In the Bible,Golan is mentioned as acity of refuge located inBashan:Deuteronomy 4:43, Joshua 20:8 and 1 Chronicles 6:71.[25] Nineteenth-century authors interpreted the wordGolan as meaning "somethingsurrounded, hence adistrict".[26][27] The shift in the meaning of Golan, from a town to a broader district or territory, is first attested by the Jewish historianJosephus. His account likely reflects Roman administrative changes implemented after theGreat Jewish Revolt (66–73 CE).[28]
TheGreek name for the region isGaulanîtis (Γαυλανῖτις).[29] In theMishnah the name isGablān similar toAramaic language names for the region:Gawlāna,Guwlana andGublānā.[29]
TheArabic name isJawlān,[29] sometimes romanized asDjolan, which is an Arabized version of theCanaanite andHebrew name.[30] Arab cartographers of theByzantine period referred to the area asjabal (جَبَل, 'mountain'), though the region is a plateau.[31][dubious –discuss]
The nameGolan Heights was not used before the 19th century.[25]
The southern Golan saw a rise in settlements from the 2nd millennium BCE onwards. These were small settlements located on the slopes overlooking the Sea of Galilee or nearby gorges. They may correspond to the "cities of the Land of Ga[šu]ru'" mentioned in Amarna Letter #256.5, written by the prince of Pihilu (Pella). This suggests a different form of political organization compared to the prevalent city-states of the region, such asHatzor to the west andAshteroth to the east.[8] The Golan had numerous settlements in the Middle Bronze Age until they were largely destroyed by Egyptian PharaohThutmose III in the mid 2nd millennium BCE. Following this the level of habitation in the area decreased.[33]
Following theLate Bronze Age collapse, the Golan was home to the newly formed kingdom ofGeshur,[34] likely a continuation of the earlier "Land of Garu".[35] TheHebrew Bible mentions it as a distinct entity during the reign ofDavid (10th century BC). David's marriage to Maacha, daughter of King Talmai of Geshur, supports a dynastic alliance with Israel.[36] However, by the mid-9th century BC,Aram-Damascus absorbed Geshur into its expanding territory.[34][8][37] Aram-Damascus' rivalry with theKingdom of Israel led to numerous military clashes in the Golan and Gilead regions throughout the 9th and 8th centuries BC. The Bible recounts two Israelite victories at Aphek, a location possibly corresponding to the modern-dayAfik, near the Sea of Galilee.[8]
During the 8th century BC, theAssyrians conquered the region, incorporating it into the province of Qarnayim, likely includingDamascus as well.[33] This period was succeeded by theBabylonian and theAchaemenid Empire. In the 5th century BC, the Achaemenid Empire allowed the region to be resettled by returning Jewish exiles from theBabylonian Captivity, a fact that has been noted in theMosaic of Rehob.[10][11][9]
After the Assyrian period, about four centuries provide limited archaeological finds in the Golan.[38]
Hellenistic and early Roman periods
Temple ofPan atBanias and the white-domed shrine of NabiKhadr in the background
The Golan Heights, along with the rest of the region, came under the control ofAlexander the Great in 332 BC, following theBattle of Issus. Following Alexander's death, the Golan came under the domination of the Macedonian generalSeleucus and remained part of theSeleucid Empire for most of the next two centuries.[39] In the middle of the 2nd century BC,Itureans moved into the Golan,[40] occupying over one hundred locations in the region.[41] Iturean stones and pottery have been found in the area.[42] Itureans also built several temples, one of them in function up until the Islamic conquest.[43]
Around 83–81 BC, the Golan was captured by the Hasmonean king and high priestAlexander Jannaeus, annexing the area to theHasmonean kingdom of Judaea.[44] Following this conquest, the Hasmoneans encouraged Jewish migrants fromJudea to settle in the Golan.[45] Most scholars agree that this settlement began after the Hasmonean conquest, though it might have started earlier,[14] probably in the mid-2nd century BC.[46] Over the next century, Jewish settlement in the Golan and nearby regions became widespread, reaching north toDamascus and east toNaveh.[44]
Ruins of the ancient Jewish city ofGamla, home to one of the earliest known synagogues. The city was besieged destroyed by the Romans in 71 CE, during theFirst Jewish–Roman War.
WhenHerod the Great ascended to power in Judaea during the latter half of the first century BC, the region as far asTrachonitis,Batanea andAuranitis was put underhis control byAugustus Caesar.[47] Following the death of Herod the Great in 4 BC, Augustus Caesar adjudicated that the Golan fell within theTetrarchy of Herod's son,Herod Philip I.[45] The capital of Jewish Galaunitis,Gamla, was a prominent city and major stronghold.[48] It housed one of the earliest knownsynagogues, believed to have been constructed in the late 1st century BC, when theTemple in Jerusalem was still standing.[49][50]
After Philip's death in 34 AD, theRomans absorbed the Golan into the province ofSyria, butCaligula restored the territory to Herod's grandsonAgrippa in 37. Following Agrippa's death in 44, the Romans again annexed the Golan to Syria, promptly to return it again whenClaudius traded the Golan toAgrippa II, the son of Agrippa I, in 51 as part of a land swap.[citation needed]
By the time of theGreat Jewish revolt, which began in 66 AD, parts of the Golan Heights were predominantly inhabited by Jews.Josephus depicts the western and central Golan as densely populated with cities that emerged on fertile stony soil.[44] Despite nominally being under Agrippa's control and situated outside theprovince of Judaea, the Jewish communities in the area participated in the revolt. Initially, Gamla was loyal to Rome, but later the town switched allegiance and even minted its own revolt coins.[46][51] Josephus, who was appointed by theprovisional government inJerusalem as commander of Galilee, fortified the cities of Sogana, Seleucia, and Gamla in the Golan.[51][44] The Roman military, underVespasian's command, eventually ended thenorthern revolt in 67 AD by capturing Gamla after a siege. Josephus reports that the people of Gamla opted formass suicide, throwing themselves into a ravine.[44] Today, the visible breach in the wall near the synagogue, along with remnants such as fortress walls, tower ruins, armor fragments, various projectiles, and fire damage, testify to the siege's intensity.[46]
Following thedestruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD, many Jews fled north to Galilee and the Golan, further increasing the Jewish population in the region.[44] Another notable surge in Jewish migration to the Golan took place in the aftermath of theBar Kokhba revolt, c. 135 AD.[44] During this time, Jews remained a minority of the population in the Golan.[52]
The political and economic recovery ofPalestine during the reigns ofDiocletian andConstantine, in the late 3rd and early 4th centuries AD, led to a resurgence of Jewish life in the Golan. Excavations at various synagogue sites have uncovered ceramics and coins that provide evidence of this resettlement.[56] During this period, severalsynagogues were constructed, and today 25 locations with ancient synagogues or their remnants have been discovered, all situated in the central Golan. These synagogues, built from the abundantbasalt stones of the region, were influenced by those in the Galilee but exhibited their own distinctive characteristics; prominent examples includeUmm el-Qanatir,Qatzrin andDeir Aziz.[56] Some of the earlyJerusalem Talmud tractates may have been arranged and edited during this period in Qatzrin.[57][28] Several sites in the Golan show evidence of destruction from theJewish revolt against Gallus in 351 CE. However, some of these sites were later rebuilt and continued to be inhabited in subsequent centuries.[28]
