][73]

Israel contended that the Armistice Agreement dealt solely with military concerns and that it had political and legal rights over the DMZ. Israel wanted to assert control up till the 1923 boundary in order to reclaim the Hula swamp, gain exclusive rights to Lake Galilee and divert water from the Jordan for its National Water Carrier. During the 1950s, Syria registered two principal territorial accomplishments: it took over Al Hammah enclosure south of Lake Tiberias and established a de facto presence on and control of the eastern shore of the lake.^[72][73]

The Jordan Valley Unified Water Plan was sponsored by the United States and agreed by the technical experts of the Arab League and Israel.^[74] The US funded the Israeli and Jordanian water diversion projects, when they pledged to abide by the plan's allocations.^[75] President Nasser too, assured the US that the Arabs would not exceed the plan's water quotas.^[76] However, in the early 1960s the Arab League funded a Syrian water diversion project that would have denied Israel use of a major portion of its water allocation.^[77] The resulting armed clashes are called the War over Water.^[78]

in July 1966,^[79] Fatah began raids into Israeli territory, with active support from Syria. At first the militants entered via Lebanon or Jordan, but those countries made concerted attempts to stop them and raids directly from Syria increased.^[80] Israel's response was a series of retaliatory raids, of which the largest were an attack on the Jordanian village of Samu in November 1966.^[81] In April 1967, after Syria heavily shelled Israeli villages from the Golan Heights, Israel shot down six Syrian MiG fighter planes and warned Syria against future attacks.^[80][82]

In the period between the first Arab–Israeli War and the Six-Day War, the Syrians constantly harassed Israeli border communities by firing artillery shells from their dominant positions on the Golan Heights.^[83] In October 1966 Israel brought the matter up before the United Nations. Five nations sponsored a resolution criticizing Syria for its actions but it failed to pass due to a Soviet veto.^[84][85]

Former Israeli General Mattityahu Peled said that more than half of the border clashes before the 1967 war "were a result of our security policy of maximum settlement in the demilitarised area".^{[86][better source needed]} Israeli incursions into the zone were responded to with Syrians shooting. Israel in turn would retaliate with military force.^[72] Sir Alec Douglas-Home, former Prime Minister of the UK, stated that when he was visiting the Galilee a few months before the 1967 war "at regular intervals the Russian-built forts on the Golan Heights used to lob shells into the villages, often claiming civilian casualties". He said after the 1973 war that any agreement between the two sides "must clearly put a stop to that kind of offensive action".^[87]

In 1976, former Israeli defense minister Moshe Dayan said Israel provoked more than 80% of the clashes with Syria in the run up to the 1967 war, although historians debate whether he was "giving an accurate account of the situation in 1967 or whether his version of what happened was colored by his disgrace after the 1973 Middle East war, when he was forced to resign as Defense Minister over the failure to anticipate the Arab attack."^[88] The provocation was sending a tractor to plow in the demilitarized areas. The Syrians responded by firing at the tractors and shelling Israeli settlements.^[89][90] Jan Mühren, a former UN observer in the area at the time, told a Dutch current affairs programme that Israel "provoked most border incidents as part of its strategy to annex more land".^[91] UN officials blamed both Israel and Syria for destabilizing the borders.^[92]

Six-Day War and Israeli occupation

See also: Six-Day War and Israeli Military Governorate

After the Six-Day War broke out in June 1967, Syria's shelling greatly intensified and the Israeli army captured the Golan Heights on 9–10 June. The area that came under Israeli control as a result of the war consists of two geologically distinct areas: the Golan Heights proper, with a surface of 1,070 km² (410 sq mi), and the slopes of the Mt. Hermon range, with a surface of 100 km² (39 sq mi). The new ceasefire line was named the Purple Line. In the battle, 115 Israelis were killed and 306 wounded. An estimated 2,500 Syrians were killed, with another 5,000 wounded.^[93]

 

Territory held by Israel:

  before the Six-Day War

  after the war

During the war, between 80,000^[94] and 131,000^[95] Syrians fled or were driven from the Heights and around 7,000 remained in the Israeli-occupied territory.^[95] Israeli sources and the U.S. Committee for Refugees and Immigrants reported that much of the local population of 100,000 fled as a result of the war, whereas the Syrian government stated that a large proportion of it was expelled.^[96] Israel has not allowed former residents to return, citing security reasons.^[97] The remaining villages were Majdal Shams, Shayta (later destroyed), Ein Qiniyye, Mas'ade, Buq'ata and, outside the Golan proper, Ghajar.

Israeli settlement in the Golan began soon after the war. Merom Golan was founded in July 1967 and by 1970 there were 12 settlements.^[98] Construction of Israeli settlements began in the remainder of the territory held by Israel, which was under military administration until Israel passed the Golan Heights Law extending Israeli law and administration throughout the territory in 1981.^[20] On 19 June 1967, the Israeli cabinet voted to return the Golan to Syria in exchange for a peace agreement, although this was rejected after the Khartoum Resolution of 1 September 1967.^[99][100] In the 1970s, as part of the Allon Plan, Israeli politician Yigal Allon proposed that a Druze state be established in Syria's Quneitra Governorate, including the Israeli-held Golan Heights. Allon died in 1980 and his plan never materialised.^[101]

Yom Kippur War

During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Syrian forces overran much of the southern Golan, before being pushed back by an Israeli counterattack. Israel and Syria signed a ceasefire agreement in 1974 that left almost all the Heights in Israeli hands. The 1974 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Syria delineated a demilitarized zone along their frontier and limited the number of forces each side can deploy within 25 kilometers (15 miles) of the zone.^[102]

East of the 1974 ceasefire line lies the Syrian controlled part of the Heights, an area that was not captured by Israel (500 square kilometres or 190 sq mi) or withdrawn from (100 square kilometres or 39 sq mi). This area forms 30% of the Golan Heights.^[103] Today,^[when?] it contains more than 40 Syrian towns and villages. In 1975, following the 1974 ceasefire agreement, Israel returned a narrow demilitarised zone to Syrian control. Some of the displaced residents began returning to their homes located in this strip and the Syrian government began helping people rebuild their villages, except for Quneitra. In the mid-1980s the Syrian government launched a plan called "The Project for the Reconstruction of the Liberated Villages".^{[citation needed]} By the end of 2007, the population of the Quneitra Governorate was estimated at 79,000.^[104]

In the aftermath of the 1973 Yom Kippur War, in which Syria tried but failed to recapture the Golan, Israel agreed to return about 5% of the territory to Syrian civilian control. This part was incorporated into a demilitarised zone that runs along the ceasefire line and extends eastward. This strip is under the military control of UNDOF.^{[citation needed]}

Mines deployed by the Syrian army remain active. As of 2003, there had been at least 216 landmine casualties in the Syrian-controlled Golan since 1973, of which 108 were fatalities.^[105]

De facto annexation by Israel and civil rule

See also: Golan Heights Law

 

Golan Heights wind farm on Mount Bnei Rasan

On 14 December 1981, Israel passed the Golan Heights Law,^[20] that extended Israeli "laws, jurisdiction and administration" to the Golan Heights. Although the law effectively annexed the territory to Israel, it did not explicitly spell out a formal annexation.^[106] The Golan Heights Law is not recognized internationally except (as of March 2019) by the United States,^[107][108] and was declared "null and void and without international legal effect" by United Nations Security Council Resolution 497.^{[109][110][2][21]} The resolution demanded Israel rescind its decision.^[109] Israel maintains that it may retain the area, as the text of Resolution 242 calls for "safe and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force".^[23] However, the international community reject Israeli claims to title to the territory and regards it as sovereign Syrian territory.^{[1][111][112]}

During the negotiations regarding the text of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, U.S. Secretary of State Dean Rusk explained that U.S. support for secure permanent frontiers did not mean the United States supported territorial changes.^[113] The UN representative for the United Kingdom who was responsible for negotiating and drafting the Security Council resolution said that the actions of the Israeli Government in establishing settlements and colonizing the Golan are in clear defiance of Resolution 242.^[114]

Syria continued to demand a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, including a strip of land on the east shore of the Sea of Galilee that Syria captured during the 1948–49 Arab–Israeli War and occupied from 1949 to 1967. Successive Israeli governments have considered an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan in return for normalization of relations with Syria, provided certain security concerns are met. Prior to 2000, Syrian president Hafez al-Assad rejected normalization with Israel.

Since the passing of the Golan Heights Law, Israel has treated the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights as a subdistrict of its Northern District.^[115] The largest locality in the region is the Druze village of Majdal Shams, which is at the foot of Mount Hermon, while Katzrin is the largest Israeli settlement. The region has 1,176 square kilometers.^[115] The subdistrict has a population density of 36 inhabitants per square kilometer,^{[citation needed]} and its population includes Arab, Jewish and Druze citizens. The district has 36 localities, of which 32 are Jewish settlements and four are Druze villages.^[116][117]

The plan for the creation of the settlements, which had initially begun in October 1967 with a request for a regional agricultural settlement plan for the Golan, was formally approved in 1971 and later revised in 1976. The plan called for the creation of 34 settlements by 1995, one of which would be an urban center, Katzrin, and the rest rural settlements, with a population of 54,000, among them 40,000 urban and the remaining rural. By 1992, 32 settlements had been created, among them one city and two regional centers. The population total had however fallen short of Israel's goals, with only 12,000 Jewish inhabitants in the Golan settlements in 1992.^[118]

Municipal elections in Druze towns

In 2016, a group of Druze lawyers petitioned the Supreme Court of Israel to allow elections for local councils in the Golan Druze towns of Majdal Shams, Buq'ata, Mas'ade, and Ein Qiniyye, replacing the previous system in which their members were appointed by the national government.^[119]

On 3 July 2017, the Interior Ministry announced those towns would be included in the 2018 Israeli municipal elections. The turnout was just over 1%^[120] with Druze religious leaders telling community members to boycott the elections or face shunning.^{[121][122][123]}

The UN Human Rights Council issued a Resolution on Human Rights in the Occupied Syrian Golan on 23 March 2018 that included the statement "Deploring the announcement by the Israeli occupying authorities in July 2017 that municipal elections would be held on 30 October 2018 in the four villages in the occupied Syrian Golan, which constitutes another violation to international humanitarian law and to relevant Security Council resolutions, in particular resolution 497 (1981)".

