The Golan Heights That Obama and Netanyahu Are Arguing About These Days

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

Overview of UN zone and Syrian controlled territory from the Golan Heights

It's where Syria dropped bombs on Israeli farms below-working to drive out Jews.  

This is why it must remain in Israel's hands.  

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 the Khartoum Resolution of September 1, 1967.

  Syria had their chance to get it back peacefully, and instead attacked 

Israel in the 1973 War.  That's a double reason to keep it in Israel's hands. 

The United States is saying that the Golan Heights are not a part of Israel.  They happen to be in the back yard of Safed, where I lived for over 4 years from 1981-1985.  Netanyahu had "vowed that the Golan Heights "will forever remain under Israeli sovereignty." Israel had finally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981.  

                                                                              
Their history goes back to the Bible which is a part of our Jewish history-the most important part.  It begins with Golan, an ancient town of West Bashan.  Bashan was one of the cities of refuge in Israel as found in Joshua 20:8.  It was the capital of a region in the 2nd Temple times, and had a Jewish town until the 5th century CE.  The Golan was also the Western region of Bashan, named after its chief town. The Greeks called it Gaulanitis.  The tribe of Manasseh was to live here in Bashan.  
                                                                                     

•  The Golan Heights is a  plateau bordered by the Yarmouk River in the south, the Sea of Galilee and Hula Valley in the west,  Mount Hermon in the north, and Wadi Raqqad in the east. The western two-thirds of this region are currently occupied by Israel, whereas the eastern third is controlled by Syria.  They are 15 miles or 24 km  wide.  The Golan Heights
• looks down on the Sea of Galilee (Lake Kinneret) with Kibbutz Ein Gev just below and
• across the lake sits Tiberias.  

The Upper Galilee was called Beth-Maachah in the Bible.  It stretched from Mt. Hermon to the Sea of Galilee and was pasture land, sparsely populated.  The Lower Galilee was called Geshur in the Bible and was rich and fertile land until the Arab invasion in the 700s.  

The Golan Heights  were, until 1967, under Syrian administration.  Syria had been recognized as a state in 1924 with King Feisal. In 1920, an independent Arab Kingdom of Syria was established under King Faisal of the Hashemite family, who later became the King of Iraq.  However, his rule over Syria ended after only a few months, following the clash between his Syrian Arab forces and regular French forces at the Battle of Maysalun. French troops occupied Syria later that year after the League of Nations put Syria under French mandate.  Palestine was under the British mandate.  
                                                                                
Syria, Egypt, Jordan and others attacked Israel in 1967 and Israel won, which doesn't seem to matter to the USA for saying that this land does not belong to them. It was on October 6, 1973--Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar when most all Jews were fasting and praying in their synagogues that Egypt and Syria opened a surprise attack against Israel again!  The equivalent of the total forces of NATO in Europe were mobilized on Israel's borders.  On the Golan Heights, about 180 Israeli tanks faced an onslaught of 1,4000 Syrian tanks.  Then, by October 22nd, the Security Council of the UN adopted Resolution 338 calling for All Parties to the present fighting to cease all firing and terminate all military activity immediately.  The vote came on the day that Israeli forces had cut off and isolated the Egyptian 3rd Army and were in a position to destrooy it.   Mostly Druze had been living in the Golan Heights and Druze are living there today, many being Israeli citizens.  They are safe and happy. 
                                                                               

In 1973, about 8,000 Arab Druzes were living on the Golan Heights which is 500 square miles or 1,250 square km.  The status has not changed since June 1967 except that it must remain in Israel's hands.  It's still an Israeli administered area now annexed by Israel.  
                                                                                 

Druze IDF soldier

"On Sunday,  April 17th, 2016,  the Israeli cabinet held a special meeting on the Golan Heights and Netanyahu opened the meeting with a declaration that “the Golan Heights will always remain under Israeli control."