In the 5th century, the Byzantine Empire assigned theGhassanids, aChristian Arab tribe that had settled inSyria, the task of protecting its eastern borders against theSasanian-allied Arab tribe, theLakhmids.[44] The Ghassanids had emigrated fromYemen in the third century and actively supported Byzantium against Persia.[58] They were initially nomadic but gradually became semi-sedentary,[44] and adopted Christianity along with a number of Arab tribes situated in the borders of the Byzantine Empire in the 3rd and 4th centuries.[59] The Ghassanids had adoptedMonophysitism in the 5th century.[44] At the end of the 5th century, the primary Ghassanid encampments in the Golan wereJabiyah andJawlan, situated in the eastern Golan beyond theRuqqad.[60][61][44] The Ghassanids settled deep inside the Byzantinelimes, and in aSyriac source for July 519, they are attested as having their "opulent" headquarters in the eastern Gaulanitis.[62] Like theHerodian dynasty before them, the Ghassanids ruled as aclient state of Rome – this time, the Christianized Eastern Roman Empire, or Byzantium. In 529, EmperorJustinian appointedal-Harith ibn Jabalah asPhylarch, making him the leader of all Arab tribes and bestowing upon him the title of Patricius, ranking just below the Emperor.[44]
Christians and Arabs became the majority in the Golan with the arrival of the Ghassanids to the region.[63] In 377 CE, a sanctuary forJohn the Baptist was established in the Golan village ofEr-Ramthaniyye.[64] The sanctuary was often visited by the Ghassanids.[43]
In the 6th century, the Golan was inhabited by the well-established Jews and Ghassanid Christians.[44][65] The Jewish population in the Golan engaged in agriculture, as evidenced by pre-Islamic Arab poet Muraqquish the Younger, who mentioned wine brought by Jewish traders from the region,[66] and local synagogues may have been funded by the prosperous production of olive oil.[56] A monastery and church dedicated toSaint George has been found in the Byzantine village ofDeir Qeruh in the Golan, located near Gamla. The church has a square apse - a feature known from ancient Syria and Jordan, but not present in churches west of theJordan River.[67]
The Ghassanids were able to hold on to the Golan until theSassanid invasion of 614. Following a brief restoration under the EmperorHeraclius, the Golan again fell, this time to the invading Muslim Arabs after theBattle of Yarmouk in 636.[citation needed] Data from surveys and excavations combined show that the bulk of sites in the Golan were abandoned between the late 6th and early 7th 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.[56]
Early Muslim period
After the Battle of Yarmouk,Muawiyah I, a member ofMuhammad's tribe, theQuraish, was appointed governor of Syria, including the Golan. Following the assassination of his cousin, theCaliphUthman, Muawiya claimed the Caliphate for himself, initiating theUmayyad dynasty. Over the next few centuries, while remaining in Muslim hands, the Golan passed through many dynastic changes, falling first to theAbbasids, then to theShi'iteFatimids, then to theSeljuk Turks.[citation needed]
An earthquake devastated the Jewish village ofKatzrin in 746 AD. Following it, there was a brief period of greatly diminished occupation during theAbbasid period (approximately 750–878). Jewish communities persisted at least into the Middle Ages in the towns ofFiq in the southern Golan andNawa in Batanaea.[56]
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 theBedouins. They were not resettled until the second half of the 19th century.[68]
The victory at Ain Jalut ensuredMamluk 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[72]
In the 16th century, theOttoman Turks conquered Syria. During this time, the Golan formed part of theHauran Sanjak. During the 1560s, Ottoman official Mustafa Lala Pasha establishedal-Qunaytira as an important regional center, building acaravanserai, a mosque and shops, and endowing them with properties in dozens of villages around the Golan.[73]
Some Druze communities were established in the Golan during the 17th and 18th centuries.[74] The villages abandoned during previous periods due to raids by Bedouin tribes were not resettled until the second half of the 19th century.[68]
Throughout the 18th century, theAl Fadl, an Arab tribe long established in the Levant, struggled against Turkmen and Kurdish tribesmen over supremacy in the Golan.[75] The Fadl's presence in the Golan was observed byBurckhardt in the early 19th century.[76]
Transhumance in the Golan remained a long-lasting phenomenon because of the region's harshwinters. The winters "forced tribespeople until the 19th century to live in hundreds of rudimentary 'winter villages' in their tribal territory. Starting in the second part of the 19th century, the villages became "fixed and formed the nucleus of fully sedentary life in the 20th century Golan."[77]
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.[78] By the late 19th century, the Golan Heights was mostly inhabited byArabs,Turkmen andCircassians.[79] The Circassians, part of a large influx of refugees from theCaucasus into the empire as a result of theRusso-Turkish War of 1877–78, were encouraged to settle in the Golan by the Ottoman authorities. They were granted lands with a 12-year tax exemption.[80][81][82] The Al Fadl, the Druze and the Circassians were often in conflict for local dominance. These struggles subsided with the Ottoman government's formal recognition of the Al Fadl'stribal territory and pasturelands in the Golan, which were invested in the name of the tribe's emir. The emir relocated to Damascus and collected rents from his tribesmen who thereafter settled in the area and engaged in a combination of farming and pastoralism.[75] The tribe settled in several villages in the area and controlled important roads to Damascus, Galilee and Lebanon.[83] In the 19th century the tribe continued to expand their territory in the Golan and built two palaces.[83] The leader of the tribe joined PrinceFaisal during theArab revolt,[84] and they supported theuprising against the French in the northern Golan.[84]
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 entitledThe Jaulân.[85][86]
Early Jewish settlement
In 1880,Laurence Oliphant publishedEretz ha-Gilad (The Land ofGilead), which described a plan for large-scale Jewish settlement in the Golan.[87] 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.[88] Some land had been purchased in the Golan andHawran by Zionist associations based in Romania, Bulgaria, the United States and England, in the late 19th century and early 20th century.[89] In the winter of 1885, members of theOld Yishuv inSafed formed the Beit Yehuda Society and purchased 15,000 dunams of land from the village of Ramthaniye in the central Golan.[90] Due to financial hardships and the long wait for akushan (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.[91] The village they established,Bnei Yehuda, existed until 1920.[92][93] The last families left in the wake of thePassover riots of 1920.[90] 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.[92]
Between 1891 and 1894, BaronEdmond James de Rothschild purchased around 150,000Dunams of land in the Golan and the Hawran for Jewish settlement.[90] Legal and political permits were secured and ownership of the land was registered in late 1894.[90] The Jews also built a road stretching fromLake Hula toMuzayrib.[92] The Agudat Ahim society, whose headquarters were inYekaterinoslav, Russia, acquired 100,000 dunams of land in several locations in the districts ofFiq andDaraa. A plant nursery was established and work began on farm buildings inJillin.[90] A village calledTiferet Binyamin was established on lands purchased fromSaham al-Jawlan by the Shavei Zion Association based in New York,[89] 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.[94]