Israeli–Syrian peace negotiations

During United States-brokered negotiations in 1999–2000, Israel and Syria discussed a peace deal that would include Israeli withdrawal in return for a comprehensive peace structure, recognition and full normalization of relations. The disagreement in the final stages of the talks was on access to the Sea of Galilee. Israel offered to withdraw to the pre-1948 border (the 1923 Paulet-Newcombe line), while Syria insisted on the 1967 frontier. The former line has never been recognised by Syria, claiming it was imposed by the colonial powers, while the latter was rejected by Israel as the result of Syrian aggression.^[124]

The difference between the lines is less than 100 meters for the most part, but the 1967 line would give Syria access to the Sea of Galilee, and Israel wished to retain control of the Sea of Galilee, its only freshwater lake and a major water resource.^[124] Dennis Ross, U.S. President Bill Clinton's chief Middle East negotiator, blamed "cold feet" on the part of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak for the breakdown.^[125] Clinton also laid blame on Israel, as he said after the fact in his autobiography My Life.^[126]

 

Israeli soldiers of the Alpinist Unit are dispatched to Mount Hermon

In June 2007, it was reported that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had sent a secret message to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad saying that Israel would concede the land in exchange for a comprehensive peace agreement and the severing of Syria's ties with Iran and militant groups in the region.^[127] On the same day, former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the former Syrian President, Hafez Assad, had promised to let Israel retain Mount Hermon in any future agreement.^[128]

In April 2008, Syrian media reported Turkey's Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan had told President Bashar al-Assad that Israel would withdraw from the Golan Heights in return for peace.^[129][130] Israeli leaders of communities in the Golan Heights held a special meeting and stated: "all construction and development projects in the Golan are going ahead as planned, propelled by the certainty that any attempt to harm Israeli sovereignty in the Golan will cause severe damage to state security and thus is doomed to fail".^[131] A 2008 survey found that 70% of Israelis oppose relinquishing the Golan for peace with Syria.^[132]

In 2008, a plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution 161–1 in favour of a motion on the Golan Heights that reaffirmed UN Security Council Resolution 497 and called on Israel to desist from "changing the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure and legal status of the occupied Syrian Golan and, in particular, to desist from the establishment of settlements [and] from imposing Israeli citizenship and Israeli identity cards on the Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan and from its repressive measures against the population of the occupied Syrian Golan." Israel was the only nation to vote against the resolution.^[133] Indirect talks broke down after the Gaza War began. Syria broke off the talks to protest Israeli military operations. Israel subsequently appealed to Turkey to resume mediation.^[134]

In May 2009, Prime Minister Netanyahu said that returning the Golan Heights would turn it into "Iran's front lines which will threaten the whole state of Israel".^[135][136] He said: "I remember the Golan Heights without Katzrin, and suddenly we see a thriving city in the Land of Israel, which having been a gem of the Second Temple era has been revived anew."^[137] American diplomat Martin Indyk said that the 1999–2000 round of negotiations began during Netanyahu's first term (1996–1999), and he was not as hardline as he made out.^[138]

In March 2009, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad claimed that indirect talks had failed after Israel did not commit to full withdrawal from the Golan Heights. In August 2009, he said that the return of the entire Golan Heights was "non-negotiable", it would remain "fully Arab", and would be returned to Syria.^[139]

In June 2009, Israeli President Shimon Peres said that Assad would have to negotiate without preconditions, and that Syria would not win territorial concessions from Israel on a "silver platter" while it maintained ties with Iran and Hezbollah.^[140] In response, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem demanded that Israel unconditionally cede the Golan Heights "on a silver platter" without any preconditions, adding that "it is our land," and blamed Israel for failing to commit to peace. Syrian President Assad claimed that there was "no real partner in Israel".^[141]

In 2010, Israeli foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman said: "We must make Syria recognise that just as it relinquished its dream of a greater Syria that controls Lebanon ... it will have to relinquish its ultimate demand regarding the Golan Heights."^[142]

 

The UN zone and Syrian controlled territory from the Golan Heights

Syrian Civil War

Further information: Israel's role in the Syrian civil war

From 2012 to 2018 in the Syrian Civil War, the eastern Golan Heights became a scene of repeated battles between the Syrian Arab Army, rebel factions of the Syrian opposition including the moderate Southern Front and jihadist al-Nusra Front, and factions affiliated with the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) terrorist group.

The atrocities of the Syrian Civil War and the rise of ISIL, which from 2016 to 2018 controlled parts of the Syrian-administered Golan, have added a new twist to the issue. In 2015, it was reported that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu asked US President Barack Obama to recognize Israeli claims to the territory because of these recent ISIL actions and because he said that modern Syria had likely "disintegrated" beyond the point of reunification.^[143] The White House dismissed Netanyahu's suggestion, stating that President Obama continued to support UN resolutions 242 and 497, and any alterations of this policy could strain American alliances with Western-backed Syrian rebel groups.^[144]

In 2016, the Islamic State apologized to Israel after a fire exchange with Israeli soldiers in the area.^[145] In May 2018, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) launched "extensive" air strikes against alleged Iranian military installations in Syria after 20 Iranian rockets were reportedly launched at Israeli army positions in the Western Golan Heights.^[146]

On 17 April 2018 in the aftermath of the 2018 missile strikes against Syria by the United States, France, and the United Kingdom about 500 Druze in the Golan town of Ein Qiniyye marched in support of Syrian president Bashar al-Assad on Syria's Independence day and in condemnation of the American-led strikes.^[147][148]

On 31 July 2018, after waging a month-long military offensive against the rebels and ISIL, the Syrian government regained control of the eastern Golan Heights.^[25]

Territorial claims

Main article: Status of the Golan Heights

Claims on the territory include the fact that an area in northwestern of the Golan region, delineated by a rough triangle formed by the towns of Banias, Quneitra and the northern tip of the Sea of Galilee, was part of the British Palestine Mandate in which the establishment of a Jewish national home had been promised.^[149] In 1923, this triangle in northwestern Golan was ceded to the French Mandate in Syria, but in exchange for this, land areas in Syria and Lebanon was ceded to Palestine, and the whole of the Sea of Galilee which previously had its eastern boundary connected to Syria was placed inside Palestine.^[150]

Syrian counters that the region was placed in the Vilayet of Damascus as part of Syria under the Ottoman boundaries, and that the 1920 Franco-British agreement, which had placed part of the Golan under the control of Britain, was only temporary. Syria further holds that the final border line drawn up in 1923, which excluded the Golan triangle, had superseded the 1920 agreement,^[149] although Syria has never recognised the 1923 border as legally binding.

Borders, armistice line and ceasefire line

 

View of Mount Hermon from the road to Masaade.

One of the aspects of the dispute involves the existence prior to 1967 of three different lines separating Syria from the area that before 1948 was referred to as Mandatory Palestine.

The 1923 boundary between British Mandatory Palestine and the French Mandate of Syria was drawn with water in mind.^{[151][better source needed]} Accordingly, it was demarcated so that all of the Sea of Galilee, including a 10-meter wide strip of beach along its northeastern shore, would stay inside Mandatory Palestine. From the Sea of Galilee north to Lake Hula the boundary was drawn between 50 and 400 meters east of the upper Jordan River, keeping that stream entirely within Mandatory Palestine. The British also received a sliver of land along the Yarmouk River, out to the present-day Hamat Gader.^[152]

During the Arab–Israeli War, Syria captured various areas of the formerly British controlled Mandatory Palestine, including the 10-meter strip of beach, the east bank of the upper Jordan, as well as areas along the Yarmouk.

While negotiating the 1949 Armistice Agreements, Israel called for the removal of all Syrian forces from the former Palestine territory. Syria refused, insisting on an armistice line based not on the 1923 international border but on the military status quo. The result was a compromise. Under the terms of an armistice signed on 20 July 1949, Syrian forces were to withdraw east of the old Palestine-Syria boundary. Israeli forces were to refrain from entering the evacuated areas, which would become a demilitarised zone, "from which the armed forces of both Parties shall be totally excluded, and in which no activities by military or paramilitary forces shall be permitted."^{[153][better source needed]}

Accordingly, major parts of the armistice lines departed from the 1923 boundary. There were three distinct, non-contiguous enclaves—to the west of Banias, on the west bank of the Jordan River near Lake Hula, and the eastern-southeastern shores of the Sea of Galilee extending out to Hamat Gader, consisting of 66.5 km² (25.7 sq mi) of land lying between the 1949 armistice line and the 1923 boundary, forming the demilitarised zone.^{[151][better source needed]}

Following the armistice, both Israel and Syria sought to take advantage of the territorial ambiguities left in place by the 1949 agreement. This resulted in an evolving tactical situation, one "snapshot" of which was the disposition of forces immediately prior to the Six-Day War, the "line of June 4, 1967".^{[151][better source needed]}

Shebaa Farms

On 7 June 2000, the demarcation Blue Line was established by the United Nations in order to ensure full Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, according to UN Security Council Resolution 425. After Israeli troops left Lebanese soil, the UN announced the resolution had been respected. Lebanon continues to claim a small portion of the area occupied by Israel and administered as part of the Golan Heights. The territory, known as the Shebaa Farms, measures 22 km² (8.5 sq mi) and lies on the border between Lebanon and the Golan Heights. Maps used by the UN in demarcating the Blue Line were not able to conclusively show the border between Lebanon and Syria in the area. Syria agrees that the Shebaa Farms are within Lebanese territory. Israel considers the area to be inside of Syria's borders and continues to occupy the territory.^{[154][155][156]}

Ghajar

The village of Ghajar is another complex border issue west of Shebaa farms. Before the 1967 war this Alawite village was in Syria. Residents of Ghajar accepted Israeli citizenship in 1981.^[157] It is divided by an international boundary, with the northern part of the village on the Lebanese side since 2000. Most residents hold dual Syrian and Israeli citizenship.^[158] Residents of both parts hold Israeli citizenship, and in the northern part often a Lebanese passport as well. Today the entire village is surrounded by a fence, with no division between the Israeli-occupied and Lebanese sides. There is an Israeli army checkpoint at the entrance to the village from the rest of the Golan Heights.^[156]

International views

The international community, with the exception of the United States, considers the Golan to be Syrian territory held under Israeli occupation.^{[159][160][161][162]}

On 25 March 2019, then-President of the United States Donald Trump proclaimed U.S. recognition of the Golan Heights as a part of the State of Israel, making it the first country to do so.^[163][164] The 28 member states of the European Union declared in turn that they do not recognize Israeli sovereignty, and several experts on international law reiterated that the principle remains that land gained by either defensive or offensive wars cannot be legally annexed under international law.^{[165][166][167]}

The European members of the UN Security Council issued a joint statement condemning the US announcement and the UN Secretary-General issued a statement saying that the status of the Golan had not changed.^[168] Under the subsequent Biden administration, the US State Department's annual report on human rights violations around the world once more refers to the West Bank, Gaza Strip, East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as being territories occupied by Israel.^[169]

However, in June 2021, the US' Biden administration affirmed that it will continue to maintain the previous administration's policy of recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.^[170] However, Secretary of State Antony Blinken has "signalled openness to an eventual policy review".^[171][172]

UNDOF supervision

•  
  Golan ceasefire line crossing, 2012.
•  
  A UN Toyota Land Cruiser parked near Majdal Shams displaying UNDOF plates and a UN flag, January 2012.

