The Golan for Development

The Golan for Development (GD) is a non-profit organization founded in 1991 in the occupied Golan Heights. Its headquarters are in Majdal Shams, one of the five Syrian villages remaining out of the 139 villages that existed in the Golan Heights before the Israeli occupation in 1967.

Majdal Shams is located northeast of the Sea of Galilee, in the furthermost corner of the territory now controlled by Israel. Lebanon is to the west, and Syria is to the east.

Israeli policies after the war of 1967 tried to obscure its taking of the land. After villages were bulldozed and destroyed, the stones were often used to build new settlements on the same location. These settlements were then named with a Hebrew version of the former name of the Arab village, and Arab names were removed from local maps. Fully-grown trees and shrubbery were imported from the Jordan Valley so visitors to the area would think that Israeli settlements had been in place in the Golan Heights before the 1967 war.

A tall, short-haired man, with a quick smile, Dr. Tayseer Maray explained that of the 130,000 Arabs living in the Golan Heights in 1967, only about 18,000 remained. But these people have effectively resisted many of the initiatives of the Israeli occupation.

The Israelis have confiscated 95% of the land of the Golan Heights and restricted use of the natural water resources. They also took control of all government services including education and health care. In the schools they imposed the Israeli curriculum in Hebrew, and the health clinic established by the Israeli government was only open seven hours during the day.

As part of its resistance to Israeli rule, the GD organized alternative schools taught in Arabic, and presented material to the children explaining that their land had been taken from them. It also started its own health clinic that is open 24 hours a day. To compete with the local health clinic, the Israeli clinic then went on a full-time schedule. "This is great," Maray said, "for now we have two full-time health clinics in Majdal Shams."

Pursuing this strategy of self-help, the GD encouraged people to build water tanks to store the considerable rain that falls in the mountains. More than 600 of these circular, metal tanks were constructed in the Golan Heights, and when later we drove around the area we could see that these large tanks (each about 10-12 feet in diameter) are now full of water.

When I asked where the funding for the GD came from, Maray said that the people of Majdal Shams and the other villages in the Golan Heights were able to pay for education and health services, because they earned money from growing and selling high quality apples. The GD has assisted the apple industry by investing in modern equipment and methods of storage, so the apples do not have to be sold when the price is low, but can be kept in good condition and sold during the winter. Only 10% of the funding of the GD comes from Europe, and this money is used for projects rather than for administrative running costs.

The GD employees 70 people, 30 in the health clinic. It provides health insurance for all its employees, and it has a contract with one of the four Israeli health insurance companies. When it first contracted with an Israeli provider, the benefits were low and the costs high. But the other Israeli companies saw the market and made better offers, so their present contract is excellent.

All this has been possible, in large part, because the people maintained their unity in resisting Israeli policies, their remote location made it more difficult for the Israeli army to impose its will, and the GD provided effective leadership for the entire community.

There is also a long history in this region of being conquered and resisting. The people remember fighting the French and the Turks, and their heroes are those who fought and died defending their mountainous villages from invaders from the valley below. The Israelis are just the most recent outside force that has tried to subdue their fighting spirit.

From 1967 to 1981 the Golan Heights was under military rule. Then the Knesset annexed the area, and offered citizenship to the people of the Golan Heights, hoping that acceptance by the people would give legitimacy to the annexation. In 1982, however, there was a general strike for two months in the Golan Heights, as the people resisted annexation. At the same time the Israeli army was tied down in Lebanon. So, the government backed off from using heavy handed methods in the Golan Heights to try to force an end to the strike, and instead negotiated with the leaders of the communities.

The Israelis have tried to highlight the differences between the Druse and other Arab Muslims, so it has allowed a semi-autonomous administration in the Golan Heights. The Druse inhabitants of the Golan Heights were offered Israeli citizenship, but in the ensuing years only 5% of the people have accepted this status. The rest of the Druse in the Golan Heights have Israeli IDs, but they identify themselves as Syrians and not as Israelis. Most Druse consider themselves Arab Muslims, as well as Druse. They do not wish to become Israelis.

Between 1990 and 1995 only the sons of collaborators from the Golan Heights could go to Damascus for further education, as the Israeli government hope this incentive would induce more residents of the Golan to cooperate. However, only a few families were persuaded. Now 95% of the population can get permits to send children to the Syrian capital, if they pay their taxes. And most are willing to do that for the sake of their children’s education.

The border with Syria is very close to Majdal Shams and is marked only by a low, wire fence. But there are land mines for 100 yards beyond the fence, so no one goes in the area. On national holidays, Syrians come to the area beyond the mines and use megaphones to communicate with family and friends in Majdal Shams. We could see the road that came to an end about 100 yards from the fence, where the people gather when they come.

An Israeli military outpost stood above the road beside the Syrian border, and there were landmines in a field below it. Signs on the fence around the field warned of the explosives in the ground, but in other places near the village, Maray told us, landmines are not clearly posted. Since 1967 landmines have caused 16 deaths and 50 injured persons, mostly children, but the Israelis refuse to remove the landmines because of the danger to its soldiers in doing so.

Nearby, there is an Israeli settlement. The Israelis have invested heavily in apple production in the area, as a way of weakening the economy of the Syrians. As the Israeli apples are now of equal, or even superior quality, for their investment has been greater, the GD is now marketing some of their apples in Syria and through Syria in other countries as well.

Most of the refugees from the Golan Heights now live in Syria, and of course the relatives of the present occupants of villages like Majdal Shams are also Syrians. So, it is not surprising that the Druse of the Golan Heights would seek closer economic ties with the markets in Syria.

As we left the Golan Heights we drove past the ruins of Nimrud, which towers above the Golan facing Damascus. This Muslim fortification was designed to defend the road to Damascus from a possible Crusader attack from the coast of the Mediterranean Sea to the east. The site is in poor repair today, but its massive presence reminds the people of Majdal Shams of the long history of invasion and occupation that has defined these fertile slopes above the Sea of Galilee.

Bob Traer, 6 April 2005

I am writing as a participant in the Ecumenical Accompaniment Program in Palestine and Israel, which is sponsored by the World Council of Churches. The views expressed above are personal and do not necessarily represent the World Council of Churches. If you wish to publish or disseminate this letter beyond personal friends, please contact the EAPPI Communications Officer (eappi-co@jrol.com) for permission to do so. Thank you.

For photos taken in the Golan Heights, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/photos.golan.htm. 

For other Letters from Jerusalem, go to http://christian-bible.com/Ethics/lj.letters.2005.htm. 

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