Between 1904 and 1908, a group of Crimean Jews settled near the Arab village ofal-Butayha in theBethsaida Valley, initially as tenants of a Kurdish proprietor with the prospects of purchasing the land, but the arrangement faltered.[94][95] Jewish settlement in the region dwindled over time, due to Arab hostility, Turkish bureaucracy, disease and economic difficulties.[96] In 1921–1930, during the French Mandate, thePalestine Jewish Colonization Association (PICA) obtained the deeds to the Rothschild estate and continued to manage it, collecting rents from the Arab peasants living there.[92]
French and British mandates
Boundary changes in the area of the Golan Heights in the 20th century
Great Britain accepted aMandate for Palestine at the meeting of the Allied Supreme Council atSan Remo, but the borders of the territory were not defined at that stage.[97][98] The boundary between the forthcoming British and French mandates was defined in broad terms by theFranco-British Boundary Agreement of December 1920.[99] 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.[99]
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.[100][101] In accordance with the same process, a nearby parcel of land that included the ancient site ofTel Dan and theDan spring were transferred from Syria to Palestine early in 1924.
The Golan Heights, including the spring atWazzani and the one atBanias, became part ofFrench 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 intoQuneitra Governorate.
Border incidents after 1948
A minefield warning sign in the Golan
After the 1948–49Arab–Israeli War, the Golan Heights were partly demilitarized by theIsrael-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.[102][103]
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 claim theHula swamp, gain exclusive rights to Lake Galilee and divert water from the Jordan for itsNational Water Carrier. During the 1950s, Syria registered two principal territorial accomplishments: it took overAl Hammah enclosure south ofLake Tiberias and established ade facto presence on and control of the eastern shore of the lake.[102][103]
Israel expelled Arabs from the DMZ and demolished their homes.[104] Palestinian refugees were denied theright of return or compensation, and because of this they started raids on Israel.[105] The Syrian government supported the Palestinian attacks because of Israel taking over more land in the DMZ.[105]
TheJordan Valley Unified Water Plan was sponsored by the United States and agreed by the technical experts of theArab League and Israel.[106] The U.S. funded the Israeli and Jordanian water diversion projects, when they pledged to abide by the plan's allocations.[107] President Nasser too, assured the U.S. that the Arabs would not exceed the plan's water quotas.[108] 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.[109] The resulting armed clashes are called theWar over Water.[110]
In 1955, Israel launched an attack that killed 56 Syrian soldiers. The attack was condemned by the United Nations Security Council.[111]
in July 1966,[112]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.[113] 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.[114] In April 1967, after Syria heavily shelled Israeli villages from the Golan Heights, Israel shot down six SyrianMiG fighter planes and warned Syria against future attacks.[113][115]
The Israelis used to send tractors with armed police into the DMZ, which prompted Syria firing at Israel.[111] 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.[116] 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.[117][118] No Israeli civilian was killed in half a year leading up to the Six-Day War and the Syrian attacks have been called: "largely symbolic".[111]
Former Israeli GeneralMattityahu 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".[119][better source needed] Israeli incursions into the zone were responded to with Syrians shooting. Israel in turn would retaliate with military force.[102] The narrative of Syrians attacking "innocent" Israel from the Golan Heights has been called "historical revisionism".[111]
In 1976, former Israeli defense ministerMoshe Dayan said Israel provoked more than 80% of the clashes with Syria in the run up to the 1967 war, although two Israeli 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."[120] The provocation was sending a tractor to plow in the demilitarized areas to get the Syrians to attack. The Syrians responded by firing at the tractors and shellingIsraeli settlements.[121][122] 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".[123] UN officials blamed both Israel and Syria for destabilizing the borders.[124]
After the Six-Day War broke out in June 1967, Syria's shelling greatly intensified[neutrality isdisputed] and theIsraeli army captured the Golan Heights on9–10 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 thePurple Line. In the battle, 115 Israelis were killed and 306 wounded. An estimated 2,500 Syrians were killed, with another 5,000 wounded.[125]
Forced transfer and displacement. Syrian civilians, hands raised, before Israeli soldiers, leave their homes in the Golan Heights.
During the war, between 80,000[126] and 131,000[127] Syrians fled or were driven from the Heights and around 7,000 remained in the Israeli-occupied territory.[127] Israeli sources and theU.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.[128] Among those forced out was the Fadl tribe.[129] Israel has not allowed former residents to return, citing security reasons.[130] The remaining villages wereMajdal 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.[131] Construction ofIsraeli settlements began in the remainder of the territory held by Israel, which was under military administration until Israel passed theGolan Heights Law extendingIsraeli law and administration throughout the territory in 1981.[19] 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 theKhartoum Resolution of 1 September 1967.[132][133] In the 1970s, as part of theAllon Plan, Israeli politicianYigal Allon proposed that aDruze state be established in Syria'sQuneitra Governorate, including the Israeli-held Golan Heights. Allon died in 1980 and his plan never materialised.[134]
Yom Kippur War
During theYom 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 ademilitarized zone along their frontier and limited the number of forces each side can deploy within 25 kilometers (15 miles) of the zone.[135]
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.[136] 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 forQuneitra. 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 theQuneitra Governorate was estimated at 79,000.[137]
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 ofUNDOF.[citation needed]
Mines deployed by the Syrian army remain active. As of 2003[update], there had been at least 216 landmine casualties in the Syrian-controlled Golan since 1973, of which 108 were fatalities.[138]
On 14 December 1981, Israel passed theGolan Heights Law,[19] that extended Israeli "laws, jurisdiction and administration" to the Golan Heights. Although the law effectivelyannexed the territory to Israel, it did not explicitly spell out a formal annexation.[139] The Golan Heights Law was declared "null and void and without international legal effect" byUnited Nations Security Council Resolution 497, which also demanded that Israel rescind its decision.[140][141][2][20]
During the negotiations regarding the text of United Nations Security Council Resolution 242, U.S. Secretary of StateDean Rusk explained that U.S. support for secure permanent frontiers did not mean the United States supported territorial changes.[142] 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.[143]
Syria continued to demand a full Israeli withdrawal to the 1967 borders, including a strip of land on the east shore of theSea 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 presidentHafez al-Assad rejected normalization with Israel.