UNDOF, the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, was established in 1974 to supervise the implementation of the Agreement on Disengagement and maintain the ceasefire with an area of separation known as the UNDOF Zone. Currently there are more than 1,000 UN peacekeepers there trying to sustain a peace.^[173] Syria and Israel still contest the ownership of the Heights but have not used overt military force since 1974.

The great strategic value of the Heights both militarily and as a source of water means that a deal is uncertain. Members of the UN Disengagement force are usually the only individuals who cross the Israeli–Syrian de facto border (cease fire "Alpha Line"), but since 1988 Israel has allowed Druze pilgrims to cross into Syria to visit the shrine of Abel on Mount Qasioun. Since 1967, Druze brides have been allowed to cross into Syria, although they do so in the knowledge that they may not be able to return.

Though the cease fire in the UNDOF zone has been largely uninterrupted since the seventies, in 2012 there were repeated violations from the Syrian side, including tanks^[174] and live gunfire,^[175] though these incidents are attributed to the ongoing Syrian Civil War rather than intentionally directed towards Israel.^[176] On 15 October 2018 the Quneitra border crossing between the Golan Heights and Syria reopened for United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) personnel after four years of closure.^[177]

Syrian villages

Main article: Syrian towns and villages depopulated in the Arab–Israeli conflict

 

Beer Ajam (بئرعجم), a Syrian Circassian village in the province of Quneitra, founded in 1872.

 

Destroyed buildings in Quneitra

The population of the Golan Heights prior to the 1967 Six-Day War has been estimated between 130,000 and 145,000, including 17,000 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA.^[178] Between 80,000^[94] and 130,000^[95] Syrians fled or were driven from the Heights during the Six-Day War and around 7,000 remained in the Israeli-held territory in six villages: Majdal Shams, Mas'ade, Buq'ata, Ein Qiniyye, Ghajar and Shayta.^[95]

Israel demolished over one hundred Syrian villages and farms in the Golan Heights.^[179][180] After the demolitions, the lands were given to Israeli settlers.^[181]

Quneitra was the largest town in the Golan Heights until 1967, with a population of 27,000. It was occupied by Israel on the last day of the Six-Day War and handed back to Syrian civil control per the 1974 Disengagement Agreement. But the Israelis had destroyed Quneitra with dynamite and bulldozers before they withdrew from the city.^[182][183]

East of the 1973 ceasefire line, in the Syrian controlled part of the Golan Heights, an area of 600 km² (232 sq mi), are more than 40 Syrian towns and villages, including Quneitra, Khan Arnabah, al-Hamidiyah, al-Rafid, al-Samdaniyah, al-Mudariyah, Beer Ajam, Bariqa, Ghadir al-Bustan, Hader, Juba, Kodana, Ufaniyah, Ruwayhinah, Nabe' al-Sakhar, Trinjah, Umm al-A'zam, and Umm Batna. The population of the Quneitra Governorate numbers 79,000.^[104]

Once annexing the Golan Heights in 1981, the Israeli government offered all non-Israelis living in the Golan citizenship, but until the early 21st century fewer than 10% of the Druze were Israeli citizens; the remainder held Syrian citizenship.^[184] The Golan Alawites in the village of Ghajar accepted Israeli citizenship in 1981.^[157] In 2012, due to the situation in Syria, young Druze have applied to Israeli citizenship in much larger numbers than in previous years.^[185]

In 2012, there were 20,000 Druze with Syrian citizenship living in the Israeli-occupied portion Golan Heights.^[186]

 

The Druze town of Majdal Shams

 

A destroyed Mosque in the Syrian village of Khishniyah, Golan Heights

The Druze living in the Golan Heights are permanent residents of Israel. They hold laissez-passer documents issued by the Israeli government, and enjoy the country's social-welfare benefits.^[187] The pro-Israeli Druze were historically ostracized by the pro-Syrian Druze.^[188] Reluctance to accept citizenship also reflects fear of ill treatment or displacement by Syrian authorities should the Golan Heights eventually be returned to Syria.^[189]

According to The Independent, most Druze in the Golan Heights live relatively comfortable lives in a freer society than they would have in Syria under Assad's government.^[190] According to Egypt's Daily Star, their standard of living vastly surpasses that of their counterparts on the Syrian side of the border. Hence their fear of a return to Syria, though most of them identify themselves as Syrian,^[191] but feel alienated from the "autocratic" government in Damascus. According to the Associated Press, "many young Druse have been quietly relieved at the failure of previous Syrian–Israeli peace talks to go forward."^[159]

On the other hand, expressing pro-Syrian viewpoint, The Economist represents the Golan Druzes' view that by doing so they may be potentially rewarded by Syria, while simultaneously risking nothing in Israel's freewheeling society. The Economist likewise reported that "Some optimists see the future Golan as a sort of Hong Kong, continuing to enjoy the perks of Israel's dynamic economy and open society, while coming back under the sovereignty of a stricter, less developed Syria." The Druze are also reportedly well-educated and relatively prosperous, and have made use of Israel's universities.^[192]

Since 1988, Druze clerics have been permitted to make annual religious pilgrimages to Syria. Since 2005, Israel has allowed Druze farmers to export some 11,000 tons of apples to the rest of Syria each year, constituting the first commercial relations between Syria and Israel.^[159]

In the first years after the breakout of the Syrian Civil War in 2012, the number of applications for Israeli citizenship grew, although Syrian loyalty remained strong and those who applied for citizenship were often ostracized by members of the older generation.^[193] In recent years, the number of applications for citizenship has increased, 239 in 2021 and 206 in the first half of 2022. In 2022, official Israeli figures suggest that of approximately 21,000 Druze living in the Golan Heights, about 4,300 (or around 20 percent) were Israeli citizens.^[194]

•  
  A demographic map of Quneintra Governorate (Golan Heights) before the 1967 six day war
•  
  A demographic map of Quneintra Governorate (Golan Heights) today. Excludes any permanent depopulation or repopulation that might have happened during the Syrian civil war
•  
  A demographic map of Quneintra Governorate (Golan Heights) overlaid with the location of the depopulated Syrian localities

Israeli settlements

See also: List of Israeli settlements

 

Israeli farms in the Golan Heights

 

An Israeli settlement Ma'ale Gamla

Israeli settlement activity began in the 1970s. The area was governed by military administration until 1981 when Israel passed the Golan Heights Law, which extended Israeli law and administration throughout the territory.^[20] This move was condemned by the United Nations Security Council in UN Resolution 497,^[2][21] although Israel states it has a right to retain the area, citing the text of UN Resolution 242, adopted after the Six-Day War, which calls for "safe and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force".^[23] The continued Israeli control of the Golan Heights remains controversial and is still regarded as an occupation by most countries other than Israel and the United States. Israeli settlements and human rights policy in the occupied territory have drawn criticism from the UN.^[195][196]

The Israeli-occupied territory is administered by the Golan Regional Council, based in Katzrin, which has a population of 7,600. There are another 19 moshavim and 10 kibbutzim. In 1989, the Israeli settler population was 10,000.^[197] By 2010 the Israeli settler population had expanded to 20,000^[198] living in 32 settlements.^[199][200] By 2019 it had expanded to 22,000.^[201] In 2021, the Israeli settler population was estimated to be 25,000 with plans by the Government of Prime Minister Naftali Bennett to double that population over a five-year period.^[5]

On 23 April 2019, Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he would bring a resolution for government approval to name a new community in the Golan Heights after U.S. President Donald Trump.^[202] The planned settlement was unveiled as Trump Heights on 16 June 2019.^[203][204] Further plans for settlement expansion on the Golan were part of the agenda of Benjamin Netanyahu's incoming coalition in 2023.^[205]

Geography

 

Sea of Galilee and southern Golan Heights, viewed from Umm Qais and the ruins of Gadara in Jordan.

 

1994 CIA map of Golan Heights and vicinity

Geology

The plateau that Israel controls is part of a larger area of volcanic basalt fields stretching north and east that were created in the series of volcanic eruptions that began recently in geological terms, almost 4 million years ago.^[206] The rock forming the mountainous area in the northern Golan Heights, descending from Mount Hermon, differs geologically from the volcanic rocks of the plateau and has a different physiography. The mountains are characterised by lighter-colored, Jurassic-age limestone of sedimentary origin. Locally, the limestone is broken by faults and solution channels to form a karst-like topography in which springs are common.

Geologically, the Golan plateau and the Hauran plain to the east constitute a Holocene volcanic field that also extends northeast almost to Damascus. Much of the area is scattered with dormant volcanos, as well as cinder cones, such as Majdal Shams. The plateau also contains a crater lake, called Birkat Ram ("Ram Pool"), which is fed by both surface runoff and underground springs. These volcanic areas are characterised by basalt bedrock and dark soils derived from its weathering. The basalt flows overlie older, distinctly lighter-colored limestones and marls, exposed along the Yarmouk River in the south.

