Forty years on, people displaced from the Golan remain in waiting
The situation of tens of
thousands of Syrian Arabs displaced from the Golan Heights forty years ago
is still far from resolved. They fled their HOMEs in disputed circumstances
during the Six Day War in 1967, when Israel seized the Golan, a strategic
strip of land overlooking the Jordan Valley and the Sea of Galilee. Since
then, Israel has prevented the displaced from returning to their HOMEs. In
1981, Israel formally annexed the area, but this annexation has not been
recognised internationally. The Syrian
government estimates that around 305,000 people remain displaced today, a
figure which includes the descendants of those displaced in 1967. Forty
years on, the Golan’s internally displaced population has largely integrated
in their current places of residence across Syria. But while they do not
face particular humanitarian risks, many continue to express a wish to
return to the Golan. The issues of the restitution of their property and
compensation for lost or destroyed property are also unresolved. A more
immediate concern is that many displaced Syrians continue to be prevented
from maintaining ties with their relatives living in the occupied Golan.
Regular contact between Syrians living in Israeli-occupied Golan and their
displaced family members is not possible, with the exception of specific
cases facilitated by the International Committee of the Red Cross.
The Golan remains a potential source of tension and renewed conflict in the
region. Israel and Syria have taken part in a series of unofficial talks but
formal negotiations have not taken place since 2000. In the summer of 2006,
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad restated Syria’s willingness to resume
official talks but Israel refused conditioning the reopening of talks on a
change in Syrian policy. A recent Israeli air raid into northern Syria has
further discouraged the renewal of peace talks. No progress was noted either
on return for a small number of the displaced to Quneitra, a town bordering
the occupied Golan which Syria regained in 1974 but never rebuilt. Since the
government of Syria unveiled plans to rebuild Quneitra in 2004 to allow an
estimated 50,000 people to return, reconstruction has advanced only slowly.
Background and main causes
The displacement occurred during the Six-Day War in 1967, when Israel seized
the Golan Heights (hereafter referred to as the Golan), a narrow stretch of
land overlooking the Jordan Valley and the Sea of Galilee. The exact
circumstances are subject to controversy, and Syrian and Israeli accounts
differ. According to the Syrian government, Israeli forces forcibly expelled
the inhabitants of the Golan and destroyed villages and farms, while the
Israeli government maintains that these people fled following reports of
violence (UN HRC, 25 August 2000; Arnold, 1 February 2000). The Syrian
government estimates that there were about 250 villages and farms and
150,000 Syrian inhabitants in 1967. Today five of these villages are still
inhabited, with an estimated population of between 18,000 and 25,000 Syrians
(UNHRC, 19 October 2004, para. 10; UNCHR, 16
April 2003; Mission of Syria to the UN, October 2004; UNSC, 11 December
2006).
Following the 1967 war, the UN Security Council passed Resolution 242
calling for the Israeli armed forces’ withdrawal from the occupied
territories and for the respect and acknowledgement of the sovereignty of
every state in the area (UNSC, 22 November 1967). Conflict broke out again
in 1973 and Syria attempted without success to regain the Golan. The 1973
war prompted the Security Council to adopt Resolution 338 urging Israel on
the one side and Syria and Egypt on the other to agree to a ceasefire (UNSC,
22 October 1973).
An Israeli-Syrian ceasefire agreement (the “Agreement on Disengagement”) was
signed in 1974, which enabled Syria to regain Quneitra, an area in the Golan
emptied of its 50,000 inhabitants and left in ruins following the Israeli
occupation (Schneider, 8 May 2001; Khawaja,
2002). The agreement also provided for a UN Disengagement Observer Force
(UNDOF) to maintain the ceasefire along the UN demarcation line which
separates the occupied Golan from the remaining Syrian territory (UNSC
Resolution 350 (1974)).
In December 1981, Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan which has since been
under the jurisdiction and administration of Israeli law. However, the
demarcation line between the Israeli-occupied Golan and Syria is not an
internationally recognised border, and therefore
people displaced from the Golan are considered internally displaced people (IDPs).