Since the passing of theGolan Heights Law, Israel has treated the Israeli-occupied portion of the Golan Heights as a subdistrict of itsNorthern District.[144] The largest locality in the region is the Druze village of Majdal Shams, which is at the foot of Mount Hermon, whileKatzrin is the largestIsraeli settlement. The region has 1,176 square kilometers.[144] 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.[145][146]
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.[147]
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)".[153]
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 (the1923 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.[154]
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.[154]Dennis Ross, U.S. PresidentBill Clinton's chief Middle East negotiator, blamed "cold feet" on the part of Israeli Prime MinisterEhud Barak for the breakdown.[155] Clinton also laid blame on Israel, as he said after the fact in his autobiographyMy Life.[156]
In June 2007, it was reported that Prime MinisterEhud Olmert had sent a secret message to Syrian PresidentBashar 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.[157] On the same day, former Prime MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu announced that the former Syrian President,Hafez al-Assad, had promised to let Israel retainMount Hermon in any future agreement.[158]
In April 2008, Syrian media reportedTurkey's Prime MinisterRecep Tayyip Erdoğan had told President Bashar al-Assad that Israel would withdraw from the Golan Heights in return for peace.[159][160] 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".[161] A 2008 survey found that 70% of Israelis oppose relinquishing the Golan for peace with Syria.[162]
In 2008, a plenary session of theUnited Nations General Assembly passed a resolution 161–1 in favour of a motion on the Golan Heights that reaffirmedUN 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.[163] Indirect talks broke down after theGaza War began. Syria broke off the talks to protest Israeli military operations. Israel subsequently appealed to Turkey to resume mediation.[164]
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".[165][166] He said: "I remember the Golan Heights withoutKatzrin, and suddenly we see a thriving city in theLand of Israel, which having been a gem of theSecond Temple era has been revived anew."[167] American diplomatMartin 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.[168]
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.[169]
In June 2009, Israeli PresidentShimon 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.[170] In response, Syrian Foreign MinisterWalid 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".[171]
In 2010, Israeli foreign ministerAvigdor 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."[172]
The atrocities of theSyrian 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 MinisterBenjamin Netanyahu asked US PresidentBarack 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.[173] TheWhite 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.[174]
On 31 July 2018, after waging a month-long militaryoffensive against the rebels and ISIL, the Syrian government regained control of the eastern Golan Heights.[22]
In June 2024,Hezbollah launched a series of retaliatory rocket and drone attacks in the Golan Heights, resulting in the destruction of 10,000 dunams of open areas by fire. It was in response to Israel's attack on Hezbollah targets in Lebanon. The fire damaged parts of theYehudiya Forest Nature Reserve, including hiking trails and the reserve's Black Canyon. According to an official from theNature and Parks Authority, it will take years for the local flora to recover.[179]
On 27 July 2024, a rocket from Southern Lebanonstruck a soccer field in the Druze town ofMajdal Shams in the Golan Heights.[180] The strike resulted in the deaths of 12 Druze children. The IDF stated the rocket was fired by Hezbollah, a claim which Hezbollah denied.[181]
Following the2024 Syrian opposition offensives and thefall of the Assad regime, Prime Minister Netanyahu ordered Israeli forces to seize the buffer zone on 8 December 2024, citing the abandonment of Syrian positions and the collapse of the 1974 ceasefire agreement.[182] Israeli forces also launched strikes on Syrian military assets, including air stirkes destroying theSyrian Navy and, it was claimed, 90% of Syria's known surface-to-air missiles.[183]
Israel started violating the 1974 Disengagement Agreement before Assad's fall in November with engineering work and battle tanks inside the demilitarized zone.[184] UNDOF had: "repeatedly engaged with the IDF to protest the construction"[184] In December, Israeli forces occupiedMount Hermon advancing as far as the town ofBeqaasem, situated about 25 kilometers from Damascus. Holding Mount Hermon - at 2,800 meters the highest point in Syria - would facilitate Israeli electronic surveillance deep in Syrian territory and provide additional warning with respect to military developments in the region.[183]
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 ofBanias,Quneitra and the northern tip of theSea of Galilee, was temporarily part of the British Palestine Mandate in which the establishment of a Jewish national home had been promised.[185] 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.[186]
Syrian counters that the region was placed in theVilayet of Damascus as part of Syria under the Ottoman boundaries, and that the1920 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,[185] although Syria has never recognised the 1923 border as legally binding.
Israel considers the Golan Heights vital for its national security, asserting that control over the region is necessary to defend against threats from Syria andIranian proxy groups.[187] It maintains that it may retain the area, as the text ofResolution 242 calls for "safe and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force".[188]
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 asMandatory Palestine.
During the Arab–Israeli War, Syria captured various areas of the formerly British controlledMandatory Palestine, including the 10-meter strip of beach, the east bank of the upper Jordan, as well as areas along the Yarmouk.
While negotiating the1949 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."[191][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.[189][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 theSix-Day War, the "line of June 4, 1967".[189][better source needed]
Shebaa Farms
A small portion of territory in the Golan Heights, on the Lebanon–Syria border, has been a particular flashpoint. The territory, known as theShebaa Farms, measures only 22 km2 (8.5 sq mi). Since 2000, Lebanon has officially claimed it to be Lebanese territory from which Israel should withdraw, and Syria has concurred.[192][193][194]
The approximate boundary between Lebanon and Syria has its origins in an 1862 French map.[195][196] During the early period of theFrench Mandate, both French and British maps were inconsistent regarding the boundary in the western Golan region, with some showing the Shebaa Farms in Lebanon and others, the majority, showing them in Syria.[197] However, by 1936 the disagreement was eliminated by high quality maps showing the Shebaa Farms in Syria, and these formed the basis of later official maps.[198] According to Kaufman, the choice between the two options was due to a preference for drawing boundaries alongwatersheds rather than along valleys.[198] However, no detailed delineation or demarcation was performed throughout the mandate period.