Boundaries

The Golan Heights have distinct geographic boundaries.^[206] On the north, the Sa'ar Stream (a tributary of Nahal Hermon/Nahr Baniyas) generally divides the lighter-colored limestone bedrock of Mount Hermon from the dark-colored volcanic rocks of the Golan plateau.^[206] The western border of the plateau is truncated structurally by the Jordan Rift Valley, which falls down steeply into the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret, Lake Tiberias).^[206] The southern border is lined by the Yarmouk River, which separates the plateau from the northern region of Jordan.^[206] Finally, the eastern edge of the Golan Heights is carved out by the Raqqad river (Wadi ar-Ruqqad), along which are stretching the areas still controlled by Syria.^[206]

Size

The plateau's north–south length is approximately 65 km (40 mi) and its east–west width varies from 12 to 25 km (7.5 to 15.5 mi).^[207][208]

Israel has captured, according to its own data, 1,150 km² (440 sq mi).^[209] According to Syria, the Golan Heights measures 1,860 km² (718 sq mi), of which 1,500 km² (580 sq mi) are occupied by Israel.^[210] According to the CIA, Israel holds 1,300 km² (500 sq mi).^[211]

Topography

 

Banyas waterfall at the foot of Mount Hermon

The area is hilly and elevated, overlooking the Jordan Rift Valley which contains the Sea of Galilee and the Jordan River, and is itself dominated by the 2,814 m (9,232 ft) tall Mount Hermon.^[212][211] The Sea of Galilee at the southwest corner of the plateau^[207] and the Yarmouk River to the south are at elevations well below sea level^[211] (the sea of Galilee at about 200 m (660 ft)).^[207]

Topographically, the Golan Heights is a plateau with an average altitude of 1,000 metres,^[211] rising northwards toward Mount Hermon and sloping down to about 400 m (1,300 ft) elevation along the Yarmouk River in the south.^[207] The steeper, more rugged topography is generally limited to the northern half, including the foothills of Mount Hermon; on the south the plateau is more level.^[207]

There are several small peaks on the Golan Heights, most of them volcanic cones, such as: Mount Agas (1,350 m), Mount Dov/Jebel Rous (1,529 m; northern peak 1,524 m),^[213] Mount Bental (1171 m) and opposite it Mount Avital (1204 m), Mount Ram (1188 m), Tal Saki (594 m).

Subdivisions

The broader Golan plateau exhibits a more subdued topography, generally ranging between 120 and 520 m (390 and 1,710 ft) in elevation. In Israel, the Golan plateau is divided into three regions: northern (between the Sa'ar and Jilabun valleys), central (between the Jilabun and Daliyot valleys), and southern (between the Daliyot and Yarmouk valleys). The Golan Heights is bordered on the west by a rock escarpment that drops 500 m (1,600 ft) to the Jordan River valley and the Sea of Galilee. In the south, the incised Yarmouk River valley marks the limits of the plateau and, east of the abandoned railroad bridge upstream of Hamat Gader and Al Hammah, it marks the recognised international border between Syria and Jordan.^[214]

Climate and hydrology

In addition to its strategic military importance, the Golan Heights is an important water resource, especially at the higher elevations, which are snow-covered in the winter and help sustain baseflow for rivers and springs during the dry season. The Heights receive significantly more precipitation than the surrounding, lower-elevation areas. The occupied sector of the Golan Heights provides or controls a substantial portion of the water in the Jordan River watershed, which in turn provides a portion of Israel's water supply. The Golan Heights supplies 15% of Israel's water.^[215]

 

Panorama showing the upper Golan Heights and Mount Hermon with the Hula Valley to the left.

 

Panorama looking west from the former Syrian post of Tel Faher.

 

Panoramic view of the Golan Heights, with the Hermon mountains on the left side, taken from Snir.

Landmarks

The Golan Heights features numerous archeological sites, mountains, streams and waterfalls. Throughout the region 25 ancient synagogues have been found dating back to the Roman and Byzantine periods.^[216][217]

Banias

Banias (Arabic: بانياس الحولة; Hebrew: בניאס) is an ancient site that developed around a spring once associated with the Greek god Pan.

Deir Qeruh

Deir Qeruh (Arabic: دير قروح; Hebrew: דיר קרוח) is a ruined Byzantine-period and Syrian village. Founded in the 4th century AD, it has a monastery and church of St George from the 6th century. The church has a square apse – a feature known from ancient Syria and Jordan, but not present in churches west of the Jordan River.^[218]

Kursi

Kursi (Arabic: الكرسي; Hebrew: כורסי) is an archaeological site and national park on the shore of the Sea of Galilee at the foothills of the Golan, containing the ruins of a Byzantine Christian monastery connected to the Gospels (Gergesa).

Katzrin

Katzrin (Arabic: قصرين; Hebrew: קצרין) is the administrative and commercial center of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights. Katzrin Ancient Village is an archaeological site on the outskirts of Katzrin where the remains of a Talmud-era village and synagogue have been reconstructed.^[219] Golan Archaeological Museum hosts archaeological finds uncovered in the Golan Heights from prehistoric times. A special focus concerns Gamla and excavations of synagogues and Byzantine churches.^[220]

Golan Heights Winery, a major Israeli winery, and the mineral water plant of Mey Eden, which derives its water from the spring of Salukiya (or Salukia) in the Golan. One can tour these factories as well as factories of oil products and fruit products.

Two open air strip malls, one which holds the Kesem ha-Golan (קסם הגולן, 'Golan Magic'), a three-dimensional movie and model of the geography and history of the Golan Heights.

Gamla Nature Reserve

 

Mount Gamla seen from above

 

The Sea of Galilee as seen from the Golan

Gamla Nature Reserve (Hebrew: שמורת טבע גמלא) is an open park with the archaeological remains of the ancient Jewish city of Gamla (Hebrew: גמלא‎, Arabic: جمالا) — including a tower, wall and synagogue. It is also the site of a large waterfall, an ancient Byzantine church, and a panoramic spot to observe the nearly 100 vultures that dwell in the cliffs. Israeli scientists study the vultures and tourists can watch them fly and nest.^[221]

Mount Hermon and Lake Ram

A ski resort on the slopes of Mount Hermon (Arabic: جبل الشيخ; הר חרמון) features a wide range of ski trails and activities. Several restaurants are located in the area. The Lake Ram crater lake is nearby.

Hippos

 

Hippos odeon

Hippos (Arabic: قلعة الحصن; Hebrew: סוסיתא) is an ancient Greco-Roman city, known in Arabic as Qal'at al-Hisn and in Aramaic as Susita. The archaeological site includes excavations of the city's forum, the small imperial cult temple, a large Hellenistic temple compound, the Roman city gates, and two Byzantine churches.

Nimrod Fortress

The Nimrod Fortress (Arabic: لعة الصبيبة; Hebrew: מבצר נמרוד) was built against the Crusaders, served the Ayyubids and Mamluks, and was captured only once, in 1260, by the Mongols. It is now located inside a nature reserve.

Rujm el-Hiri

Rujm el-Hiri (Arabic: رجم الهري; Hebrew: גלגל רפאים) is a large circular stone monument similar to Stonehenge. Excavations since 1968 have not uncovered material remains common to archaeological sites in the region. Archaeologists believe the site may have been a ritual center linked to a cult of the dead.^[222] A 3D model of the site exists in the Museum of Golan Antiquities in Katzrin.

Senaim

Senaim (Arabic: جبل الحلاوة; Hebrew: הר סנאים) is an archaeological site in northern Golan Heights that includes both Roman and Ancient Greek temples. Byzantine and Mamluk coins have also been found at this site.

Tell Hadar

Tell Hadar (Hebrew: תל הדר) is an Aramean archaeological site.

Umm el-Qanatir

Umm el-Qanatir (Arabic: ام القناطر; Hebrew: עין קשתות, Ein Keshatot) is another impressive set of standing ruins of a village of the Byzantine era. The site includes a very large synagogue and two arches next to a natural spring.^[223]

Viticulture

 

An organic vineyard in the Golan Heights

On a visit to Israel and the Golan Heights in 1972, Cornelius Ough, a professor of viticulture and oenology at the University of California, Davis, pronounced conditions in the Golan very suitable for the cultivation of wine grapes.^[224] A consortium of four kibbutzim and four moshavim took up the challenge, clearing 250 burnt-out tanks in the Golan's Valley of Tears to plant vineyards for what would eventually become the Golan Heights Winery.^[225] The first vines were planted in 1976, and the first wine was released by the winery in 1983.^[224] The heights are now home to about a dozen wineries.^[226]

Oil and gas exploration

In the early 1990s, the Israel National Oil Company (INOC) was granted shaft-sinking permits in the Golan Heights. It estimated a recovery potential of two million barrels of oil, equivalent at the time to $24 million. During the Yitzhak Rabin administration (1992–1995), the permits were suspended as efforts were undertaken to restart peace negotiations between Israel and Syria. In 1996, Benjamin Netanyahu granted preliminary approval to INOC to proceed with oil exploration drilling in the Golan.^{[227][228][229]}

INOC began undergoing a process of privatization in 1997, overseen by then-Director of the Government Companies Authority (GCA), Tzipi Livni. During that time, it was decided that INOC's drilling permits would be returned to the state.^[230][231] In 2012, National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau approved exploratory drilling for oil and natural gas in the Golan.^[232] The following year, the Petroleum Council of Israel's Ministry of Energy and Water Resources secretly awarded a drilling license covering half the area of the Golan Heights to a local subsidiary of New Jersey-based Genie Energy Ltd. headed by Effi Eitam.^[233][234]

Human rights groups have said that the drilling violates international law, as the Golan Heights are an occupied territory.^[235]

On 18 November 2021, the United Nations Second Committee approved a draft resolution that demanded that: "Israel, the occupying Power, cease the exploitation, damage, cause of loss or depletion and endangerment of the natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan".^[236][237]

See also

• Al-Marsad
• Borders of Israel
• Israeli-occupied territories
• Front for the Liberation of the Golan
• Golan Heights wind farm
• Golan Regional Council
• Golan Regiment
• Independent Israel–Syria peace initiatives
• International law and the Arab–Israeli conflict
• Israel–Syria relations
• Petroleum Road
• Shouting Hill
• Syrian towns and villages depopulated in the Arab–Israeli conflict
• UN Security Council Resolution 242
• UN Security Council Resolution 452
• UN Security Council Resolution 465
• UN Security Council Resolution 471

Explanatory notes

1. see Status of the Golan Heights
2. The United States recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan in March 2019. The US is the first country to recognize the Golan as Israeli territory, while the rest of the international community still considers it Syrian territory occupied by Israel.^[3][4]
3. UK: /ˈɡoʊlæn/ GOH-lan, US: /ˈɡoʊlɑːn/ GOH-lahn; Arabic: هَضْبَة الجَوْلَان, romanized: Haḍbat al-Jawlān, IPA: [ˈhɑdˤbæt ældʒawˈlæːn], or مُرْتَفَعَات الجَوْلَان, Murtafaʻāt al-Jawlān; Hebrew: רָמַת הַגּוֹלָן, romanized: Ramat HaGolan, IPA: [ʁaˈmat haɡoˈlan] ^ⓘ.