The Prime Minister also called upon the international community to recognize Israel’s control of the territory."  He has reason to need this area for protection.  Syria had been bombarding kibbutzim along the upper Jordan Valley from the Golan Heights when it was in their hands.  Due to the Six Day War of June 1967, it fell back into Israel's hands once again and the Israeli troops occupied it and subsequently it was extensively populated with Israeli villages and towns.  Its 1985 population was 22,500 including the Druze.  

                                                                                  

Looking down on the Golan Heights which are
3,000' above the Galilee

Syria had used the Golan Heights, which tower 3,000 feet above the Galilee, to shell the kibbutz farms and villages and these attacks had been growing more frequent in 1965 and 1966.  At the same time, Nasser of Egypt's rhetoric was becoming increasingly more bellicose:  "We shall not enter Palestine with its soil covered in sand", he said on March 8, 1965.  "We shall enter it with its soil saturated in blood!"  He let Israel know of the Arabs' aspirations, which was that they aim for the destruction of the State of Israel.  their immediate aim then was the perfection of Arab military might so that their national aim would be fulfilled, to eradicate Israel.  Israel cannot take any chances today.  The enemy has changed slightly with Egypt and Jordan, but Syria is being taken over by ISIS who also have this pre-1967 goal in mind.  Syria is still full of thousands and thousands of missiles originally planned to be used on Israel.  

Syrian guns would fire from the Golan into Israeli farms below, forcing the children living on kibbutzim to sleep in bomb shelters.  Many roads in northern Israel could be crossed only after probing by mine-detection vehicles.  In late 1966 a young child was blown to pieces by a mine while playing football near the Lebanon border.  In some cases, attacks were carried out by Yasir Arafat's Fatah, which Syria allowed to operate from its territory.  Israel protested to the UN but to no avail.  So Israel would hold retaliatory raids after attacks from Syria, which brought about UN condemnation.  Again, Israel complained to the UN in October 1966 and Damascus's Ambassador said-"It is not our duty to stop them but to encourage and strengthen them", 

                                                                                 

Mt Hermon

As for the Six Day War of 1967, things started popping on May 15, Israel's Independence Day.  Egyptian troops began moving into the Sinai and massing near the Israeli border.  By May 18, Syrian troops were prepared for battle along the Golan Heights up above.  Nasser told the UN Emergency Force to get lost and they did, they withdrew on May 16th.  Secretary-General U Thant complied with the demand without an argument, evidently, so fast that he didn't even bring the matter to the attention of the General Assembly as his predecessor had promised.  UNEF withdrew, and the Arabs chortled with their Voice of the Arabs proclaiming on May 18th that "As of today, there no longer exists an international emergency force to protect Israel.  We shall exercise patience NO MORE.  We shall not complain anymore to the UN about Israel.  The sole method we shall apply against Israel is total war, which will result in the extermination of Zionist existence."  At the time, Hafez Assad was the Syrian Defense Minister.  Israel faced the armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria and Lebanon who were sitting on their border and behind them ready to do battle against Israel stood the armies of Iraq, Algeria, Kuwait, Sudan and the whole Arab nation.  President Abdur Rahman Aref of Iraq put in his 2 bits saying that "The existence of Israel is an error which must be rectified.  This is our opportunity to wipe out the ignominy which has been with us since 1948."

                                                                             

Syria Golan Heights

June 9, 1967, Israel moved against Syrian forces on the Golan and by late afternoon, June 10th, Israel was in complete control of the plateau.  They had taken it only after 19 years of provocation from Syria and after unsuccessful efforts to get the international community to act against the aggressors.  

  Need I repeat?  Israel won the battle  in 6 days, and the only ally they had was HaShem.    The Arabs refused to sign a peace settlement.  Instead, they held a meeting in Khartoum and adopted a formula of 3 NOs. 

No peace with Israel.

No negotiations with Israel.

No recognition of Israel

But-Maintain the rights of the Palestinian people in their nation.  