Meanwhile, problems were reported with the location of the boundary.[199] Several official documents from the 1930s state that the boundary lies along the Wadi al-'Asal (to the south of the Shebaa Farms).[199] Local officials of the French administration reported that the de facto boundary did not correspond to the boundary shown on maps.[199] TheHigh Commissioner requested a Syrian–Lebanese negotiation but apparently nothing happened.[199]
From the founding of the Syrian Republic in 1946 until the Israeli occupation in 1967, the Shebaa Farms were controlled by Syria and Lebanon did not make any known official complaint.[200][201] The Israel occupation cut off the access of many Lebanese residents from the farms they had worked.[201] In the context of renewal of the UNIFIL mandate, the Lebanese government implicitly endorsed United Nations maps of the region in 1978 and many times later, even though the maps showed the Shebaa Farms in Syria.[200]
Lebanese newspapers, residents and politicians lobbied the Lebanese government in the early 1980s to take up the issue, but it was apparently not raised in the failed negotiations for an Israeli withdrawal after the1982 Israeli invasion.[202] A series of publications appeared, partly assisted byHezbollah andAmal, and a committee which formed in the Lebanese town ofShebaa wrote to the UN in 1986 protesting Israeli occupation of their lands.[202] However, it was Hezbollah in 2000 which first adopted the Shebaa Farms as the basis for a public territorial claim against Israel.[203]
On 7 June 2000, the United Nations published theBlue Line as the line to which Israel should withdraw from Lebanon in accordance withSecurity Council Resolution 425. The UN chose to follow the maps at its disposal and did not accept the Lebanese complaint from several weeks earlier that the Shebaa Farms were in Lebanon.[204][205] After the Israeli withdrawal, the United Nations affirmed on 18 June 2000 that Israel had withdrawn its forces from Lebanon.[206] However, the press release noted that both Lebanon and Syria disagreed, considering the Shebaa Farms area to be Lebanese.[206] In deference to the Lebanese position, the Blue Line is not marked on the ground in this location.[207]
The attitude of the UN shifted during the following years. In 2006, the Lebanese government presented the UN with a seven-point plan that included a proposal to place the Shebaa Farms under UN administration until boundary demarcation and sovereignty were settled.[208] In August of that year, the Security Council passedResolution 1701 which "took due note" of the Lebanese plan and called for "delineation of the international borders of Lebanon, especially in those areas where the border is disputed or uncertain, including by dealing with the Shebaa farms area".[208][209]
In 2007, a UN cartographer delineated the boundaries of the region: "starting from the turning point of the 1920 French line located just south of the village of El Majidiye; from there continuing south-east along the 1946 Moughr Shab'a-Shab'a boundary until reaching the thalweg of the Wadi al-Aasal; thence following the thalweg of the wadi north-east until reaching the crest of the mountain north of the former hamlet Mazraat Barakhta and reconnecting with the 1920 line."[210] As of 2023, neither Syria nor Israel have responded to the delineation, nor have Lebanon and Syria made progress towards border demarcation.[211]
The position of Israel, which occupied the Golan Heights in 1967 and annexed them in 1981 to the disapproval of the international community, is that the Shebaa Farms belonged to Syria and there is no case for Lebanese sovereignty.[212][207]
Ghajar
The village ofGhajar is another complex border issue west ofShebaa farms. Before the1967 war thisAlawite village was in Syria. Residents of Ghajar accepted Israeli citizenship in 1981.[213] It is divided by aninternational boundary, with the northern part of the village on the Lebanese side since2000. Most residents hold dualSyrian andIsraeli citizenship.[214] 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 anIsraeli army checkpoint at the entrance to the village from the rest of the Golan Heights.[201]
International views
The international community largely considers the Golan to be Syrian territory held under Israeli occupation.[215][216][217][218][1][219]
On 25 March 2019, then-President of the United StatesDonald Trump proclaimedU.S. recognition of the Golan Heights as a part of the State of Israel, making it the first country to do so.[220][221] Israeli officials lobbied the United States into recognizing "Israeli sovereignty" over the territory.[5] The 28 member states of theEuropean 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.[222][223][224] The European members of the UN Security Council issued a joint statement condemning the U.S. announcement and the UN Secretary-General issued a statement saying that the status of the Golan had not changed.[225]
Under the subsequentadministration of President Joe Biden, the U.S. State Department's annual report on human rights violations around the world once more refers to theWest Bank,Gaza Strip,East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights as being territories occupied by Israel.[226] In June 2021, the Biden administration affirmed that it will continue to maintain the previous administration's policy of recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.[227]
UNDOF supervision
Golan ceasefire line crossing, 2012A UNToyota Land Cruiser parked nearMajdal 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 theAgreement on Disengagement and maintain the ceasefire with an area of separation known as theUNDOF Zone. Currently there are more than 1,000UN peacekeepers there trying to sustain a peace.[228] 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 ofAbel onMount 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[229] and live gunfire,[230] though these incidents are attributed to the ongoingSyrian Civil War rather than intentionally directed towards Israel.[231] On 15 October 2018 theQuneitra border crossing between the Golan Heights and Syria reopened forUnited Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) personnel after four years of closure.[232]
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.[233] Between 80,000[126] and 130,000[127] 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 andShayta.[127]
Christian church in Ein Qiniyye
Before the1967 war, Christians comprised 12% of the total population of the Golan Heights. The vast majority ofChristians migrated with the rest of the population after Israel's occupation of the Golan, leaving only a few small Christian families in Majdal Shams and Ein Qiniyye.[234][235]
Israel forcibly expelled Syrians from the Golan Heights.[236][237] There were also instances of Israeli soldiers killing Syrian residents including blowing up their home with people inside.[238]
Israel demolished over one hundred Syrian villages and farms in the Golan Heights.[239][240] After the demolitions, the lands were given to Israeli settlers.[241]
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.[242][243]
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, includingQuneitra,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 theQuneitra Governorate numbers 79,000.[137]
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.[244] The GolanAlawites in the village ofGhajar accepted Israeli citizenship in 1981.[213] In 2012, due to the situation in Syria, young Druze have applied to Israeli citizenship in much larger numbers than in previous years.[245]
In 2012, there were 20,000Druze with Syrian citizenship living in the Israeli-occupied portion Golan Heights.[246]
The Druze living in the Golan Heights are permanent residents of Israel. They holdlaissez-passer documents issued by the Israeli government, and enjoy the country's social-welfare benefits.[247] The pro-Israeli Druze were historically ostracized by the pro-Syrian Druze.[248] Reluctance to accept citizenship also reflects fear of ill treatment or displacement by Syrian authorities should the Golan Heights eventually be returned to Syria.[249]