References

1. *"The international community maintains that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan is null and void and without international legal effect." International Labour Office (2009). The situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories (International government publication ed.). International Labour Office. p. 23. ISBN 978-92-2-120630-9.
   • In 2008, a plenary session of the United Nations General Assembly voted by 161–1 in favour of a motion on the "occupied Syrian Golan" that reaffirmed support for UN Resolution 497. (General Assembly adopts broad range of texts, 26 in all, on recommendation of its fourth Committee, including on decolonization, information, Palestine refugees 27 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, United Nations, 5 December 2008.)
   • "the Syrian Golan Heights territory, which Israel has occupied since 1967". Also, "the Golan Heights, a 450-square mile portion of southwestern Syria that Israel occupied during the 1967 Arab–Israeli war." (CRS Issue Brief for Congress: Syria: U.S. Relations and Bilateral Issues 26 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Congressional Research Service. 19 January 2006)
2. Korman, Sharon, The Right of Conquest: The Acquisition of Territory by Force in International Law and Practice, Oxford University Press, pp. 262–263
3. , Reuters, 25 March 2019
4. Lee, Matthew; Riechmann, Deb (25 March 2019). "Trump signs declaration reversing US policy on Golan Heights". AP NEWS. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
5. "Israel approves plan to double settler population in Golan Heights". France 24. 26 December 2021.
6. "Israel to send 250,000 settlers to occupied Golan". www.aa.com.tr.
7. Statistical Abstract of Israel 2018, 2.17 20 November 2019 at the Wayback Machine. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics.
8. Golan Heights profile 17 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine 25 March 2019 BBC
9. Tina Shepardson. Stones and Stories: Reconstructing the Christianization of the Golan, 15 April 2001 at the Wayback Machine Biblisches Forum, 1999.
10. HaReuveni, Immanuel (1999). Lexicon of the Land of Israel (in Hebrew). Miskal – Yedioth Ahronoth Books and Chemed Books. pp. 662–663 ISBN 978-965-448-413-8.
11. Vitto, Fanny, Ancient Synagogue at Rehov, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem 1974
12. Michael Avi-Yonah (1979). The Holy Land – from the Persian to the Arab Conquests (536 B.C. to A.D. 640) A Historical Geography, Grand Rapids, Michigan, p. 170 ISBN 978-0-8010-0010-2
13. Avraham Negev; Shimon Gibson (2005). Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land (Paperback ed.). Continuum. p. 249. ISBN 978-0-8264-8571-7.
14. Dan Urman; Paul Virgil McCracken Flesher (1998). Ancient synagogues: historical analysis and archaeological discovery. BRILL. p. 423. ISBN 978-90-04-11254-4. Retrieved 2 March 2011.
15. Eric M. Meyers (1996). The Oxford encyclopedia of archaeology in the Near East. Vol. 2 (Hardcover ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 421. ISBN 978-0-19-511216-0.
16. Butcher, Kevin (2003). Roman Syria and the Near East. Getty Publications. ISBN 978-0-89236-715-3.
17. Michael J. Cohen (1989). The Origins and Evolution of the Arab-Zionist Conflict. University of California Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-520-90914-4.
18. The French Mandate in Syria, 1925–26, New York: Editorial Information Service of the Foreign Policy Association, 1925, retrieved 16 November 2020
19. "This Week in History: The Arab League Three No's". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
20. Golan Heights Law 31 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine, MFA.
21. "UN Security Council Resolution 497" (PDF). (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
22. "S/RES/242 (1967) of 22 November 1967". unispal.un.org. Retrieved 11 September 2021.
23. Y.Z Blum "Secure Boundaries and Middle East Peace in the Light of International Law and Practice" (1971) pages 24–46
24. . Report of the Secretary-General concerning the Agreement on Disengagement between Israeli and Syrian Forces. United Nations. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
25. AP and TOI staff (31 July 2018). "Syria boots IS from Golan Heights, retaking full control of frontier with Israel". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
26. E. A. Myers (2010). The Ituraeans and the Roman Near East: Reassessing the Sources (Hardcover ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 43. ISBN 978-0-521-51887-1.
27. "Ancient faiths embodied in ancient names: or, An attempt to trace the religious belief ... of certain nations", by Thomas Inman, 1872 History, page 551
28. Hastings, James (October 2004). A Dictionary of the Bible: Volume II: (Part I: Feign – Hyssop). The Minerva Group. ISBN 978-1-4102-1724-0.
29. Moshe Sharon (2004). Corpus inscriptionum Arabicarum Palaestinae. Brill Academic Publishers. p. 211. ISBN 978-90-04-13197-2.
30. John Lewis Burchhardt (1822). Travels in Syria and the Holy Land. Association for the promoting the discovery of the interior parts of Africa. p. 286.
31. Shahîd, Irfan (1995). Byzantium and the Arabs in the Sixth Century. Dumbarton Oaks. ISBN 978-0-88402-284-8.
32. "Venus of Berekhat Ram". visual-arts-cork.com.
33. Na'aman, Nadav (2012). "The Kingdom of Geshur in History and Memory". Scandinavian Journal of the Old Testament. 26 (1): 92. doi:10.1080/09018328.2012.704198. S2CID 73603495.
34. Richard 2003, p. 377
35. Ma'oz, Zvi Uri (1997). "Golan". The Oxford Encyclopedia of Archaeology in the Near East. p. 421. ISBN 978-0-19-511215-3.
36. Richard 2003, p. 427
37. Josephus, The Jewish War 1.20.3 25 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine–4 27 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine
38. "The Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal". google.com. 1860.
39. Syon, Danny, and ZVI YAVOR. "Gamla." Portrait of a Rebellion. BAR 18 (1992): 20–37.
40. Syon, Danny. "Gamala." 19 October 2020 at the Wayback Machine. The Encyclopedia of Ancient History (2013).
41. Maʿoz, Zvi Uri (1 June 1988). "Ancient Synagogues of the Golan". The Biblical Archaeologist. 51 (2): 116–128. doi:10.2307/3210031. ISSN 0006-0895. JSTOR 3210031. S2CID 134351479.
42. Decker, Michael (1 July 2009). "The Vine". Tilling the Hateful Earth. Oxford University Press. pp. 136, 235. doi:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780199565283.003.0005. ISBN 978-0-19-956528-3.
43. Ellenblum, R. Frankish Rural Settlement in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Cambridge University Press, 2003. pg. 219-20. ISBN 978-0-521-52187-1
44. "Utexas.edu".
45. "UMN.edu". from the original on 15 February 2010. Retrieved 11 February 2010.
46. Denys Pringle (2009). Banyas (No. 42). Cambridge University Press. p. 30. ISBN 978-0-521-10263-6. Retrieved 4 May 2015. {{cite book}}: |work= ignored (help)
47. "Peace conference: memoranda respecting Syria, Arabia and Palestine". Retrieved 6 January 2023.
48. Shoup, John A. (2007). Culture and customs of Jordan. Culture and customs of the Middle East. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 31. ISBN 978-0-313-33671-3. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
49. Porter, Josias Leslie. A handbook for travellers in Syria and Palestine 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, J. Murray, 1868. pg. 439. [Harvard University, 4 January 2007]
50. The Caspian Region: The Caucasus 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, M. Gammer, pg. 64.
51. Gudrun Krämer. A history of Palestine: from the Ottoman conquest to the founding of the state of Israel, Princeton University Press, 2008. pg.137. ISBN 978-0-691-11897-0
52. David Dean Commins. Historical dictionary of Syria 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, pg. 77.
53. Schumacher (1888), pp. 1–304
54. Schumacher, Gottlieb (1888). "Map of the Jaulan by Gottlieb Schumacher, C. E. 1885 / Edwd. Weller. lith". London: Richard Bentley and Son. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
55. Schumacher (1888), pp. 42–61
56. Martha Mundy, Basim Musallam. The transformation of nomadic society in the Arab East 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Cambridge University Press, 2000. pg. 40. ISBN 978-0-521-77057-6,
57. Kats, Yosef. The "business" of settlement: private entrepreneurship in the Jewish settlement of Palestine, 1900–1914 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Magnes Press, Hebrew University, 1994. p. 20. ISBN 978-965-223-863-4.
58. A hundred years of settlement, Keter, 1985. pg. 200.
59. Separation of Trans-Jordan from Palestine, Yitzhak Gil-Har, The Jerusalem Cathedra, ed. Lee Levine, Yad Yitzhak Ben Zvi and Wayne State University, Jerusalem, 1981, p.306
60. Sicker, Martin (1999). Reshaping Palestine. Greenwood Publishing. ISBN 978-0-275-96639-3.
61. M. R. Fishbach, Jewish property claims against Arab countries, Columbia University Press (2008), pp36-37.
62. Aharonson, Ran. Rothschild and early Jewish colonization in Palestine 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Rowman & Littlefield, 2000. pg. 98. ISBN 978-0-7425-0914-6
63. Efraim Orni, Elisha Efrat. Geography of Israel 18 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Israel Universities Press, 1971.
64. Efraim Orni, Elisha Efrat. Geography of Israel 18 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Israel Universities Press, 1971.
65. Military government in the territories administered by Israel, 1967–1980 18 January 2016 at the Wayback Machine, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Faculty of Law, Harry Sacher Institute for Legislature Research and Comparative Law, 1982, p.102.
66. Jewish spectator 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Volume 60, 1995.
67. Biger, 2005, p. 173.
68. Chaim Weizmann, subsequently reported to his colleagues in London: "There are still important details outstanding, such as the actual terms of the mandate and the question of the boundaries in Palestine. There is the delimitation of the boundary between French Syria and Palestine, which will constitute the northern frontier and the eastern line of demarcation, adjoining Arab Syria. The latter is not likely to be fixed until the Emir Faisal attends the Peace Conference, probably in Paris." See: 'Zionist Aspirations: Dr Weizmann on the Future of Palestine', The Times, Saturday, 8 May 1920; p. 15.
69. Franco-British Convention on Certain Points Connected with the Mandates for Syria and the Lebanon, Palestine and Mesopotamia, signed 23 December 1920. Text available in American Journal of International Law, Vol. 16, No. 3, 1922, 122–126.
70. Agreement between His Majesty's Government and the French Government respecting the Boundary Line between Syria and Palestine from the Mediterranean to El Hámmé, Treaty Series No. 13 (1923), Cmd. 1910. Also Louis, 1969, p. 90.
71. FSU Law 16 September 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
72. Robert G. Rabil (2003). Embattled neighbors: Syria, Israel, and Lebanon. Lynne Rienner Publishers. pp. 15–16. ISBN 978-1-58826-149-6.
73. The Brink of Peace: The Israeli–Syrian Negotiations By Itamar Rabinovich, page 19
74. The UNRWA commissioned a plan for the development of the Jordan River; this became widely known as "The Johnston plan". The plan was modelled on the Tennessee Valley Authority development plan for the development of the Jordan River as a single unit. Greg Shapland, (1997) Rivers of Discord: International Water Disputes in the Middle East 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, C. Hurst & Co. Publishers, ISBN 978-1-85065-214-4 p. 14
75. Sosland, Jeffrey (2007) Cooperating Rivals: The Riparian Politics of the Jordan River Basin 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, SUNY Press, ISBN 978-0-7914-7201-9 p. 70
76. Moshe Gat (2003). Britain and the Conflict in the Middle East, 1964–1967: The Coming of the Six-Day War. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 101. ISBN 978-0-275-97514-2. Retrieved 7 September 2013. [on 1965] "Nasser too, assured the American under Secretary of state, Philip Talbot, that the Arabs would not exceed the water quotas prescribed by the Johnston plan"
77. Avi Shlaim (2000). The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. Penguin Books. pp. 229, 230. ISBN 978-0-14-028870-4. In January 1964 an Arab League summit meeting convened in Cairo. The main item on the agenda was the threat posed by Israel's diversion of water … The preamble to its decision stated: "The establishment of Israel is the basic threat that the Arab nation in its entirety has agreed to forestall. And Since the existence of Israel is a danger that threatens the Arab nation, the diversion of the Jordan waters by it multiplies the dangers to Arab existence. Accordingly, the Arab states have to prepare the plans necessary for dealing with the political, economic and social aspects, so that if necessary results are not achieved, collective Arab military preparations, when they are not completed, will constitute the ultimate practical means for the final liquidation of Israel
