A piece of the Heart!
The Occupied Golan make up 1% of the total area of Syria, about 1860 km2. Situated to the extreme south western Syria, it overlooks the lower branch of the Yarmuk River on the South, and Jabal Ash-shayk (Mt.Hermon) which draws the Syrian Lebanese boundaries, on the North ,and reaching Taiberias lake to the South forming a border with Occupied Palestine and Israel. To the East lies Al Raquad valley, in Syria. The Golan district has always been an important route of the transportation through out old and modern ages, of history. It connects important populated communities that make up what is regionally known as the Sham countries (Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon). It is also a natural route between two important Arab capitals, one in Asia, Damascus, and the other in Africa, Cairo. This contributed to the rise of the Golan's capital "AL-Qunaitra" as the most important crossroad on the way to Damascus, Al-Quds (Jerusalem) & Cairo, throughout different stages in history. The Golan, situated between the subtropical arid zone prevailing from the nearby African continent, coming from the south and the tropical wet zone prevailing from the Mediterranean near by coast in the north, experiences climatic contrasts.
Golan is quite rich in springs and water sources , the head waters of the Jordan River is in Golan and tributaries such as Al-Wazan River and Banias River. There are more than 80 springs in the Golan area, with a total flow of hundreds of liters per second. The largest lake in the area is the Masada Lake that holds about 3 million cubic meters of water, and has a depth of 8 - 9 meters. The Golan water resources have particular importance in the Arab-Israeli conflict. Although the water resources which Israel seeks to appropriate do not lie within the Golan region yet the rivers basins are located on its boundaries. Since it was founded in 1948, Israel had looked forward to dominate the Golan in order to control its rivers and divert them all into the Israeli territory. The crux of the Arab - Israeli conflict centers around two topics, land and water. A brutal fight had erupted between Syria and Israel because the drying up of Alhouleh Lake in 1950, cultivating its land and attempting the diversion of the Jordan River. The Israeli Prime Minister, Ben Gurion, confirmed in 1950 that Jews were fighting battle of water against control the Arabs and that the Jewish existence in Palestine was contingent on the outcome of such battle. Between 1964-1965, Israel carried a series of aggressive military attacks on the Arab water projects in Syria, Palestine and Lebanon, and that brought these projects to a halt.
The Occupied Golan is a natural extension of the convex ply of Mount Sheik (Harmon), and an area of volcanic eruptions.
There are a number of hills that are originally volcanic cones. Some of these hills form a mountain chain (Al-Qunaitra- Al-Rafeed), the highest of which is Bir-Ajam (1158 m). There are other hill ranges, such as: Al-Sheika (1211 m), Sidral-Arous (1198 m), A’ram (1171 m), Aboul-Nada (1204 m), Al-Khanzeer (1977 m) and Al-Azas (927 m).There are several valleys, such as the valley of Halawa, Ainel-Teeneh , Daboora, Hawa, Al-Samak and Jalbina. There are several plains such as:Al-Mansoura,Ain Ziwan, Al-Aul, Kafar Alma, Faik and Kafer Harib. The better agricultural land lies in the south, the stony foot hills of MT. Hermon (north) with patches of woodland and scrub, are a stock-raising area 280 Km2 of the Occupied Golan are wood covered land, making up for almost 15% of the Golan district.
Courtesy: Syrian National Information Center