No government has recognised Israel’s
annexation, and in 1981 the Security Council found that “the Israeli
decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied
Syrian Golan was null and void and without international legal effect” (UNSC
Resolution 497, 17 December 1981). The UN has since reaffirmed this
principle on numerous occasions and has regularly urged Israel to allow the
internally displaced people to return and recover possession of their
properties.
The Golan is described as Israel’s “quietest frontier” and the
Israeli-Syrian ceasefire has generally been respected by both sides (MERIP,
26 July 2007). The UN Secretary-General has nevertheless renewed the mandate
of UNDOF every six months given the absence of a comprehensive Middle East
peace agreement (UNSC, 5 June 2007 and UNSC Resolution 338 (1973); UN, 20
June 2007). The relationship between Syria and Israel remains volatile.
Israeli air force planes attacked what Israel claimed was a military target
in northern Syria on 6 September 2007, raising fears of a possible war (UN
News, 1 October 2007; BBC, 1 October 2007). Other incidents include an
Israeli air strike on Ain al-Sahib village near
Damascus on 5 October 2003 and reported Israeli violations of Syrian
airspace (UN HRC, 15 September 2006).
Figures
Reports vary of the number of people displaced from the Golan during the
1967 Six-Day War. The Syrian government maintains that approximately 130,000
people were displaced from the Golan as a result of the conflict and that
those displaced and their descendants now number 305,660 (Permanent Mission
of the Syrian Arab Republic to the UN, October 2004, August 2005). Israel
says that only 70,000 people were displaced from the Golan in 1967 (USCR
2002; Dammers 1998, p.189). Most of the
IDPs have resettled in villages close to the
Golan, in the suburbs of Damascus, or in Sweida
in the south of Syria.
The humanitarian crisis and ongoing conflict in Iraq has led an estimated
1.5 million Iraqi refugees to seek refuge in Syria, according to figures
from the UN (UNHCR, September 2007). Some 250,000 Iraqi refugees have sought
refuge in Jermana, a suburb of Damascus which
has been HOME to a large part of the displaced population from the Golan,
many of whom settled in the area forty years ago (ICRC, 22 August 2007).
A field survey would be required to know more about the numbers and status
of Golan’s IDPs. The living conditions of
internally displaced people in Syria are not well documented but they do not
have immediate humanitarian needs. What information exists suggests that
most of the people displaced from the Golan and their children have
integrated into the areas where they initially took refuge. Some reports
suggest that in the past IDPs have been given
priority for public service jobs and university places by the government.
Although they do not have particular vulnerabilities which separate them
from the rest of the Syrian population, many of the people displaced from
the Golan have expressed a desire to return (Fecci,
June 2000; Khawaja, 2002).
Displaced suffer separation from their families
A pressing human rights issue for the displaced people is the separation
from their families caused by entry and exit restrictions imposed by the
Israeli government on the occupied Golan. The International Committee of the
Red Cross (ICRC) notes that local communities consider it the single most
important issue tied to the occupation (ICRC, 16 March 2007). It continues
to be nearly impossible for most of the people displaced from the Golan to
exercise their right to respect for family life. Family visits were
authorised by the Israeli authorities until
1992, but since then, contact between tens of thousands of Syrians living in
Israeli-occupied Golan and their displaced family members has been severely
restricted. There are some exceptions, including students, pilgrims and
brides, who have been regularly allowed to cross the separation line, under
the auspices of the ICRC (ICRC, 21 March 2005 and 28 June 2004; Syria Today,
1 January 2005; UN Special Committee, 23 September 2004, Sect. B).
The repercussions of this ongoing separation which has prevented many
displaced Syrians and their families from maintaining social, cultural and
family ties have been underlined in interviews conducted by the ICRC in
2007. For example, a man recounts his experience of meeting his family who
were displaced to Syria proper after being cut off from them for more than a
decade. Separated family members are generally not able to attend funerals,
weddings, births and other important family events, although the Israeli
government sometimes gives individuals permission on a case-by-case basis.
