Forgotten Territory: The Political, Economic & Social Impact of the Israeli Occupation on the Golan Heights, Part 2: The Anatomy of Occupation

This six-part series looks into the past and present of the Syrian Golan Heights, which have been under Israeli military occupation since the 1967 war.

by Andrea Dillon

Part 2 in this continuing series on the Golan Heights will begin examining the parallels between the Israeli government’s occupations of the Golan and the Palestinian Territories. The commonalities between these two military engagements stretch back to 1967, when both territories were first invaded and occupied by Israeli military forces during the Six Day War with Syria, Jordan, and Egypt. Since then, Israeli government practices within the two regions have been decidedly similar in some ways, and surprisingly different in others. In such a way, a study of the Golan is invaluable for understanding Israeli practices in occupied territories, as well a stark reminder of the particularly harsh circumstances faced by Palestinians living in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT). Beginning with their commonalities, this report examines four features that characterize Israel’s occupation of both the Golan and the OPT: (1) a secreted, forced population transfer upon Israel’s initial invasion of these regions; (2) the Israeli government’s careful control of the territories’ demographics; (3) the Israeli government’s aggressive settlement of the territories, and (4) Israel’s indirect economic siege of these regions. Part 2 of this series discusses the first three parallels, while Part 3 will investigate the fourth. Part 4 goes on to examine the differences between Israel’s treatment of the Golanese Arabs compared with their Palestinian counterparts.