Delegation From the Golan Heights in a Visit to Syria: ‘The Visit has Strengthened Our Determination to Initiate Resistance Activities Against the Israeli Occupation’

At the end of the war in Lebanon, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad delivered a speech in praise of the resistance, calling it "essential, natural, and legitimate." He repeatedly said that resistance is not contradictory to peace, but rather is necessary in order to achieve peace. In addition, he said in his speech that "the Golan will be liberated by Syrian hands," and in a number of interviews in the media he repeated this statement, adding that "the Syrian people is the one who will decide if there will be resistance in the Golan." [1]

Following his speech, the Syrian government press published a number of articles that also stressed the same lessons from the war, and in particular that "resistance and peace are one single axis." It should be noted that already in the course of the war the Syrian press published numerous articles praising resistance and martyrdom, and even threatening that Syria would adopt the path of resistance in the Golan Heights. [2]

Since the end of the war, reports have appeared in the media concerning a new resistance organization for the liberation of the Golan that has warned that military operations may be undertaken in the Golan. [3] Following that, a delegation of residents from the Golan Heights, among them several sheikhs, conducted a visit to Syria, where members of the delegation spoke of the need for "initiating resistance activities against the Israeli occupation." Concurrent with this visit, new reports appeared in the Syrian press on the resistance organization in the occupied Golan that are warning that "the Hizbullah model will not be absent from our [minds]."

The following are excerptsfrom press reports on the delegation's visit and the new resistance organization:

Resistance Organization in the Golan Threatens to Adopt the Hizbullah Model

The Syrian government daily Teshreen published a report on August 31, 2006, about a new resistance organization in the Golan Heights that is demanding the release of Syrian prisoners being held in Israel: "Concurrently with the visit to the homeland [i.e. Syria] of the delegation of residents of the occupied Golan, members of the national resistance in the occupied villages [of the Golan] issued a statement in which they demanded of the Israeli occupation authorities that they unconditionally release the prisoners from the Golan. The statement warned Israel that if it does not comply with this human and just demand, the necessary measures will be taken in order to free them. The statement added: 'The Lebanese model - that of Hizbullah - will not be absent from our [minds] at the hour of action and in the preparations for the freeing of our prisoners.'" [4]

Golan Residents: "Victory and the Liberation of the Golan Will Come Soon Under Assad's Leadership, and the Syrian Flag Will Be Waved Over the Golan"

In the last few days the Syrian press has published reports on a delegation of 550 Druze from the Golan Heights who arrived in Syria for family visits that will last four days. Over the course of the visit, the delegation visited the tomb of Hafez Al-Assad, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, the October [1973] War Museum, and a number of religious sites in Syria. In their visit, members of the Golan delegation heaped scathing criticism on the inhuman actions, as they described them, being perpetrated against them by the Zionist occupation forces, and expressed hope that the Golan will soon be returned to Syria.

One member of the delegation, Sheikh Muhammad Jamal Al-Maghribi, delivered a speech in the name of the delegation, saying: "This visit comes to emphasize that the sons of the steadfast Golan carry the homeland [Syria] in their hearts, and refuse to give in to the steps and decisions of the Zionist occupation, despite the hardship, oppression, and persecution to which they are subjected at the hands of the oppressing forces of the occupation."

Al-Maghribi expressed the "pride the people of the occupied Syrian Golan [harbor] for President Bashar Al-Assad's courageous and proud stand of support for the heroic Lebanese national resistance and for Syria's embracing our people in the Golan in the wake of the oppressing Israeli aggression…"

Another member of the delegation, Sheikh Sa'id Tawfiq, recited a poem on the topic of the glorious meaning of steadfastness, resistance, and martyrdom for the homeland. [5]

The head of the delegation, Sheikh Mahmud Hassan Al-Safadi, said: "We came on this visit from the steadfast Golan while carrying with us love and longing for the people and for the motherland. [We came on this visit] in order to emphasize our firm attachment to our original identity and our belonging [to the Syrian nation], and our determination to continue in the path of steadfastness. We are all certain that victory and liberation [of the Golan] will come soon under the leadership of the nation's hope, Bashar Al-Assad, and that the flag of the homeland will be raised and [Al-Assad] will wave it over the pure land of the Golan, which is suffused with the blood of the righteous martyrs.