In other words, they see Israel as a part of Palestine-the name the Romans gave to the land after winning a 3 year war with Aluf Bar Kochba of Jerusalem.  Facts belie them of the land having been in the Ottoman Empire of Turkey for 400 years, and them losing the War of WWI to the Allies of Europe and the USA and losing their empire's land.  Facts are just ignored about all the nations of the world in the UN voting for Israel to be re-born back in their promised Jewish Homeland-even though it is only 20% of the promise of the mandate of what it was to be.  England, while holding the mandate-broke their promise and had given away 80% of the Jewish Homeland after all the meetings deciding about the land-to Abdullah of Saudi Arabia who needed land to rule so that he too could be a king.  That's how Jordan came to be.  

Every time the United States does not back Israel, it's like turning on the green light for Arabs to act out.  Syria may never be trusted by Israel being Assad is still in power under Iran's thumb and with ISIS trying to take over as much as possible.  Is the United States now telling John Kerry to tell Palestinians they can have the Golan Heights, too?  What is Obama thinking?  

The USA said that U.S. State Department spokesperson John Kirby, Ass. Sec.  (Not John Kerry)  stressed Monday night that the Obama administration does not consider the Golan Heights to be part of Israel, one day after Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed they "will forever remain under Israeli sovereignty."This position was maintained by both Democratic and Republican administrations. Those territories are not part of Israel and the status of those territories should be determined through negotiations. The current situation in Syria does not allow this," Kirby continued. 

I believe that international lawyers and experts should agree that when a country is attacked and the attackers lose the battle-they lose land. That's the punishment for starting a war like a bunch of mad dogs all attacking Israel at once.   That land has already been annexed to Israel in 1981.  Why would Syria ever get to negotiate now?  It's been 49 years since 1967 already and Syria is barely a state now-being left basically just Damascus so far.  The USA and Kerry-Kirby made a ridiculous statement that only brings harm to Israel.  .  

Update: 4/19/16-7am:  Past American Presidents were not being realistic about the Golan Heights anymore than Obama is, but Obama can see the terrible change in Syria today being taken over by ISIS.  In 1981 after Israel annexed the Heights, Ronald Reagan suspended a strategic cooperation agreement.  On another occasion, he held up delivery of fighter planes because of an Israeli raid in Lebanon.  In 1991, George Herbert Walker Bush asked for a delay in considering Israel's request for loan guarantees to help absorb Soviet and Ethiopian Jews because of his disagreement with Israel's settlement policy in Judea and Samaria.  He used intemperate language that inflamed passions and provoked concern in the Jewish community that anti-Semitism would be aroused.  1991 was also the year the UN voted 142 to 2 to condemn Israeli behavior toward Palestinians in the territories taken in 1967.  It denounced Israeli administration of the Golan HEights.  The repeal vote was ruined by the fact that 13 of the 19 Arab countries, including those engaged in negotiations with Israel--Syria, Lebanon and Jordan, voted to retain the resolutions, as did Saudi Arabia.  6, including Egypt-who lobbied against repeal, were absent.  NO Arab country voted for repeal.  The PLO denounced the vote and the US role.  The Arabs voted once again to impugn the very birthright of the Jewish State.  The UN was stacked against Israel.

Update: 4/19/16 7:45am:  Victor Sharpe article in American Thinker:  According to a report dated April 16, 2016 in the sometimes reliable Debka Special Report, “Israel’s top political leaders and military commanders were stunned and shocked last weekend when they found out that US President Barack 
Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have agreed to support the return of the Golan to Syria.
Update 4/27/16 3:59pm PDT, Wrong decision by UN against Israel over Golan Heights:

UNSC Says Claim of Israeli Golan ‘Null and void’
Israel’s UN Ambassador Danny Danon responded saying, “Holding a meeting on this topic completely ignores the reality in the Middle East."

