Open letter

 immediate release

05/06/2008 
                                           Forty One Years of International Law Violations
                  Continuous Israeli Occupation of Syrian Golan is a Violatof United Nations Charter


After 6 days fighting, beginning on the 6th of June 1967, Israel won the Middle East war and began its occupation of the Syrian Golan.

The Golan constitutes 1% of Syria’s surface, with a total surface area of 1,860 km square, of which around 1,250 km square fell under Israeli occupation during the 1967 June war. The population of Golan, according to official Syrian sources in the year 1966, was around 148,000 persons, with 80% of the population consisting of Arabic people. The remaining 20% of the population were made up of varied nationalities, Kafkazian, Sharks, Daghistanish, Asiteen, Shishan as well as, 3,000 Turkmen, hundreds of Armenians and thousands of Palestinian refugees.

The population of the of the territory occupied by Israel in the Syrian Golan, was approximatly around 138,000 persons, distributed on 312 residential centers (towns and villages), including two cities, Al-Kunaytra, located in the east of the Golan, and the city of Feeq, located in the south of Golan. Subsequent to the military occupation of the Syrian Golan the Israel military forcibly transferred over 131’000 people to areas inside Occupied Syria and the Syrian homeland. Around 7’000 thousand person’s remained in Occupied Golan, distributed in six villages, located at the far north of the Golan and adjacent to the Syrian-Lebanese borders. These villages are Majdal Shams, Masa’da, Baquatha, Ein knieh, al-Gajar, and Sihita (Sihita village was transferred into an Israeli military location, after the forcible transfer of its population to the neighboring village of Mas’ada, and its complete destruction during the years 1971-1972). It is worth noting that the number of civilian Syrians residing in the Golan today is approximately 20,000 persons.

The Israeli occupation authorities began implementing and applying policies aiming at de facto annexing the occupied Golan from the start of the occupation. They introduced military administration mechanism by giving the authority to military commanders in the area, who were entitled to enact “legislation” by issuing military orders. This led to the issuing of hundreds of military orders aiming at enforcing the power of the occupier. The military administration of the Golan continued until 14th December 1981, when the Israeli Kenesst (Parliament) approved the annexation of the Golan Heights into Israeli sovereignty. This legislation became know as the Golan Heights Law. It most be note that the Golan Heights law, annexation of the Syrian Golan by Israel was unanimously denounced the international community.


The military orders constituted a wild range of massive forced migration for the majority of the Golan population who are of Syrian origins. This is in violation of article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention on the protection of civilians at the time of war, 1949, and which prohibits individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive. The policy of forcible migration led to the displacement of thousands of Syrian families across the two sides of the cease fire line, and has caused a continuous humanitarian crisis.

After the launch of the Madrid negotiations in 1991, Israeli authorities allowed some categories of the Golan’s population, such as students and religious men, to travel to Damascus for the purpose of studying in Syrian universities and to practices religious rituals, however, have been severely discriminated against regarding traveling to the Syrian homeland.

Israeli authorities also started the establishment of settlements in the Golan in the early weeks of its occupation, confiscating the land and water sources which they seized for the purposes of settlements. The Israeli government brought Jewish settlers and put all the fortunes and the capacities of this territory, which was controlled by force and by military orders, under their use. The settlement project in occupied Golan is developing continuously as the occupation authorities continue to support and encourage the establishment of settlements and their expansion. They get strong investments to promote projects related to constructions, agriculture, and tourism. The total number of settlements in Golan is currently 33 settlements, distributed in all its surroundings, and they are all established on the ruins of Syrian towns and villages whose population was  forcibly transferred, and their villages destroyed. The settlers in Golan account for around 18,000 persons, including the settlement of Ktsreen, where 5000 setters live, and they depend on agriculture, industry, and tourism mainly; there are two industrial centers at Ktsreen settlement and Ben Yahouda settlement.

The establishment of settlements by Israeli occupation authorities in the Syrian Golan is illegal, and in violation of the principles and provisions of customary and conventional international humanitarian law, and in particular article 49 paragraph 6, of the Fourth Geneva Convention, on the protection of civilians, 1949, and which stipulates that “The Occupying Power shall not deport or transfer parts of its own civilian population into the territory it occupies.” These acts are considered as a war crime under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.

Today is the memorial of 41 years of Israeli occupation of the Golan. And the Israeli acts and practices are in violation of international law provisions and its own obligations which are stipulated in article 2, paragraph 4, of the United Nations Charter, 1945, which stipulates that all members of the United Nations shall refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.

We condemn and denounce the continuation of Israeli occupation for Syrian Golan, which contradicts with the objectives of the Untied Nations Charter, and constitutes a threat to international peace and security. And we emphasis the illegality of occupation and all acts and procedures that are related to it, we call upon:

- the Israeli occupation authorities to immediately halt all illegal acts and procedures in occupied Golan, respect and implement international law principles and to end the occupation in accordance with its obligations which are driven from United Nations Charter.
- The international community to take effect measures to end Israeli occupation in the Golan in accordance to the principle of justice and international law, and to exercise effective pressure on Israel, the Occupying Power, to respect and implement their obligations under international law


                                                                                 The End