78. Masahiro Murakami (1995). Managing Water for Peace in the Middle East; Alternative Strategies. United Nations University Press. pp. 287–297. ISBN 978-92-808-0858-2.
79. M. Shemesh, Prelude to the Six-Day War: The Arab–Israeli Struggle Over Water Resources, Israel Studies, vol 9, no. 3, 2004.
80. M. Shemesh, The Fida'iyyun Organization's Contribution to the Descent to the Six-Day War, Israel Studies, vol 11, no. 1, 2006.
81. M. Shemesh, The IDF Raid On Samu: The Turning-Point In Jordan's Relations With Israel and the West Bank Palestinians, Israel Studies, vol 7, no. 1, 2002.
82. "Six-Day War", Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2007. 31 October 2009.
83. Sicker, Martin, Israel's quest for security, New York. Praeger Publishing (1989), p. 92–95
84. Eban, Abba, Abba Eban. An Autobiography, New York: Random House (1977) p. 313-314
85. Gilbert, Martin, The Arab–Israeli Conflict: Its History in Maps, 4th ed, London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson (1985) p 63–64
86. Washington Report on Middle East Affairs 29 October 2005 at the Wayback Machine, 1991-11.
87. Yitschak Ben Gad. The road map to nowhere, Balfour Books, 2004. pg. 292. ISBN 978-0-89221-578-2.
88. Schmemann, Serge (11 May 1997). "General's Words Shed a New Light on the Golan". The New York Times. Retrieved 3 May 2010.
89. Embattled neighbors: Syria, Israel, and Lebanon, By Robert G Rabil, p.15-16. 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, They followed to a great extent a pattern of action and reaction. Israel would move tractors and equipment, often guarded by police, into disputed areas of the DMZ. From its high ground positions. Syria would fire at those advancing, and would frequently shell Israeli settlements in the Huleh Valley. Israel would retaliate with excessive raids on Syrian positions, including the use of air power.
90. Murray, Douglas J.; Viotti, Paul R. (1994). The Defense Policies of Nations. JHU Press. ISBN 978-0-8018-4794-3.
91. *"Andere kijk op Zesdaagse Oorlog". Novatv. 4 June 2007."Six-Day War deliberately provoked by Israel: former Dutch UN observer". DeepJournal. 8 June 2007.
92. Embattled neighbors: Syria, Israel, and Lebanon, By Robert G Rabil, p. 15, "UN officials found fault with the policies of both Israel and Syria and often accused the 2 countries of destabilizing the Israeli–Syrian borders".
93. Robert Slater. Warrior Statesman: The Life of Moshe Dayan, Robson Books, London (1992), pg. 277.
94. Morris (2001), p. 327: "Another eighty to ninety thousand civilians fled or were driven from the Golan Heights."
95. The Arab Centre for Human Rights in the Golan Heights: NGO Report 3 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine, pg. 3. 25 January 2007. 90,000 according to Israeli sources and 115,000 according to Syrian sources, which included 17,000 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, cited in the Report of the Secretary-General under General Assembly resolution 2252 (ES-V) and Security Council resolution 237 (1967 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine, pg. 14. 15 September 1967.)
96. . Archived from the original on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 18 July 2007.
97. "A View From Damascus: Internal Refugees From Golan's 244 Destroyed Syrian Villages". Washington-report.org. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
98. Golan Facts 21 August 2006 at the Wayback Machine.
99. Dunstan, Simon (2009). The Six Day War 1967: Jordan and Syria. Osprey. ISBN 978-1-84603-364-3.
100. Herzog, Chaim, The Arab Israeli Wars, New York: Random House (1982) p.190-191
101. Eldar, Akiva. A matter of a few dozen meters 22 November 2008 at the Wayback Machine, Haaretz, 1 June 2008.
102. Isachenkov, Vladimir (11 July 2018). "Putin and Netanyahu meet for Syria-focused talks in Moscow". Associated Press. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
103. The Middle East and North Africa 2003, Occupied Territories, The Golan Heights, page 604.
104. . sana.sy. Archived from the original on 25 February 2009.
105. Landmine monitor report 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, International Campaign to Ban Landmines, pg. 696. ISBN 978-1-56432-287-6.
106. Marshall, Edgar S. Israel: current issues and historical background 22 October 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Nova Publishers, 2002. pg. 34. ISBN 978-1-59033-325-9.
107. Regions and territories: The Golan Heights 31 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine BBC.
108. "Golan Heights" A Dictionary of Contemporary World History. Jan Palmowski. Oxford University Press, 2003. Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press.
109. United Nations. Security Council Resolutions 14 August 2018 at the Wayback Machine, 1981.
110. Council on Foreign Relations. UN Security Council Resolution 497 28 June 2019 at the Wayback Machine,
111. Occupied territory:
     • "Israeli-occupied Golan Heights" (Central Intelligence Agency. CIA World Factbook 2010, Skyhorse Publishing Inc., 2009. pg. 339. ISBN 978-1-60239-727-9.)
     • "...the United States considers the Golan Heights to be occupied territory subject to negotiation and Israeli withdrawal..." ("CRS Issue Brief for Congress: Israeli–United States Relations" 24 April 2003 at the Wayback Machine, Congressional Research Service, 5 April 2002. pg. 5. Retrieved 1 August 2010.)
     • "Occupied Golan Heights" (Travel advice: Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories 20 July 2009 at the Wayback Machine, UK Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Retrieved 1 August 2010.)
     • "In the ICRC's view, the Golan is an occupied territory." (ICRC activities in the occupied Golan during 2007 15 February 2021 at the Wayback Machine, International Committee of the Red Cross, 24 April 2008.)
112. Korman, Sharon. The right of conquest: the acquisition of territory by force in international law and practice 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Oxford University Press, 1996. pg. 265. ISBN 978-0-19-828007-1.
113. "Document 487". Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XIX, Arab–Israeli Crisis and War. U.S. State Department. Retrieved 26 October 2010.
114. (Baron) Caradon, Hugh Foot (1981). U.N. Security Council Resolution 242: A Case Study in Diplomatic Ambiguity. Institute for the Study of Diplomacy, Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service, Georgetown University. p. 12. ISBN 978-0-934742-11-5.
115. Taylor & Francis Group (2003). The Europa World Year Book 2003. Europa World Yearbook. Routledge. p. 2217. ISBN 978-1-85743-227-5. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
116. The Christian Science Monitor (28 September 2009). "Yearning for the Golan Heights: why Syria wants it back". The Christian Science Monitor. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
117. Castellino, Joshua; Cavanaugh, Kathleen (2013). Minority Rights in the Middle East. OUP Oxford. p. 132. ISBN 978-0-19-967949-2. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
118. Kipnis, Yigal (2013). The Golan Heights: Political History, Settlement and Geography since 1949. Routledge Studies in Middle Eastern Politics. Taylor & Francis. pp. 130–144. ISBN 978-1-136-74092-3. Retrieved 19 March 2019.
119. Rasgon, Adam. "Golan Druze communities set for first municipal elections — and many are fuming". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
120. "More Shadows than Lights–Local Elections in the Occupied Syrian Golan" (PDF). Al-Marsad. Retrieved 16 June 2019.
121. "Druze on Golan Heights protest against Israeli municipal election". Reuters. 30 October 2018. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
122. Mraffko, Clothilde. "For many Golan Druze, voting in first-ever municipal election remains taboo". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
123. Mackie, Kyle S. (6 September 2018). "An Experiment in Democracy: Torn Between Syria and Israel, Golan Druze Divided Over First Election". Haaretz. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
124. Moshe Ma'oz (March 2005). (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 September 2007. Retrieved 6 April 2008.
125. Ross, Missing Peace, 589
126. Clinton, My Life 883-88,903
127. "Olmert to Assad: Israel willing to withdraw from Golan Heights". Ynetnews. Ynet News. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
128. "Hafez Assad conceded Mt Hermon, says Netanyahu". Ynetnews. Ynet News. 8 June 2007. Retrieved 8 June 2007.
129. "BBC NEWS – Middle East – Israel 'ready to return Golan'". BBC. 23 April 2008.
130. Nahmias, Roee. "Syrian report: Olmert agreed to concede Golan Heights". Ynet. Retrieved 23 April 2008.
131. Einav, Hagai. "Attempt to cede Golan doomed to fail, say local leaders". Ynet. Retrieved 24 April 2008.
132. "Poll: 70% oppose relinquishing Golan Heights". The Jerusalem Post. 21 May 2008.
133. General Assembly adopts broad range of texts, 26 in all, on recommendation of its fourth Committee, including on decolonization, information, Palestine refugees 28 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, United Nations, 5 December 2008
134. Nahmias, Roee (20 June 1995). "Report: Israel asked to resume Syria talks – Israel News, Ynetnews". Ynetnews. Ynetnews.com. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
135. "חדשות, ידיעות מהארץ והעולם – עיתון הארץ". הארץ.^{[permanent dead link]}
136. Barak Ravid (8 May 2009). "Netanyahu: Israel will never withdraw from Golan". Haaretz.
137. . Archived from the original on 31 May 2012.
138. Indyk, Martin (2009). Innocent Abroad: An Intimate Account of American Peace Diplomacy in the Middle East. Simon & Schuster.
139. "Assad: Golan issue non-negotiable – Israel News, Ynetnews". Ynetnews. Ynetnews.com. 20 June 1995. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
140. Sofer, Roni (20 June 1995). "Peres: Assad can't have both Golan and Hezbollah – Israel News, Ynetnews". Ynetnews. Ynetnews.com. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
141. "Syrian FM in response to Peres: Golan Heights belongs to us – Israel News, Ynetnews". Ynetnews. Ynetnews.com. 20 June 1995. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
142. "Israel's Lieberman cautions Syria". Al Jazeera. 4 February 2010. Retrieved 8 April 2011. 'We must make Syria recognise that just as it relinquished its dream of a greater Syria that controls Lebanon ... it will have to relinquish its ultimate demand regarding the Golan Heights,' Lieberman said.
143. Rudoren, Jodi (2 October 2015). "As Syria Reels, Israel Looks to Expand Settlements in Golan Heights". The New York Times. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
144. "White House Official: U.S. Won't Recognize Israeli Sovereignty in Golan". Haaretz. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
145. Chloe, Farand (28 August 2017). "Isis fighters 'attacked Israel Defense Forces unit, then apologised' claims former commander". The Independent. Retrieved 14 January 2023.
146. Loveday Morris (10 May 2018). "Iranian forces fire rockets at Israeli military in first direct attack ever, Israel's army says". The Washington Post.
147. "Golan Druze rally in support of Syria's Assad". France24. 17 April 2018.
148. "Druze in Israel's Golan Heights rally in support of Syria's Assad". Times of Israel. 17 April 2018.
149. Edgar S. Marshall. Israel: current issues and historical background. Nova Publishers, 2002. pg. 35. ISBN 978-1-59033-325-9.
150. Garfinkle, Adam (1998). "History and Peace: Revisiting two Zionist myths". Israel Affairs. 5 (1). Routledge: 135–146. doi:10.1080/13537129808719501.
151. "The Line of June 4, 1967". jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
152. A. Garfinkle, History and Peace: Revisiting two Zionist myths, Israel Affairs, vol. 5 (1998) pp126–148.
153. "Israel-Syria Armistice Agreement (1949) | Jewish Virtual Library". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org.
154. Kaufman, Asher (2004). "Understanding the Sheeba Farms dispute". Palestine-Israel Journal. 11 (1). Retrieved 22 July 2006.
155. "In focus: Shebaa farms". BBC News. 25 May 2000. Retrieved 29 September 2006.
156. "Border problems. Lebanon, UNIFIL and Italian participation by Lucrezia Gwinnett Liguori" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 10 October 2017. Retrieved 2 September 2010.
157. Ghajar says `don't fence me in' 1 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
158. UNIFIL Press Kit 14 August 2021 at the Wayback Machine p.6
159. Golan's Druse Wary of Israel and Syria 11 October 2017 at the Wayback Machine 3 June 2007
160. "Trump's Golan move unites Gulf States and Iran in condemnation". France 24. 26 March 2019. Retrieved 31 March 2019.
161. Roberts, Adam (January 1990). "Prolonged Military Occupation: The Israeli-Occupied Territories Since 1967". American Journal of International Law. 84 (1): 60. doi:10.2307/2203016. JSTOR 2203016. S2CID 145514740.
