Golan Heights

An Israeli Merkava tank parked between Medinat al-Salam and Khan Arnabeh in Quneitra province, Syria, Jan. 5, 2025. (Tareq al-Salameh)
In southern Syria, a violent new Israeli occupation emerges
Israeli forces have advanced miles into Syrian territory — confiscating land and homes, killing farmers, and seeking to divide the region's diverse population.
By Tareq al-Salameh April 10, 2025
Residents celebrate the fall of the Assad regime in Syria, in Majdal Shams, Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, December 9, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)
For Syrians in the Golan, Assad’s fall sparks hope and uncertainty
Residents of the occupied Jawlan celebrated the regime's collapse, but remain wary amid political instability and further Israeli encroachment inside Syria.
By Baker Zoubi December 13, 2024
Israeli soldiers from the army’s 210th Division seen inside Syrian territory. (IDF Spokesperson's Unit)
‘As much and as quickly as possible’: Israeli settlers eye land in Syria, Lebanon
With the Israeli army advancing into Syria following Assad's fall, a group promoting settlements in Lebanon is casting its gaze eastward.
By Illy Pe’ery December 12, 2024
Latest
Syrians in Germany celebrate the fall of Assad Regime, December 8, 2024. (Wikimedia Commons)
‘Democracy won’t come to Syria overnight. But now, we have hope’
From exile, Bassam Al-Kuwatli long dreamed of Assad's fall. As head of the Syrian Liberal Party, he now plans to return to push for a democratic future.
By Meron Rapoport December 11, 2024
Mourners attend the funeral of children killed by an airstrike in Majdal Shams, occupied Golan Heights, July 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv)
‘The Golan won’t accept any killing or regional war in our victims’ names’
Israel’s exploitation of a rocket attack in Majdal Shams is the latest chapter of the Syrian Jawlan's ‘forgotten occupation,’ says activist Wael Tarabieh.
By Mariam Farah August 16, 2024
Members of the Syrian Druze community protest against U.S. President Donald Trump's recognition of Israeli sovereignty in the Golan Heights, in Buq'ata, Golan Heights, March 30, 2019. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)
Clean energy, dirty dealing: Syrian Druze resist greenwashing of Golan occupation
An Israeli wind farm slated for construction on Syrian Druze agricultural land in the occupied Golan Heights has been met with profound resistance from residents.
By Ellie Stern February 6, 2020
Members of the Druze community in the Golan Heights protest the decision of President Donald Trump to recognize Israeli sovereignty in the territory, Majdal Shams, March 23, 2019. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)
Talk of Golan annexation leaves out those expelled from it
President Trump’s recognition of Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights has been widely celebrated by Israelis. But do those same Israelis know of the hundreds of thousands of people expelled from the territory during the 1967 war? By Tom Pessah The vast majority of Israelis are still unaware that over 130,000 residents of the Golan Heights were expelled from…
By +972 Magazine March 24, 2019
Angela Merkel faces down Donald Trump at the G7 Summit, June 9, 2018. (Jesco Denzel/German gov't)
The legitimacy of land grabs in the Trump era: From the Golan to Crimea
Trump’s administration needs to come to terms with the unacceptability of states snatching territory from other states through armed force and keeping it — no matter what rationale the historical context might provide. By Paul R. Pillar The main takeaway from the recent G-7 summit obviously is the striking damage to U.S.-allied relations from Donald…
By +972 Magazine June 12, 2018
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu seen with Israeli soldiers of the IDF Armored Corps during an army exercise in the Golan Heights, northern israel on October 15, 2013. (Kobi Gideon/GPO)
The Syrian ceasefire in the Golan is good for Israel
Netanyahu called Trump and Putin’s ceasefire in Syria a ‘bad deal.’ But it could be the one thing that prevents Israel from being dragged into war — whether by miscalculation or military escalation. By Shemuel Meir The dramatic announcement by presidents Trump and Putin of a ceasefire in “south-west Syria” earlier this month was greeted…
By +972 Magazine July 20, 2017
Druze villagers threshing corn in Majdak Shams, Golan Heights, 1967. (Moshe Milner/GPO)
The Syrian refugees Israelis prefer to forget
As opposed to Palestinian refugees, the fate of the Syrians expelled from the Golan Heights by Israel in 1967 was covered up and hidden from public awareness. Even today, most Israelis believe the area was largely empty of Syrians, and anyone who may have been there fled voluntarily. By Irit Gal Among the Syrian refugees fleeing their burning country…
By Haokets July 18, 2017
A UN observer looks at a lookout point as smoke rising at a Syrian village near the Israeli-Syrian border in the Golan Heights during fights between the rebels and the Syrian army, June 25, 2017. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)
Israel inching closer to a war nobody wants
Increasingly hawkish rhetoric directed at Hezbollah, along with providing humanitarian aid to Syrian rebels, may lead Israel into a war no one wants. Israel’s interest is a stable Middle East, but it won’t happen without an end to the occupation. By Asher Kaufman At the annual Herzliya Conference last week, the head of the Israeli…
By +972 Magazine June 30, 2017
A Palestine man holds the key to his former home left behind in front of his house, Khan Younis, Gaza Strip, May 15, 2016. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)
Mapping the Palestinian villages erased and replaced with Jewish towns
A new map seeks to provide new information on the Palestinian cities, towns, and villages that were erased and replaced since the inception of the Zionist movement. By Tom Pessah Immigrants coming to Israel are unlikely to know the name “Mlabes,” but Israelis are more acquainted with it. After all, it is the name of a…
By +972 Magazine January 29, 2017
Ehud Barak speaks at Haaretz's Israel Conference for Peace at the David InterContinental hotel in Tel Aviv, Tuesday, July 8, 2014. (Flash90)
Don’t call it a comeback: Really, please don’t come back
Ehud Barak isn’t the ‘only hope’ to defeat Netanyahu. He is, however, the most dangerous prime minister Israel has ever had. It seems Ehud Barak is planning a return to politics: posters have appeared calling on him to “run” (where exactly is unclear), and now even Haaretz columnist Gideon Levy reluctantly voiced the opinion that…
By Dimi Reider September 8, 2016
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  2. What a ‘peace summit’ reveals about the state of the Israeli left
  3. ‘Lavender’: The AI machine directing Israel’s bombing spree in Gaza
  4. Why Israel's demand for Hamas to disarm is a red herring
  5. 'We've killed so many children — it's hard to argue with that'
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