According toThe 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.[250] According to Egypt'sDaily 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,[251] but feel alienated from the "autocratic" government in Damascus. According to theAssociated Press, "many young Druse have been quietly relieved at the failure of previous Syrian–Israeli peace talks to go forward."[215]
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 andopen society, while coming back under the sovereignty of astricter, less developed Syria." The Druze are also reportedly well-educated and relatively prosperous, and have made use of Israel's universities.[252]
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.[215]
In the first years after the breakout of theSyrian 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.[253] In recent years, the number of applications for citizenship has increased, 239 in 2021 and 206 in the first half of 2022. A total of 419 citizenship applications were approved in 2022. In 2023, a further 389 citizenship applications were granted, followed by 318 in the first 11 months of 2024. By the end of 2024, official Israeli figures suggest that of approximately 29,000 Druze living in the Golan Heights, about 6,000 (or 20.45 percent) were Israeli citizens.[254][255]
A demographic map of Quneitra Governorate (Golan Heights) before the 1967 six day war
A demographic map of Quneitra Governorate (Golan Heights) today. Excludes any permanent depopulation or repopulation that might have happened during theSyrian civil war
A demographic map of Quneitra Governorate (Golan Heights) overlaid with the location of the depopulated Syrian localities
Israeli farms in the Golan HeightsAn Israeli settlementMa'ale Gamla
Israeli settlement activity began in the 1970s. The area was governed by military administration until 1981 when Israel passed theGolan Heights Law, which extendedIsraeli law and administration throughout the territory.[19] This move was condemned by theUnited Nations Security Council inUN Resolution 497,[2][20] although Israel states it has a right to retain the area, citing the text ofUN Resolution 242, adopted after the Six-Day War, which calls for "safe and recognised boundaries free from threats or acts of force".[188] The continued Israeli control of the Golan Heights remains controversial and is still regarded as an occupation by most countries other thanIsrael and theUnited States. Israeli settlements and human rights policy in the occupied territory have drawn criticism from the UN.[256][257]
The Israeli-occupied territory is administered by theGolan Regional Council, based inKatzrin, which has a population of 7,600. There are another 19moshavim and 10kibbutzim. In 1989, the Israeli settler population was 10,000.[258] By 2010 the Israeli settler population had expanded to 20,000[259] living in 32 settlements.[260][261] By 2019 it had expanded to 22,000.[262] In 2021, the Israeli settler population was estimated to be 25,000 with plans by the Government of Prime MinisterNaftali Bennett to double that population over a five-year period.[263]
On 23 April 2019, Israel Prime MinisterBenjamin 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.[264] The planned settlement was unveiled asTrump Heights on 16 June 2019.[265][266] Further plans for settlement expansion on the Golan were part of the agenda of Benjamin Netanyahu's incoming coalition in 2023.[267]
In December 2024, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced an updated plan to further expand settlements on the Golan Heights.[268] As of the end of 2024, the Israeli settler population was estimated to be about 31,000 people.[269]
The plateau that Israel controls is part of a larger area of volcanicbasalt 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.[270] 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 differentphysiography. The mountains are characterised by lighter-colored,Jurassic-agelimestone ofsedimentary origin. Locally, the limestone is broken byfaults and solution channels to form akarst-like topography in which springs are common.
The geographic definition of the Golan varies but is generally defined as the area bound by theJordan Valley to the west, which separates it from theGalilee in Israel, theYarmouk River to the south, which separates it from theJabal Ajlun region in Jordan, and theSa'ar stream (a tributary of Nahal Hermon/Nahr Baniyas) to the north which separates it fromMount Hermon and theHula Valley close to the border with Lebanon. The natural eastern boundary of the region is alternatively placed at theRuqqad river or theAllan river further east, which separate the Golan from theHauran plain of Syria.[271]
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).[272][273]
Israel has captured, according to its own data, 1,150 km2 (440 sq mi).[274] 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.[275] According to the CIA, Israel holds 1,300 km2 (500 sq mi).[276]
Topography
Banyas waterfall at the foot of Mount Hermon
The area is hilly and elevated, overlooking theJordan Rift Valley which contains theSea of Galilee and theJordan River, and is itself dominated by the 2,814 m (9,232 ft) tallMount Hermon.[277][276] The Sea of Galilee at the southwest corner of the plateau[272] and theYarmouk River to the south are at elevations well below sea level[276] (the sea of Galilee at about 200 m (660 ft)).[272]
Topographically, the Golan Heights is a plateau with an average altitude of 1,000 metres (3,300 ft),[276] rising northwards toward Mount Hermon and sloping down to about 400 m (1,300 ft) elevation along the Yarmouk River in the south.[272] 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.[272]
There are several small peaks on the Golan Heights, most of them volcanic cones, such as Mount Agas (1,350 m, 4,430 ft),Mount Dov/Jebel Rous (1,529 m, 5,016 ft; northern peak 1,524 m, 5,000 ft),[278] Mount Bental (1,171 m, 3,842 ft) and opposite it Mount Avital (1,204 m, 3,950 ft), Mount Ram (1,188 m, 3,898 ft), andTal Saki (594 metres, 1,949 ft).
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 andDaliyot 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 theJordan River valley and theSea of Galilee. In the south, the incised Yarmouk River valley marks the limits of the plateau and, east of the abandoned railroad bridge upstream ofHamat Gader andAl Hammah, it marks the recognised international border between Syria and Jordan.[279]
Climate and hydrology
In addition to its strategic military importance, the Golan Heights is an importantwater resource, especially at the higher elevations, which are snow-covered in the winter and help sustainbaseflow 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 theJordan Riverwatershed, which in turn provides a portion of Israel's water supply. The Golan Heights supplies 15% of Israel's water.[280]
Panorama looking west from the former Syrian post ofTel Faher
Panoramic view of the Golan Heights, with the Hermon mountains on the left side, taken from Snir
Panorama showing the upper Golan Heights and Mount Hermon, with the Hula Valley to the left
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.[281][282]
Banias (Arabic:بانياس الحولة;Hebrew:בניאס) is an ancient site that developed around a spring once associated with the Greek godPan. Near the archaeological site is the Banias Waterfall, one of the most powerful waterfalls in the region, plunging about 10 meters into a pool surrounded by lush vegetation. Part of the stream is accessible via a 100-meter-long suspended walkway.[283]
Deir Qeruh (Arabic:دير قروح;Hebrew:דיר קרוח) is a ruinedByzantine-period and Syrian village. Founded in the 4th century AD, it has a monastery and church ofSt 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 theJordan River.[284]
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 theGospels (Gergesa).