” http://www.americanthinker.com/…/is_obama_plotting_yet_agai…

Read more: http://www.americanthinker.com/…/is_obama_plotting_yet_agai… 

Resource: http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/211083
facts about israel,  from Division of Information, Ministry for foreign affairs, Jerusalem , booklet
The New Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
Messages From a Syrian Jew Trapped in Egypt-Golan Heights is part of a scene
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights
Myths and Facts by Mitchell G. Bard, Joel Himelfarb

Apartheid Debunked in Israel-Before 1973's War: A Most Pluralistic Democratic Society

Nadene Goldfoot                                                                        

Israel today is made up of 6 million Jews and 1.7 million Arabs.  These are all 100% citizens. Those born in 1972 would today be 43 years old, probably parents of the young men who are drafted at age 18 above.
                                                                             

Druze in IDF

Druze in Israel

Back in 1972's census, only 24 years after its birth, there were 3.2 million people in the state of which 2.7 million were Jews which was 85% and there were only 359,000 Muslims which was 11.2%, about the same percent as USA's black population.  All or nearly all of the Muslims were Arabs.  About 80,000 were Christian Arabs (2.4%) and about 39,000 were Druzes and others which was 1.3%.  Druzes are an Arab group that separated from Islam the 10th century.
                                                                         

1949 armistice-Purple is Israel

In 1949 at the end of the Israeli War  of Independence, there were only some 160,000 Arabs.  Natural growth was one cause of a big increase.  Another was due to the readmission of thousands who fled when the Arab states attacked Israel and then returned.  Those who didn't remain in refugee camps supported by UNRWA.
                                                                                                                                   

Citizens are anyone who lived in Israel in 1948  when Israel announced her rebirth on May 14th.  This is also when the Brits' mandate of 30 years was up.  Conditions are that if they stayed, they are citizens.  Anyone  else who wants to be a citizen must wait for 3 years.  In the USA a person waits and studies to pass an exam for 5 years.  It is the homeland of the Jewish people, so Jews are the exception, coming under the Law of Return.  Thus, any Jewish immigrant from any country will be admitted and made a citizen if they wish without waiting the 3 years.
                                                                     

Soon after moving into my Safed apartment in 1980

 My husband and I weren't aware of this, even though my husband was a history teacher in high school in Oregon.  We waited for 5 years and then filed.  Luckily, in the USA one can have dual citizenship.

Because of the Arabs living in Israel, Arabic has official status along with Hebrew, the  language spoken in Biblical days and used for prayer in synagogues ever since since our writings are mostly in Hebrew.  Hebrew was revived in the 1880s as a spoken language in Eretz Yisrael.  It is helping to unite Jews from all over the world.                                                  

Knesset in Jerusalem, Israel's Capital

In the Knesset (building of legislature), Arab members speak Arabic.  All Knesset proceedings are conducted with simultaneous translation from Hebrew into Arabic or vice versa just like in the UN.  Citizens may use Arabic in any court of law or government office.  The USA doesn't even have this procedure for Spanish speakers.
                                                                                                       

Hebrew

Arabic

Arab children attended schools where classes were conducted in Arabic and where Arab history and culture were freely taught.  My personal opinion is that this should have been stopped and public schooling should be required.  The reason is that in Judea and Samaria, hate is still taught for Jews.  Maps show Palestine but not Israel.  There will never be  a national spirit of love for Israel by the Arabs with exceptions for Druze and a few others.  The way Muslims have been acting in Jerusalem lately, knifing the population there, shows that these attackers are following the dictates of otherMuslims who want an uprising.  They have become brainwashed to hatred.
 I entered the scene in 1980 and by 1981-1985 was teaching English.
                                                                                 

Circassians in Israel

 I had a mixture of Jewish and a few Circassian students in  the jr. high  public school in Safed.   Everyone had a choice of studying French or Arabic and all had to study English. In Haifa there was a Jewish-Arab school as well as a large center for joint Jewish-Arab sports groups, art groups, meetings and exhibitions.  The study of Arab history and culture was an integral part of the curriculum in Jewish schools.   .

The country then had 24 daily papers.  4 were in Arabic.  Many Arabic books and some 20 Arabic magazines were published.  The TV and radio featured daily programs in Arabic.  Besides that, in Safed we were able to get TV from Egypt, Lebanon and Syria, of course all in Arabic.  The only censoring going on was on matters involving military security.

