OT: An interesting aside on the Israeli/Lebanon war.

Aug 16, 2006 1 Replies

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Mirjam will, I hope, confirm the substance of this message, and I am sure I have not got all the details correct. But in general terms it is true, and I find very interesting. If you look at a map, the border between Israel and Lebanon runs roughly east west. In reality it continues easterly for another 30 kms or so, which should be the border between Israel and Syria. However, after the last war there (1973?), Israel captured and occupied the Golan heights. The only real estate the Israelis are interested in, are the mountain tops, which are unsuitable for farming. However, they have occupied the Syrian land leading to the Golan Heights. This land is acknowledged to be Syrian, and Israeli citizens are not allowed to own any land there. So this bit of land, roughly 600 sq kms, is owned by Syrians, mainly farmers. Unlike the Gaza strip and the West Bank, there is a completely open border with Israel. As such, these Syrians have compete access to Israeli and world markets, and all the latest and best agricultural techniques which the Israelis have developed, and where they are world leaders. In consequence, these Syrians are doing very well indeed, financially, than you very much. If these Syrians are asked whether they want to return to Syrian rule, of course they do; but not just yet. They would rather wait until the Syrian government is not corrupt, and they can get all the advantages of living under Israeli rule. The interesting thing is that, so far as I can tell, this region, which was very close indeed to the fighting, has been completely unaffected. The Israelis did not use the land militarily, and Hezbollah, for obvious reasons, did not send any rockets there. It seems to me that this sort of tacit understanding between the warring parties on a significant piece of real estate contiguous with the land where all the fighting took place, is an encouraging sign for further peace in the area.

The part you describe has the Historical name Golan heights . in Very general lines you are correct .

But at a certain place it climbs NORTH , and only than turns east again. and meets with the Syrian Lebanese border.

1967, with corrections by part agreements in 1973.

Besides several DRUZ villages the Golan Height was ONE BIG ARMY camp that sat on top of the HaHula valley,And the syrians constantly shot at people there . I remember coming to Huliot a kibboets there and we spent lots of hours [ as children] in a Z form dug trench ... However, they have occupied the Syrian land leading to the Golan

Duz with Syrian connection and some with syrian citezenship, many there chose to become Israeli .

No there is some barbed wire etc,,,,

There is also SKI in the winter .

I had in my classes some of those girls,, whi really benefit from their own Culture as well as from Modern education facilities,

Some rockets landed there as well .

It is a bit simplistic , the truth is that the Syrians never allowed any terror fight frojm their borders , knowing very well that we can hit back, Thus they armed the Hizbulla [ with Iran] and are pushing them to do the fighting through the Lebanon border ,, this way we get hit , [with their help ] but can`t hit back .... Don`t forget that Syria occupied a great part of Lebanon for many years and was pushed out not so long ago,

If you see it as a good sign , lucky you i see it as a sign of sneaky behaviour . Ps The Golan Heights has ruins of many old Synagogues from PRE BC time

mirjam