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 aTalmud-era village and synagogue have been reconstructed.[285] The site has been described by an archeologist as being developed: "with a clear agenda and nationalistic narrative."[286] It has also been criticized for distorting historical items and showing a selective part of history, focusing on the Jewish period leaving out the Mamluk and Syrian periods.[287][288]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.[289]
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 ofGamla (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.[290]
Aski resort on the slopes ofMount Hermon (Arabic:جبل الشيخ;הר חרמון) features a wide range of ski trails and activities. Several restaurants are located in the area. TheLake Ramcrater lake is nearby.
Hippos (Arabic:قلعة الحصن;Hebrew:סוסיתא) is an ancient Greco-Roman city, known inArabic asQal'at al-Hisn and inAramaic asSusita. 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.
Rujm el-Hiri (Arabic:رجم الهري;Hebrew:גלגל רפאים) is a large circular stone monument. 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.[291] A 3D model of the site exists in the Museum of Golan Antiquities in Katzrin.
Umm el-Qanatir (Arabic:ام القناطر;Hebrew:עין קשתות,Ein Keshatot) is another impressive set of standing ruins of a village of theByzantine era. The site includes a very large synagogue and two arches next to a natural spring.[292]
Economy
Viticulture
An organic vineyard in the Golan Heights
On a visit to Israel and the Golan Heights in 1972, Cornelius Ough, a professor ofviticulture andoenology at theUniversity of California, Davis, pronounced conditions in the Golan very suitable for the cultivation of wine grapes.[293] A consortium of four kibbutzim and four moshavim took up the challenge, clearing 250 burnt-out tanks in the Golan'sValley of Tears to plant vineyards for what would eventually become theGolan Heights Winery.[294] The first vines were planted in 1976, and the first wine was released by the winery in 1983.[293] As of 2012[update], The Heights are home to about a dozen wineries.[295]
Oil and gas exploration
In the early 1990s, the Israel National Oil Company (INOC) was grantedshaft-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 theYitzhak 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.[296][297][298]
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.[299][300] In 2012, National Infrastructure MinisterUzi Landau approved exploratory drilling for oil and natural gas in the Golan.[301] The following year, the Petroleum Council of Israel'sMinistry of Energy and Water Resources secretly awarded a drilling license covering half the area of the Golan Heights to a local subsidiary ofNew Jersey–basedGenie Energy Ltd. headed byEffi Eitam.[302][303]
Human rights groups have said that the drilling violates international law, as the Golan Heights are an occupied territory.[304]
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".[305][306]
Tourism
In April 2025, the IDF and regional civilian authorities started to organise tourist trips to the areas occupied after the 2024 invasion. The first trips sold out quickly.[307][308]
^The United Statesrecognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan in March 2019. The U.S. 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] Israeli officials had lobbied the United States into recognizing "Israeli sovereignty" over the territory.[5]
^The resolution stated: "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".[20]
References
^abc*"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.ISBN978-92-2-120630-9.
^abcdeKorman, Sharon,The Right of Conquest: The Acquisition of Territory by Force in International Law and Practice, Oxford University Press, pp. 262–263
^abMichael 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. 170ISBN978-0-8010-0010-2
^abHaReuveni, Immanuel (1999).Lexicon of the Land of Israel (in Hebrew). Miskal – Yedioth Ahronoth Books and Chemed Books. pp. 662–663ISBN978-965-448-413-8.
^abSyon, Danny (2015). "Chapter 1 Introduction: A History of Gamla".Gamla III: the Shmarya Gutmann excavations 1976-1989, finds and studies: part 1. Israel Antiquities Authority.doi:10.2307/j.ctt1fzhd4c.5. p. 4 "Scholarly consensus holds that the Golan became populated by Jewsfollowing the conquests of Jannaeus in c. 80 BCE and as a direct result of these conquests."
^"Ancient faiths embodied in ancient names: or, An attempt to trace the religious belief ... of certain nations", by Thomas Inman, 1872 History, page 551
^abZwickel, Wolfgang (2019). "Borders between Aram-Damascus and Israel: a Historical Investigation".Aramaean Borders: Defining Aramaean Territories in the 10th – 8th Centuries B.C.E. Brill. p. 269.doi:10.1163/9789004398535_013.ISBN978-90-04-39853-5.
^Zwickel, Wolfgang (2019). "Borders between Aram-Damascus and Israel: a Historical Investigation".Aramaean Borders: Defining Aramaean Territories in the 10th – 8th Centuries B.C.E. Brill. p. 270.doi:10.1163/9789004398535_013.ISBN978-90-04-39853-5.
^Eric M. Meyers (1996).The Oxford encyclopedia of archaeology in the Near East. Vol. 2 (Hardcover ed.). Oxford University Press. p. 421.ISBN978-0-19-511216-0.
^abBerlin, Andrea (2006).Gamla I: The Pottery of the Second Temple Period. Israel Antiquities Authority. pp. 153–154.During the first century BCE, under Hasmonean encouragement, Judean Jews had moved north to Galilee and Gaulanitis. ... Meanwhile, between their protected spur in central Gaulanitis, the Hasmonean kingdom imploded and Herod rose to power. At his death in 4 BCE, two of his sons, Herod Philip and Herod Antipas, took over Gaulanitis and Galilee respectively.