162. Korman, Sharon (31 October 1996), The Right of Conquest: The Acquisition of Territory by Force in International Law and Practice, Oxford University Press, pp. 262–264, ISBN 978-0-19-158380-3
163. Trump, Donald J. (25 March 2019). "Proclamation on Recognizing the Golan Heights as Part of the State of Israel". whitehouse.gov. Retrieved 25 March 2019 – via National Archives.
164. Landler, Mark; Halbfinger, David M. (25 March 2019). "Trump, With Netanyahu, Formally Recognizes Israel's Authority Over Golan Heights". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
165. Noa Landau, Legal Experts Debunk Netanyahu's Golan Heights Claim: Annexation Can't Be Excused by Defensive War 2 April 2019 at the Wayback Machine, Haaretz, 31 March 2019
166. Zachary Laub, 'The Golan Heights: What's at Stake With Trump's Recognition,' 31 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine Council of Foreign Relations 28 March 2019
167. Jon Stone, 'EU member states unanimously reject Israel's sovereignty over Golan Heights, defying Trump and Netanyahu,' 29 March 2019 at the Wayback Machine The Independent 29 March 2019.
168. Fassihi, Farnaz (28 March 2019). "Security Council Denounces Trump's Golan Decision". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 29 March 2019.
169. Magid, Jacob. "In return to pre-Trump norm, State Dep't report refers to 'occupied' territories". The Times of Israel.
170. Lazaroff, Tova (26 June 2021). "US: No change to policy recognizing Israeli sovereignty on Golan". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 28 June 2021.
171. Williams, Dan (11 October 2021). "Israel says it will keep Golan as Assad's fortunes, U.S. views shift". Reuters – via www.reuters.com.
172. "After Blinken remarks, Netanyahu says Golan will always be Israel's". Reuters. 9 February 2021 – via www.reuters.com.
173. . Un.org. Archived from the original on 12 September 2009. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
174. [1] 8 November 2012 at the Wayback Machine
175. "Military: Stray Syrian bullet hits Israeli jeep | Nation & World". The Seattle Times. 5 November 2012. Archived from the original on 2 February 2013. Retrieved 26 March 2013.
176. "Three mortar shells from Syria land in Israeli Golan Heights". The Jerusalem Post - JPost.com.
177. i24NEWS. "Road to recovery: Syria opens two key crossings with Jordan, Israel". i24NEWS. Retrieved 15 October 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
178. Fogelman, Shay. The disinherited 19 September 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Haaretz, 30 July 2010. (90,000 according to Israeli sources and 115,000 according to Syrian sources, which included 17,000 Palestinian refugees registered with UNRWA, cited in the Report of the Secretary-General under General Assembly resolution 2252 (ES-V) and Security Council resolution 237 (1967) 2 October 2013 at the Wayback Machine, pg. 14. 15 September 1967.)
179. Kimmerling, Baruch (2006). Politicide: Ariel Sharon's war against the Palestinians. Verso Books. p. 28. ISBN 978-1-84467-532-6.
180. "The Fate of Abandoned Arab Villages, 1965–1969" by Aron Shai (History & Memory – Volume 18, Number 2, Fall/Winter 2006, pp. 86–106) "As the pace of the surveys increased in the West Bank, widespread operations also began on the Golan Heights, which had been captured from Syria during the war (figure 7). Dan Urman, whose official title was Head of Surveying and Demolition Supervision for the Golan Heights, was in charge of this task. Urman submitted a list of 127 villages for demolition to his bosses. ... The demolitions were executed by contractors hired for the job. Financial arrangements and coordination with the ILA and the army were recorded in detail. Davidson commissioned surveys and demolition supervision from the IASS [Israel Archaeological Survey Society]. Thus, for example, in a letter dated 15 May 1968, he wrote to Ze'ev Yavin: 'Further to our meeting, this is to inform you that within a few days we will start demolishing about 90 abandoned villages on the Golan Heights (see attached list)."
181. Davis, U. (January 1983), (PDF), p. 5, archived from the original (PDF) on 18 July 2011, The remainder of 131 agricultural villages and 61 individual farms were wiped of the face of the earth by the Israeli occupation authorities immediately following the Israeli victory in the 1967 war. They were razed to the ground and their lands handed over to exclusive Israeli-Jewish settlement.
182. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. . Refworld. Archived from the original on 18 October 2012.
183. . unispal.un.org. Archived from the original on 3 January 2011.
184. Scott Wilson (30 October 2006). "Golan Heights Land, Lifestyle Lure Settlers". The Washington Post. Retrieved 5 June 2007.
185. "With Syria ablaze, dozens of Golan Heights Druze seek Israeli citizenship". The Times of Israel.
186. Echoes of Syria's War in the Golan Heights 2 February 2017 at the Wayback Machine, New York Times
187. Joshua Mitnick (21 September 2013). "Assad harvests support from Druze in Israel – with apples". Christian Science Monitor.
188. Avni, Idan (16 October 2006). "Nobody's citizens". ynet.
189. "Israel News – Haaretz Israeli News source". haaretz.com.
190. . The Independent. Archived from the original on 4 April 2007.
191. The Golan's Druze wonder what is best 21 October 2007 at the Wayback Machine
192. A would-be happy link with Syria 8 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine The Economist 19 February 2009
193. Pennello, Aine (15 August 2013). "Young Druze seek Israeli citizenship as Syrian crisis worsens". ynet.
194. Amun, Fadi (22 September 2022). "As ties to Syria fade, Golan Druze increasingly turning to Israel for citizenship". The Times of Israel.
195. [2]"Yearbook of the United Nations 2005, Volume 59" pg.524
196. . Archived from the original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved 23 August 2010. "Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories" September 2002
197. Report of the Director-General, Volume 2 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, International Labour Conference, 1991.pg. 34. ISBN 978-92-2-107533-2.
198. Regions and territories: The Golan Heights 15 April 2011 at the Wayback Machine BBC
199. Oudat, Basel.Shouting in the hills 9 August 2009 at the Wayback Machine, Al-Ahram Weekly, 12–18 June 2008. Issue No. 901.
200. "Population by District, Sub-District and Religion". Statistical Abstract of Israel, no. 60. Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 2009.
201. "Localities and Population, by Population Group, District, Sub-District and Natural Region". Israel Central Bureau of Statistics. 6 September 2017. Retrieved 19 September 2017.
202. Morris, Loveday (23 April 2019). "Trump Town: Netanyahu wants to repay Trump's Golan move with a community named in his honor". The Washington Post. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
203. "Israel unveils 'Trump Heights' in Golan". BBC News. 16 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
204. "Welcome to Trump Heights, the Israeli Town That Doesn't Exist". Haaretz. 17 June 2019. Retrieved 17 June 2019.
205. "Israel: New Netanyahu government vows to expand settlements". DW. 28 December 2022.
206. Winter, Dave (1999). Israel Handbook. Footprint Handbooks. ISBN 978-1-900949-48-4.
207. Edgar S. Marshall (2002). Israel: Current Issues and Historical Background. Nova Science Publishers. p. 32. ISBN 978-1-59033-325-9.
208. United States, Central Intelligence Agency, Golan Heights and Vicinity : Oct 1994 [3] 9 October 2021 at the Wayback Machine
209. CBS, Statistical Abstract of Israel 2011 AREA OF DISTRICTS, SUB-DISTRICTS, NATURAL REGIONS AND LAKES 11 December 2015 at the Wayback Machine (table 1.1)
210. The Syrian Golan 8 October 2010 at the Wayback Machine – Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations
211. "The World Factbook". cia.gov. 2 December 2021.
212. Henry T. Conserva. Earth Tales: New Perspectives on Geography and History. Golan Heights, p. 197, at Google Books
213. Yigal Kipnis, The Golan Heights: Political History, Settlement and Geography since 1949 14 December 2022 at the Wayback Machine, Routledge 2013, ISBN 978-1-136-74099-2, accessed 9 August 2019
214. FSU.edu 27 March 2009 at the Wayback Machine: International Boundary Study Number 94, 30 December 1969. Jordan—Syria Boundary. US Department of State, p. 12
215. Haim Gvirtzman, Israel Water Resources, Chapters in Hydrology and Environmental Sciences, Yad Ben-Zvi Press, Jerusalem (in Hebrew) Water.gov.il 11 January 2009 at the Wayback Machine indicates that the Golan Heights contributes no more than 195 million m³ per year to the Sea of Galilee, as well as another 120 million m³ per year from the Banias River tributary. Israel's annual water consumption is about 2,000 million m³.
216. "The synagogue of Umm el-Kanatir". The Jerusalem Post | JPost.com. 19 February 2009.
217. The Ancient world. Ares Publishers. 2002. p. 54. Retrieved 7 March 2011.
218. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor (2008). The Holy Land: An Oxford Archaeological Guide from Earliest Times to 1700. Oxford Archaeological Guides. Oxford: Oxford University Press. pp. 289–290. ISBN 978-0-19-923666-4. Retrieved 12 July 2018.
219. Reflections on a Reconstruction of Ancient Qasrin Village, The reconstructed past: reconstructions in the public interpretation of archaeology and history, Ann Killebrew John H. Jameson, Rowman Altamira, 2004, pp. 127–146
220. . Archived from the original on 28 May 2007. Retrieved 29 October 2006.
221. Antiquities 22 May 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
222. "Morbid theory in mystery of Israel's answer to Stone Henge". Haaretz.com. 3 November 2011.
223. Kanatir 18 May 2006 at the Wayback Machine, TAU.
224. Tarnopolsky, Noga (15 September 2006). "Upstart Wineries Drench Previously Arid Country".
225. (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 4 December 2011.
226. . mykerem. Archived from the original on 29 June 2012. Retrieved 24 June 2012.
227. Hayoun, David (15 April 1997). "INOC Will Seek Two Year Extension of Golan Heights Drilling Licence". Globes. Archived from the original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2012. The Israel National Oil Company (INOC), intends shortly to approach the Commissioner for Oil Prospecting at the Ministry of National Infrastructures with a demand for a two-year extension of the licence awarded the company in the past for shaft-sinking on the Golan Heights.
228. "Netanyahu Approves Oil Drilling In Golan Heights". Associated Press. Jerusalem. 25 October 1996. Retrieved 14 May 2012. The National Oil Company expects the Golan site to yield some 2 million barrels of oil and revenue of about $24 million, Haaretz said.
229. ההחלטה החשאית של השר לנדאו: ישראל תחפש נפט ברמת הגולן [The covert decision of Minister Landau: Israel will search for oil in the Golan Heights]. TheMarker (in Hebrew). 13 May 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2012. על פי הדיווח, בראשית שנות ה-90, בימי ממשלתו של יצחק רבין ז"ל, הוחלט להקפיא את את מתן הרישיונות על רקע הנסיונות לנהל משא ומתן לשלום בין ישראל לסוריה.
230. Hayoun, David (3 July 1997). [Searching for Oil, and Peace]. Globes (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2012. תהליך הפרטתה של חנ"ל (חברת הנפט הלאומית) החל ברגל ימין: מנהלת רשות החברות הממשלתיות, ציפי ליבני, היתה מאושרת לפני מספר חודשים לשמוע, כי שבע קבוצות ניגשו למיכרז הראשוני לרכישת החברה.
231. Hayoun, David (3 July 1997). [Livni: Taking the Golan drilling permit from INOC meant to prevent exposure of state to legal action]. Globes (in Hebrew). Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 14 May 2012. נודע, כי מנהלת רשות החברות, ציפי לבני, הודיעה על החלטה לשלול את הזיכיון לקידוחים ברמת הגולן לשלוש הקבוצות המתמודדות על רכישת חנ"ל.
232. Ben Zion, Ilan (13 May 2012). "Government secretly approves Golan Heights drilling". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
233. Barkat, Amiram (20 February 2013). "Israel awards first Golan oil drilling license". Globes. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
234. "N.J. firm wins original rights to drill in Golan Heights". JTA. 21 February 2013. Archived from the original on 15 April 2013. Retrieved 22 February 2013.
235. Khoury, Jack (25 February 2016). "Human Rights Groups: Golan Oil Drilling Contravenes International Law". Haaretz. Retrieved 5 April 2016.
236. "Permanent sovereignty of the Palestinian people in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and of the Arab population in the occupied Syrian Golan over their natural resources". United Nations. Demands that Israel, the occupying Power, cease the exploitation, damage, cause of loss or depletion and endangerment of the natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan
237. "Second Committee Approves Nine Resolutions, Including One Voicing Deep Concern over 1.3 Billion People Living in Multidimensional Poverty". United Nations. 18 November 2021.