Some families in the town of Majdal Shams in the
northern tip of the occupied Golan, where nearly half of the Syrian-Arab
population lives, resort to using megaphones to communicate across the
valley which divides them from their families in Syria proper (ICRC, 5 June
2007).
In January 2006, the Syrian government expressed concern that Israel was
imposing increasing restrictions on the movement of Syrians living in the
village of Ghajar (a village which is partly
inside Lebanon and partly in the occupied Golan). In a letter to the UN
Human Rights Commission, Syria expressed concern at Israel’s plans to build
a permanent separation wall through the town, which could effectively lead
to the displacement or “transfer” of its population. The letter reported
increased restrictions imposed by Israel on Ghajar’s
residents, including instructions to villagers to evacuate part of the
village (UN CHR, 11 January 2006).
A further issue is the concentration of mines in the area of separation
between the occupied Golan and Syria proper. In his report of June 2007, the
UN Secretary General reported that owing to the age of the mines and their
deteriorating explosives, the danger which they present had increased (UNSC,
5 June 2007).
No solutions in absence of political dialogue
Neither the return of the displaced population nor compensation for property
loss can be envisaged without a peace agreement between Israel and Syria.
However, identifying the terms of such a treaty involves finding solutions
to key issues of the broader Arab-Israeli conflict, namely access to water
resources (the Golan is a significant source of Israel’s water supply),
resolution of disputed boundaries, security and the
normalisation of bilateral relations (ICG, 16 July 2002; Middle East,
July 2007).
Attempts to negotiate a political solution to the conflict between Israel
and Syria began in 1991 at a peace conference on the Middle East convened in
Madrid. In 2000, negotiations broke down over disagreements over the Golan.
The Israeli government had offered to return the Golan excluding the strip
along the Sea of Galilee, but the government of Syria insisted on an
unconditional Israeli withdrawal to the 4 June 1967 line, which would ensure
Syrian access to the Sea of Galilee (MEMRI, 23 Jan 2000; The Guardian, 8 May
2003 and 17 July 2003). Israel wishes to control access to the Sea of
Galilee and to address its security concerns before agreeing to withdraw
(Ben-Nahum Yonatan, 19 Dec 1995; MEMRI, 24 March 2000). In returning the
Golan, Israel would also have to dismantle its settlements in the area (BBC,
31 December 2003, 10 October 2004 and 9 June 2007).
Some analysts suggest that recent talks have also failed because of the
Israeli government ceding to pressure from an American government intent on
isolating Syria. Officially, Israel rejected several calls by President
Bashar Al-Assad to reopen negotiations (UNSC, 11 December 2006; ICG, 11
February 2004). However, secret talks are reported to have taken place
between Israeli and Syrian representatives between September 2004 and July
2006 (BBC, 16 January 2007). The US has largely opposed renewed dialogue
with the Syrian government because of its alleged support for
Hizbollah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Palestinian
Territories and insurgent groups in Iraq (The Guardian, 7 June 2007 and 8
June 2007; ICG, 10 April 2007). Israel has also
conditioned negotiations on evidence of change in Syria’s policies towards
Hizbollah, Hamas and Iran (ICG, 10 April 2007).
Meanwhile, Syria has demanded the presence of the United States as a third
party in peace talks (MERIP, 26 July 2007).