^abcChancey, Mark Alan; Porter, Adam Lowry (2001)."The Archaeology of Roman Palestine".Near Eastern Archaeology.64 (4):164–203.doi:10.2307/3210829.ISSN1094-2076.JSTOR3210829.The Jewish presence probably dated back to the mid second century BCE, and most likely increased after the Hasmonean conquest of the region during the reign of Alexander Jannaeus. Itureans were among the earliest settlers in this period, having also arrived in the mid second century BCE, and ceramic evidence at numerous sites demonstrates that they continued to live there in the Roman Period. ... The initial Roman campaigns occurred in Galilee and adjacent parts of the Golan, and military activities are visible in the archaeological records of several sites. Though Gamala initially remained loyal to Agrippa II in the Jewish Revolt, it ultimately chose to rebel. Wartime coins unique to the city bear the Hebrew inscription "for the redemption of H[oly] Jerusalem" (Syon 1992/93). The town, surrounded by steep ravines, repelled assaults by the loyalist forces of Agrippa but could not withstand the protracted siege by Roman troops that followed. Josephus described the battle in epic terms: to escape capture, "multitudes plunged headlong with their wives and children into the ravine which had been excavated to a vast depth beneath the citadel" (War 4.80). The Roman breach of the wall by the synagogue is still visible today, and fortress walls, remains of towers, pieces of armor, arrowheads, sling stones, ballista stones, and traces of fire attest to the ferocity of the siege.
^abRogers, Guy MacLean (2021).For the Freedom of Zion: the Great Revolt of Jews against Romans, 66-74 CE. New Haven: Yale University Press. pp. 189, 249.ISBN978-0-300-24813-5.
^abcdeSeparation 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
^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 theEmir 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.
^abFranco-British Convention on Certain Points Connected with the Mandates for Syria and the Lebanon, Palestine and Mesopotamia, signed 23 December 1920. Text available inAmerican Journal of International Law, Vol. 16, No. 3, 1922, 122–126.
^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.
^Avi Shlaim (2000).The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World. Penguin Books. pp. 229, 230.ISBN978-0-14-028870-4.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
^M. Shemesh, Prelude to the Six-Day War: The Arab–Israeli Struggle Over Water Resources,Israel Studies, vol 9, no. 3, 2004.
^abM. Shemesh, The Fida'iyyun Organization's Contribution to the Descent to the Six-Day War,Israel Studies, vol 11, no. 1, 2006.
^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.
^Embattled neighbors: Syria, Israel, and Lebanon, By Robert G Rabil, p.15-16.Archived 14 December 2022 at theWayback 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.
^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".
^Robert Slater.Warrior Statesman: The Life of Moshe Dayan, Robson Books, London (1992), p. 277.
^abMorris 2001, p. 327: "Another eighty to ninety thousand civilians fled or were driven from the Golan Heights."
^"Document 487".Foreign Relations of the United States, 1964–1968, Volume XIX, Arab–Israeli Crisis and War. U.S. State Department. Retrieved26 October 2010.
^(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.ISBN978-0-934742-11-5.
^"Israel's Lieberman cautions Syria".Al Jazeera. 4 February 2010. Retrieved8 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.
^Timur Goksel, a spokesman for the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) stated: "The UN is saying that on all maps the UN has been able to find, the farms are seen on the Syrian side.""In focus: Shebaa farms".BBC News. 25 May 2000. Retrieved29 September 2006.
^Fogelman, Shay (30 July 2010)."The Disinherited".Haaretz.com. Retrieved15 August 2024.
^Sulimani & Kletter 2022, pp. 55–56: "Avishay Katz, the commander of reserve Engineer Regiment 602,testified:At this stage [during the war] the instruction that we have received was togo and check that no 'guys' are left hiding. We did it in the first villages[conquered] on top of the [Golan] Heights . . . . There were a few cases thatI don't want to talk about.'What does it mean? Katz: 'They killed people that should not havebeen killed. Syrian citizens' . . . There were a few guys of mine who killedsome Arab citizens' . . .Why did they kill them? 'It was out of stupidity, something that shouldnot have been done, and they were kicked out of the regiment. All the restof the Golan dwellers were deported. Not one remained'.How did it happen? 'They destroyed a house on top of its dwellers . . .It was a war crime. . . . It drove me out of my mind'"
^Kimmerling, Baruch (2006).Politicide: Ariel Sharon's war against the Palestinians. Verso Books. p. 28.ISBN978-1-84467-532-6.
^"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)."
^Davis, U. (January 1983),The Golan Heights under Israeli Occupation 1967–1981(PDF), p. 5, archived fromthe 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.
^[3]"Yearbook of the United Nations 2005, Volume 59" pg.524
^"A/57/207 of 16 September 2002". Archived fromthe original on 22 June 2011. Retrieved23 August 2010. "Report of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People andOther Arabs of the Occupied Territories" September 2002
^Haim Gvirtzman,Israel Water Resources, Chapters in Hydrology and Environmental Sciences, Yad Ben-Zvi Press, Jerusalem(in Hebrew)Water.gov.ilArchived 11 January 2009 at theWayback 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 theBanias River tributary. Israel's annual water consumption is about 2,000 million m3.
^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
^Sulimani & Kletter 2022, pp. 63–64: "Readers will not learn that there was also a Mamluk village and a mosque, and will not be able to see their remains. 'Traditional' items taken from the deserted villages (plough yoke, winnowing fork, etc.) seem to demonstrate the ancient Jewish life (Killebrew and Fine 1991: 53); but the visitors are not told about their origins. Years later, Killebrew criticised the politics that shaped the exhibition of Jewish Qatzrin, while erasing Mamluk Kasrein (Killebrew 2010: 130–131; 2019). Establishing museums is a common colonial practice for expropriating the past. The past is researched, published and exhibited, but in selective ways that erase the cultures of the 'natives' (Dietler 2010:41; Kosasa 2011; Perugini 2017)."
^Boytner, Dodd & Parker 2010, p. 131: "In retrospect, I have mixed feelings regarding my role in the Qasrin project. My most serious misgiving is that later Islamic periods-the Mamluk and modern Syrian periods-are not presented to the public. For all intents and purposes these periods have been erased from the contemporary landscape. Although the Jewish heritage of Qasrin is certainly one of many legitimate narratives of the past, public presentation of the site intentionally disregards these two other but no less important periods of occupation."
^Hayoun, David (15 April 1997)."INOC Will Seek Two Year Extension of Golan Heights Drilling Licence".Globes. Archived fromthe original on 14 July 2012. Retrieved14 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.
^Online, Themarker (13 May 2012).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). Retrieved14 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.
^Hayoun, David (3 July 1997).מחפשים נפט, ושלום [Searching for Oil, and Peace].Globes (in Hebrew). Archived fromthe original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved14 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.
^Hayoun, David (3 July 1997).לבני: הוצאת זיכיון הקידוח בגולן מחנ"ל נועדה למנוע חשיפת המדינה לתביעות [Livni: Taking the Golan drilling permit from INOC meant to prevent exposure of state to legal action].Globes (in Hebrew). Archived fromthe original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved14 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.
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