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Golan Heights

Golan Heights
هَضْبَةٌ الجَوْلَان
רָמַת הַגּוֹלָן
Location of the Golan Heights
Location of the Golan Heights
Coordinates: 33°00′N 35°45′E / 33.000°N 35.750°E / 33.000; 35.750
StatusSyrian territory, occupied by Israel[1][2][a][b]
Area
 • Total
1,800 km2 (700 sq mi)
Highest elevation
2,814 m (9,232 ft)
Lowest elevation
−212 m (−696 ft)
Population
 • Total
~55,000
 • Arabs (nearly all Druze)
~24,000
 • Israeli Jewish settlers
~31,000
Time zoneUTC+2
 • Summer (DST)UTC+3

The Golan Heights,[c] or simply the Golan, is a basaltic plateau at the southwest corner of Syria. It is bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west, the Anti-Lebanon mountains with Mount Hermon in the north and Wadi Raqqad in the east. It hosts vital water sources that feed the Hasbani River and the Jordan River.[5] Two thirds of the area was occupied by Israel following the 1967 Six-Day War and then effectively annexed in 1981 – an action unrecognized by the international community, which continues to consider it Israeli-occupied Syrian territory. In 2024 Israel occupied the remaining one third of the area.

The earliest evidence of human habitation on the Golan dates to the Upper Paleolithic period.[6] It was home to the biblical Geshur, and was later incorporated into Aram-Damascus,[7][8] before being ruled by several foreign and domestic powers, including the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians,[9][10] Itureans, Hasmoneans, Romans,[11][12][13] Ghassanids, several caliphates, and the Mamluk Sultanate. It was ruled by the Ottoman Empire from the 16th century until its collapse,[14][15] and subsequently became part of the French Mandate in Syria and the State of Damascus in 1923.[16] When the mandate terminated in 1946, it became part of the newly independent Syrian Arab Republic, spanning about 1,800 km2 (690 sq mi).

After the Six-Day War of 1967, the Golan Heights were occupied and administered by Israel.[1][2] Following the war, Syria dismissed any negotiations with Israel as part of the Khartoum Resolution at the 1967 Arab League summit.[17] Civil administration of a third of the Golan heights, including the capital Quneitra, was restored to Syria in a disengagement agreement the year after the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Construction of Israeli settlements began in the territory held by Israel, which was under a military administration until the Knesset passed the Golan Heights Law in 1981, which applied Israeli law to the territory;[18] this move has been described as an annexation and was condemned by the United Nations Security Council in Resolution 497.[d][2]

After the onset of the Syrian civil war in 2011, control of the Syrian-administered part of the Golan Heights was split between the state government and Syrian opposition forces, with the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF) maintaining a 266 km2 (103 sq mi) buffer zone in between to help implement the Israeli–Syrian ceasefire across the Purple Line.[20] From 2012 to 2018, the eastern half of the Golan Heights became a scene of repeated battles between the Syrian Army, rebel factions of the Syrian opposition (including the Southern Front) as well as various jihadist organizations such as al-Nusra Front and the Khalid ibn al-Walid Army. In July 2018, the Syrian government regained full control over the eastern Golan Heights.[21] After the fall of the Assad regime in December 2024, Israel occupied the rest of the Golan Heights as a "temporary defensive position",[22] followed by two additional Syrian villages, Jamlah and Maaraba.[23]

  1. ^ a b Cite error: The named reference occupiedSyrian was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference korman_condemned was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Trump signs decree recognizing Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights, Reuters, 25 March 2019
  4. ^ Lee, Matthew; Riechmann, Deb (25 March 2019). "Trump signs declaration reversing US policy on Golan Heights". AP NEWS. Retrieved 27 March 2019.
  5. ^ Staff, Al Jazeera. "Is Israel trying to entrench its occupation of the Golan Heights?". Al Jazeera. Retrieved 19 December 2024.
  6. ^ Tina Shepardson. Stones and Stories: Reconstructing the Christianization of the Golan, Archived 15 April 2001 at the Wayback Machine Biblisches Forum, 1999.
  7. ^ Kochavi, Moshe (1989). "The Land of Geshur Project: Regional Archaeology of the Southern Golan (1987–1988 Seasons)". Israel Exploration Journal. 39 (1/2): 3. ISSN 0021-2059. JSTOR 27926133.
  8. ^ Michael Avi-Yonah (1979). The Holy Land – from the Persian to the Arab Conquests (536 B.C. to A.D. 640) A Historical Geography, Grand Rapids, Michigan, p. 170 ISBN 978-0-8010-0010-2
  9. ^ HaReuveni, Immanuel (1999). Lexicon of the Land of Israel (in Hebrew). Miskal – Yedioth Ahronoth Books and Chemed Books. pp. 662–663 ISBN 978-965-448-413-8.
  10. ^ Vitto, Fanny, Ancient Synagogue at Rehov, Israel Antiquities Authority, Jerusalem 1974
  11. ^ Gevirtz, Gila (2008). Jewish History: The Big Picture. Behrman House, Inc. p. 25. ISBN 978-0-87441-838-5.
  12. ^ Avraham Negev; Shimon Gibson (2005). Archaeological Encyclopedia of the Holy Land (Paperback ed.). Continuum. p. 249. ISBN 978-0-8264-8571-7.
  13. ^ Syon, Danny (2014). Gamla III: The Shmarya Gutmann Excavations, 1976–1989. Finds and Studies (PDF). Vol. 1. Jerusalem: Israel Antiquities Authority Reports, No. 56. ISBN 978-965-406-503-0. p. 4 "Scholarly consensus holds that the Golan became populated by Jews following the conquests of Jannaeus in c. 80 BCE and as a direct result of these conquests."
  14. ^ Butcher, Kevin (2003). Roman Syria and the Near East. Getty Publications. ISBN 978-0-89236-715-3.
  15. ^ Michael J. Cohen (1989). The Origins and Evolution of the Arab-Zionist Conflict. University of California Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-520-90914-4.
  16. ^ The French Mandate in Syria, 1925–26, New York: Editorial Information Service of the Foreign Policy Association, 1925, retrieved 16 November 2020
  17. ^ "This Week in History: The Arab League Three No's". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 4 December 2017.
  18. ^ Cite error: The named reference MFA Law was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  19. ^ "UN Security Council Resolution 497" (PDF). Archived (PDF) from the original on 31 March 2019. Retrieved 26 March 2019.
  20. ^ "Agreement on Disengagement between Israeli and Syrian Force". Report of the Secretary-General concerning the Agreement on Disengagement between Israeli and Syrian Forces. United Nations. Archived from the original on 21 April 2012. Retrieved 29 November 2011.
  21. ^ AP and TOI staff (31 July 2018). "Syria boots IS from Golan Heights, retaking full control of frontier with Israel". The Times of Israel. Retrieved 25 March 2019.
  22. ^ "Egypt accuses Israel of 'exploiting power vacuum' after seizing Golan Heights buffer zone". Sky News. Retrieved 10 December 2024.
  23. ^ "Occupying Israeli forces open fire on Syrians protesting seizure of 2 villages in Daraa province". Anadolu Ajansı. 20 December 2024. Retrieved 20 December 2024.


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