Prospects for the restitution of the Golan and the return of the displaced
population are also complicated by the ongoing expansion of Israeli
settlements in the area, and public opposition in Israel to a withdrawal
(UNHRC, 19 October 2004; BBC News, 31 December 2003;
Arutz 7, 11 December 2002; ICG, 10 April 2007). The Israeli
government has on several occasions publicly stated its intention to
continue to expand settlements in the Golan (Washington Post, 30 October
2006; UNGA, 3 May 2007). In 2004, Israel’s Ministerial Committee on
Settlement Affairs announced a decision to double investment in the Golan,
and build nine new settlements (UN Special
Committee, 23 September 2004, para.91; UNECSC, 7 June 2004; UNHRC, 19
October 2004). In December 2006, the Interior Minister announced the
government’s intention to facilitate accelerated settlement construction
near the border with Syria (Foundation for Middle East Peace, February 2007;
UNGA, 3 May 2007). A report by the Economic and Social Commission for
Western Asia submitted to the UN’s General
Assembly and Economic and Social Council details ongoing settlement
expansion in parts of the occupied Golan (UNGA, 3 May 2007). Although
figures are not consistent, reports suggest that there are some 40 Israeli
settlements and around 20,000 Israelis living in the area (UNSC, 11 December
2006; UNGA, 3 May 2007). Meanwhile, a public opinion poll in January 2004
suggests that a majority of Israelis opposed plans to hand back the Golan to
Syria (BBC News, 10 October 2004).
More recent news reports hint that a new series of peace negotiations
between Israel and Syria may hinge on the issue of the Golan. In August
2006, President Bashar Al-Assad of Syria said he was interested in peace
with Israel but that he would consider war to regain the Golan. In June
2007, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was
reported to have sent messages to President Assad that Israel was prepared
to give up the Golan in exchange for a peace deal (The Guardian, 7 June 2007
and 8 June 2007). Olmert delivered these
messages while a publicised military training
exercise was carried out by the Israeli army in the south of Israel,
including an attack on a mock Syrian village (The Guardian, 11 June 2007).
The Israeli press during this period cited Israeli military and intelligence
sources as saying that Syria was increasing its military activities on the
border and may be preparing for an attack (The Guardian, 8 June 2007). Some
of Golan’s residents also reported an increase in Israeli military
activities in the occupied Golan (BBC, 6 June 2007; The Guardian, 11 June
2007). In October 2007, Assad announced that his government would not attend
a November peace conference in Washington on the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, unless the agenda included negotiations over the Golan (BBC, 1
October 2007). Israel has said that any future agreement with Syria would
involve the return of sovereignty to Syria, but with Israel retaining
possession of the territory under a lease of at least 25 years (The
Guardian, 9 June 2007; Middle East, July 2007).
National response
The Syrian government has regularly presented its concerns regarding the
ongoing occupation of the Golan and the return of Golan’s displaced to the
UN’s human rights mechanisms and the Security
Council. The government has made some efforts to help those displaced from
areas bordering the occupied Golan, including building some HOMEs and a
hospital in the area (USCR, 2000; IHT, 23 October 2004; Syria Today, 2005).
There has been no significant progress in government plans to facilitate
returns to Quneitra, which borders the occupied Golan. The inhabitants of
Quneitra, estimated at 50,000 people, were forced to flee during the 1967
war when the town was destroyed by Israeli forces. Although Syria regained
control of the area in 1974, the government had made little effort to
rebuild Quneitra, keeping the ruins as a memorial to the Israeli incursion
and ongoing occupation of the rest of the Golan (Syria Today, March 2005;
IHT, 23 October 2004). In March 2005 there were hopes that some of the
internally displaced people might be able to return in the foreseeable
future, with Prime Minister Naji
Otri inaugurating a new hospital and laying the
foundation stones for the rebuilding of Adaniyeh
and Asheh, two nearby villages destroyed in the
1967 war. However, the reconstruction of the area has since progressed
slowly. In view of a possible return, more than 100 people have approached
the ICRC with legal claims to ownership of land and buildings in Quneitra
(ICRC, 21 March 2005).
Grassroots organisations on both sides of the
border have called for the situation of the displaced people to be resolved.