There were Arab-Jewish cultural centers, usually privately run, was increased and fostering creativeness of Israeli Arabs in Drama, literature and painting.  After Jews from Europe or the USA came to live in Israel, they became more conscious of Arab culture and tradition, so interaction was increasing.  Since 1962, a Jewish-Arab summer camp for youth had been held in Akko "Acre." Jews who came to Israel via Arab countries had been kicked out and had to leave penniless. 850,000 Jews had been living in Arab lands before Israel's statehood.   Most all are now living in either Israel or the USA.   They were 2nd class citizens there, called Dhimmis.  Those Jews were very used to living with Arabs.  I find it's the Arabs who have a hard time accepting Jews who in their eyes were always lower classes than themselves.  They have a hard time accepting the fact that they now have their own country.
                                                                     

Mosque of Omar in Jerusalem

Israel treated religious groups as private associations but also as entities with official standing.  They took care of marriage and divorce of the groups.  Each one has its own system of courts to deal with these according to its religious law; the Rabbinical, Muslim, Druze, Roman Catholic, etc.  Members of the Muslim clergy of about 200 in 1972 were paid by the State, like the clergy of other faiths.  Regular services were held in some 90 mosques, and Muslim Friday prayers were broadcast on the national radio.

Though Saturday is the official Jewish Sabbath and is the official day of rest in Israel like Sunday used to be in the USA, Muslims and Christians have the option, under law, to close their places of work instead on either Friday or Sunday, respectively.

In 1972, public service and public office by Arabs was fairly low but growing because now Arabs are able to finish high school.  There were about 5,000 Arabs among the nation's civil service employees who number around 70,000.  Arabs and Druzes served routinely as magistrates.  About 50,000 Druze were living in Israel as of 1992 and were concentrated in 18 villages in the western Galilee and on Mt. Carmel.  They cooperated with the Israel forces during and since 1948's War of Independence and they now sit in the Knesset.

The Knesset has 120 members.  In 1972,  4 were Arabs and 1 was a Druze.  The Minister of Health, Abdul Aziz Zuabi, is an Arab .  Seif Aldin Alzuabi was a former Speaker of the Knesset. Jaber Muadi, former Deputy of communications, is a Druze.
                                                                   

Police needed at Mosque where they do not allow Jews to pray

Israel's Police Force has Bedouin Arabs, Druzes and other minority groups as members.  The Police force performs ordinary police duties and also works with the Army in guarding the borders against infiltrators.  In 1973 there were 1,287 Arabs and Druzes in a total force of 13,882 Police.
                                                           

Black Ethiopian in IDF

Christian, Arab and Female IDF

Druze in IDF

Israel is understanding of people's emotions.  To avoid one's conscience conflicting, exemptions to serve in the IDF (Israel Defense Force)  is given to certain ethnic and religious groups.  The Druze, Circassians (Muslim sect)  decided they do not want to be exempted from the draft.  Most Arabs, however, both Muslims and Christians, do make use of the exemptions.  Individuals are free to volunteer for service and some do each year.

Political Parties are many in this multiparty system.  The Mapam party and communist Party have Arabs on their slates of candidates.  Israel's Labor Party (Golda Meier) offers special slates of Arab candidates.  There are also exclusive Arab parties.  Many people do cross ethnic lines so many Arabs voted for the Labor Party in  1972.  Before Israel was created, pre 1948 days, there was almost no Arab local government.  Only 3 towns had local councils.  By 1972 there were 2 local council and 46 local councils that were Arab or Druze.  Another 27 Arab villages had representation in council with mixed Arab-Jewish membership.  More than 82% of Israeli Arabs lived in places with home rule.
                                                                               

Subarus were popular in Israel.  We had one.  

All citizens could travel in Israel without licenses or permits.  They were also free to leave and return with just passport requirements.  One catch, Arab states do not allow Israelis entrance.  Israel allowed citizens of Arab states entrance, however, even places like Syria who were hostile to her.  They could enter for pilgrimages, family visits and other peaceful purposes.  By 1974, about 250,000 persons entered Israel on that basis.