"The residents of the Golan [asked to express] their love and their longings for our motherland, our great people, and for our beloved leader, thanks to whose honorable stands we can hold our heads high - stands which have become a guiding light for all free people and for all honorable people among this nation." [6]

"Al-Safadi emphasized that 'the people of the Golan - the youth and the elderly, women and children - reject Israeli identity, whatever the sacrifices [that this will require].' He blessed the motherland [Syria], the people, the army, and the wise leadership, and first and foremost President Bashar Al-Assad, who places the steadfast Golan and its people at the top of his agenda and at the top of his list of national priorities.

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"The head of the Druze delegation called for the release of the Syrian prisoners from Israel's prisons: 'The occupation authorities are holding our children in their prisons. The prison terms of most of the prisoners have continued more than 22 years. They are subjected to the most abject inhuman actions behind bars, while their health is consistently neglected...'

"Al-Safadi called on the Arab League to intervene and force Israel to release them. He spoke of the suffering of the residents of the Golan as being a result of 'the oppressive Zionist steps being taken against them' and complained that there are not any hospitals or medical centers in the Golan, and therefore [people's] state of health in the villages is very severe." [7]

Members of the Delegation: The Visit has Strengthened Our Determination to Initiate Resistance Activities Against the Israeli Occupation

The Syrian government daily Al-Ba'th reported that "members of the delegation expressed their joy at the visit, which has strengthened their resolute decision and their determination to initiate resistance activities against the Israeli occupation and to hold fast to their Arab-Syrian identity, which [they] will not exchange for any other. [They are] certain that the occupation will taste defeat and that the Golan will once again gain its freedom and its honor under the leader of the homeland [Bashar Al-Assad]." [8]

"A member of the delegation, Sheikh Nasib Farhat, said: 'The suffering of the people of the occupied Arab Golan in the face of the inhuman actions of the Zionist occupation forces only reinforces the strength of resistance and the determination to continue their steadfast stand and to hold fast to their Arab-Syrian identity and to the return of their land to the bosom of the motherland. The children, youth, women, and elderly of the steadfast Golan experience day by day and hour by hour the bitterness of the afflictions, the isolation [from Syria], and the shortages with which the Zionist entity tries to make their lives difficult and prevent them from keeping in contact with their people, their relatives, and their homeland - Syria.'

"Sheikh Majed Ahmad Kamal Al-Din talked about 'the importance of the visit in strengthening and supporting the steadfast stand of the people of the occupied Golan and their adherence to their identity and their struggle, until victory and liberation [of the Golan] are achieved.' He said that 'there could be nothing more glorious and wonderful than to meet with the family and the loved ones and to return to the bosom of the motherland [Syria] with the flag of the homeland hoisted high above the land of the steadfast Golan.'" [9]

Syrian Minister of Information:Together With the People of the Golan We Will Liberate the Golan Heights

The Syrian-Arab News Agency reported on a speech given before the delegation by Syrian Minister of Information Muhsin Bilal:

"Dr. Bilal stressed in his talk that the Golan is the heart of Syria and that the Syrian citizens await the time when they may meet their brothers and their relatives in the occupied Golan. He said that Syria is an indivisible whole and that our people in the Golan strengthen this unity, and that we, together with them, will liberate the Golan and will recover it in its entirety, without giving up a single inch of land...."

Bilal added that "Syria - its leadership, government, and people - insist on recovering its occupied lands, and the Golan is [close to] President Bashar Al-Assad's heart, and it is his primary concern."

Bilal also said that "the visit confirmed for him that there is no power that can separate the people of the occupied Golan from their motherland, Syria, or extinguish the feelings of rejection for the occupation from their breasts, no matter how grave [the occupation's] violence or acts of repression...

"The members of the delegation spontaneously expressed their ebullient feelings for the Syrian motherland, their dedication to their land, their steadfastness in the face of the occupation, and their readiness to sacrifice for the sake of returning the Golan to Syria free and indivisible from its motherland..." [10]