Several local groups have formed among displaced Syrians to raise awareness
of their plight, such as the Popular Commission for the Liberation of the
Golan, but some of these groups also appear to have militant political
motives (Syria Today, March 2007; Washington Institute for Near East Policy,
15 November 2006; MERIP, 26 July 2007). Israeli activists have also lobbied
their government to restart peace negotiations on the Golan (Middle East
Report, 26 July 2007), and in November 2006, journalists and human rights
activists participating in an International Media Forum on the Golan in
Quneitra called for the right of displaced Syrians to return to their HOMEs
to be respected.
International response
The international response to the situation of the Golan has largely been
political rather than humanitarian, although UNDOF has maintained its
presence and carried out demining activities.
The UN Security Council and the General Assembly as well as the Economic and
Social Council have adopted a number of resolutions calling for Israel’s
withdrawal from the Syrian Golan in accordance with international principles
which underline respect for and acknowledgement of the sovereignty of every
state of the occupied territories. UN resolutions have
called for peace negotiations and urged Israel to refrain from changing the
physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure and
legal status of the occupied Syrian Golan. The General Assembly has
also declared Israel’s decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and
administration in the Golan null and void and without international legal
effect (UNSC Resolutions 242 (1967), Resolution 338 (1973) and Resolution
497 (1981); UN GA Resolution 61/27 (1 December 2006) and Resolution 61/118
and 61/120 (14 December 2006); ECOSOC, 26 July 2007).
Advocacy has been undertaken at the regional level by the League of Arab
States. In March 2006, the Arab League adopted a resolution rejecting all
measures taken by Israel which aim to change the legal, physical and
demographic character of the Syrian Golan and describing them as null and
void and in breach of international convention and of the charter and
resolutions of the UN (UNGA, Resolution 6612(125), 7 February 2007).
Following the 1967 war, the UN General Assembly established a “Special
Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the
Population of the Occupied Territories” (UNGA Resolution 2443 (XXIII),
1968). The mandate of the Committee includes reporting to the Human Rights
Council on the human rights of the Golan’s IDPs,
or “persons normally resident in the areas under occupation but who had left
those areas because of hostilities” (for example UNGA 59/33, 31 January 2005
and UNGA 59/125, 25 January 2005). However, since its establishment, the
Committee has been denied access to the occupied Golan (UN Special
Committee, 8 June 2007).
The UN’s human rights bodies, in particular the
Human Rights Council (previously the UN Commission on Human Rights), have
regularly urged Israel to allow the internally displaced people to return to
and repossess their former HOMEs. In a resolution adopted in November 2006
the Council emphasised that the displaced
population of the occupied Syrian Golan must be allowed to return to their
HOMEs and to recover their properties (UN HRC, Resolution 2/3, 9 January
2007). The Council also adopted a second resolution concerning the Golan
(Resolution 2/4), reaffirming the illegality of Israel’s annexation of the
territory and calling on Israel to refrain from “changing the physical
character, demographic composition, institutional structure and legal status
of the occupied Syrian Golan” (UN HRC, 9 January 2007).
No UN agency has adopted a role in monitoring or providing humanitarian
assistance to the IDPs in Syria, because they
generally do not have any humanitarian needs specifically linked to their
being displaced. A number of UN agencies are present in Syria, mainly
operating under a development framework. The UN’s
development policy framework document for Syria for the period of 2007-2011
makes no reference to Golan’s displaced. This is in contrast to an earlier
draft of the UN Development Assistance Framework (2001) which noted the need
for UN support in the event of the reintegration of the occupied areas (UN,
2001; UN Syria Office of the Resident Coordinator, December 2000). Given the
lack of a peace agreement, plans to support the return of the displaced
population and rehabilitation of the Golan have not been developed.
The ICRC is the only international organisation
assisting the displaced people, though in many
cases it is only able to do so minimally. It has operated in Syria since
1967, to restore and maintain family links broken by Israel’s occupation
(ICRC, 28 June 2004 and 19 June 2003; Arabic News, 14 November 2002). The
ICRC continues to call for the resumption of the family visit
programme discontinued since 1992 which enabled
people separated from their displaced family members to meet together in
Syria once a year for two weeks (ICRC, 23 March 2007).
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