No matter who you were, all received the same wages for the same work.
                                                                     

Synagogue in Israel built in 1906-Knesseth Israel

Then came Yom Kippur and the  October 6, 1973 War.  This was the holiest day of the year, every year.  Egypt and Syria attacked Israel and were on Israel's borders. At least 9 Arab states, including 4 non-Middle Eastern nations, actively aided the war effort.  The least enthusiastic one was Jordan and king Hussein who must have been kept uninformed of Egyptian and Syrian war plans.  He sent his 40th and 60th armored Brigades---to Syria.  They were stationed on the Amman-Damascus route and attacked Israeli positions along the Kuneitra-Sassa road on October 16th.  3 Jordanian artillery batteries also were in the fight carried out by almost 100 tanks.
                                                                       

On the Golan Heights where so many Druze lived, about 180 Israeli tanks faced 1,400 Syrian tanks.  Along the Suez Canal, less than 500 Israeli IDF wee attacked by 80,000 Egyptians.  Russians put their money on the Arabs winning the war.  So did the UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim who had served in the German army and was even guilty of war crimes in the Balkans.  He had such a record that he was barred from the USA when he became president of Austria.  I tell you this because it was then the UN who then voted to end all military activity when Israel had cut off and isolated the Egyptian 3rd Army and could have destroyed it.  Note that at this time, the Arabs and Jews were doing remarkably  well in Israel, but the Arab nations could not abide this.

North African countries responded to Arab and Soviet calls to help Egypt and Syria.  Algeria sent 3 aircraft squadrons of fighters and bombers, an armored brigade and 150 tanks.  About 1,000-2,000 Tunisian soldiers were stationed in the Nile Delta.  Sudan had 3,500 troops in southern Egypt, and Morocco sent 3 brigades to the front lines including 2,500 men to Syria.  Lebanon had radar units that Syria used.  They also allowed Palestinian terrorists to shell Israeli civilian villages and towns from its territory.  Oh yes, the Palestinians were right in there on the Southern Front with the Egyptians and Kuwaitis.  Another miracle happened.  Israel won.

Thus, Europe has been condemning Israel since then as an apartheid state when it has never treated Arabs in such a manner.  We follow the Golden Rule:  Don't do to others what you don't want done to you, something that was never followed for them while living in the Arab states.  24 years after living through Arab attacks and wars from 1947-1949, 1956, 1967, and then again in 1973, and by 1972 they were getting along well. Actually, it was Apartheid that was enacted against the Jews living in Arab lands up until 1948.  All during the 2,000 years of living outside of Eretz Yisrael, a form of Apartheid was practiced on the Jews of Europe, and yes, even in the USA.  When a people are not allowed jobs, clubs, etc, this is apartheid and it happened to Jews for a long time.  It's another reason Jews need their own state.
                                                                                                   

Amidst fighting wars, Israel managed to bring in 1,400,000 immigrant Jews in 24 years from conception.  Starting with a core of 650,000 tired Jews in May 1948 fresh out of the holocaust and mixed in with the Sabras, they grew to 3,164,000 by May 1972 and out of these, 1,400,000 were immigrants which are called olim.  They came in 4 major waves of immigration, with the first wave from Poland, Bulgaria and Czechoslovakia.  Then came the immigrants from the Arab countries from Iraq, Yemen, and Libya.  Thirdly came Jews from Morocco, Tunisia, Poland and other countries.  Romanian Jews came under a family reunification plan, so in the 60's came eastern Europeans and North Africans.  After the 6 Day War of 1967 came Jews from North and South america, Western Europe and Russia.  by late 1972, 200,000 immigrants had arrived.  Lastly, I made aliyah in 1980, with others, of course.  Israel has never known real peace.  Neighboring states have refused to accept her very existence, causing 4 major wars on this tiny state.  It's taken all this time to have 2 peaceful neighbors now, Jordan and Egypt.  May they keep the peace.

Resource: Jewish Digest, January 1976, p 22-Israel:  A Pluralistic Democracy:  the status of Arabs in the Jewish State
From Time Immemorial by Joan Peters
Myths and Facts-a concise record of the Arab-Israeli conflict by Mitchell G. Bard, Joel Himelfarb p. 77.