Bibliography

• Biger, Gideon (2005). The Boundaries of Modern Palestine, 1840–1947. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-7146-5654-0.
• Bregman, Ahron (2002). Israel's Wars: A History Since 1947. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-415-28716-6.
• Louis, Wm. Roger (1969). "The United Kingdom and the Beginning of the Mandates System, 1919–1922". International Organization, 23(1), pp. 73–96.
• Maar'i, Tayseer; Usama Halabi (1992). "Life under occupation in the Golan Heights". Journal of Palestine Studies. 22: 78–93. doi:10.1525/jps.1992.22.1.00p0166n.
• Maoz, Asher (1994). "Application of Israeli law to the Golan Heights is annexation". Brooklyn Journal of International Law. 20, afl. 2: 355–96.
• Morris, Benny (2001). Righteous Victims. New York: Vintage Books. ISBN 978-0-679-74475-7.
• Richard, Suzanne (2003). Near Eastern Archaeology: A Reader. Eisenbrauns. ISBN 978-1-57506-083-5.
• Schumacher, G. (1888). The Jaulân: surveyed for the German Society for the Exploration of the Holy Land. London: Richard Bentley & Son. OCLC 1142389290. (PDF download of book)
• Sheleff, Leon (1994). "Application of Israeli law to the Golan Heights is not annexation". Brooklyn Journal of International Law. 20, afl. 2: 333–53.
• Zisser, Eyal (2002). "June 1967: Israel's capture of the Golan Heights". Israel Studies. 7, 1: 168–94. doi:10.2979/ISR.2002.7.1.168.

External links

• – Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations
• Jawlan.org 29 September 2013 at the Wayback Machine (in Arabic)
• Gaulonitis in The unedited full text of the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia
• Golan, Gaulonitis in the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
• What is the dispute over the Golan Heights? 24 August 2013 at the Wayback Machine
• A View From Damascus: Internal Refugees From Golan's 244 Destroyed Syrian Villages from Washington Report