Nadene Goldfoot
The Golan Heights? Why is it important to Israel? Prior to losing the territory, Syria heavily bombarded Israeli communities from the Golan Heights, prompting Israel to capture the territory. The Heights were high up and they dropped bombs on Israel below. Syrian forces and Iranian-backed proxies in Syria have primarily used rockets, anti-personnel landmines, and drones to attack Israeli targets in the Golan Heights. Key weapons included Iranian-made Falaq-1 rockets with 50 kg warheads, improvised rockets, and Claymore-style anti-personnel charges planted near the border.
Syria last launched a major, coordinated attack on Israeli forces from the Golan Heights on October 6, 1973, marking the start of the Yom Kippur War. While numerous skirmishes and post-1967 artillery exchanges occurred, the 1973 offensive was the last conventional military attempt to retake the Golan.....
Shifting Identity and Citizenship: For decades, few Druze took Israeli citizenship (roughly 11 per year between 2000–2014). However, as the Syrian civil war began (2011) and the prospect of returning to Syria faded, more began to apply. By 2025, over 20% of the Golan Druze held Israeli citizenship.
The Druze emerged as a splinter group from Islam in the tenth century. Rejecting core Islamic tenets, they faced immediate persecution. “Once a person converts to Islam, there is no way out,” Kedar notes, referencing the severe punishment for apostasy in traditional Islamic law. The Druze, deemed heretics, fled to the mountainous regions of modern-day Lebanon, Syria, and Israel—a strategic choice. “Minorities always live in the mountains,” Kedar observes. “The Sunni Muslims live in the plains . . . but the mountains provide protection.”
The Golan Heights are still a bone of contention. A few Israelis have taken the issue into their own hands to make sure the area is Israeli despite the fact that it is legally. Last August 19, 2005, this happened. It was in Haaretz. "IDF Detained Israelis Who Crossed Border Into Syria in Bid to Establish Settler Outpost."
Then, the bone was just picked up again...BELOW-The New Arab at 8:01am
On April 22-23, 2026, about 40–50 Israeli settler activists from the "Pioneers of the Bashan" movement crossed from the Golan Heights into Syria, barricading themselves on a rooftop near the Druze village of Hader to demand the establishment of new Israeli settlements in southern Syria. IDF troops intervened to remove the individuals, who were later handed over to police.
The Pioneers of Bashan (Hebrew: Halutzei HaBashan) is an Israeli far-right settler movement founded in April 2025 that aims to establish Jewish settlements in the Syrian Golan Heights and beyond, specifically in the biblical region of Bashan (modern-day southwestern Syria). The movement seeks to "reclaim" these regions to create a "Greater Israel" and argues that building settlements there is essential for securing northern Israel.
The Golan Heights, historically known as Bashan, holds profound significance in Jewish learning, featuring numerous ancient synagogues and biblical sites. Archaeologists have uncovered over 30 ancient synagogues, such as in Gamla and Ein Nashut, which reveal a thriving, literate Jewish community during the Roman and Byzantine periods. The area was often called "Golan in Bashan". The region was assigned to the tribe of Manasseh and served as a city of refuge. It was a key site for battles against the Syrian Greeks in the Hanukkah story, led by Judah Maccabee, and later, the site of a final, defiant stand against Rome at Gamla (67 CE). (Oh My Goodness!) This has not been made to our general public, that I know of.
Are they meshugana or what? The Golan Heights, often identified with the biblical region of Bashan, is controlled and administered by Israel, which annexed the territory in 1981. While the U.S. recognized Israeli sovereignty in 2019, most of the international community still considers it occupied Syrian territory.
The Pioneers must be trying to make it conclusive with the international community as well as Israel has made it, being it's basically populated with the Druse. The group was founded following the collapse of the Assad regime in Syria in December 2024, aiming to fill the security vacuum with civilian, rather than just military, presence.
The fact is that as of early 2025, approximately 31,000 Israeli settlers live in the Golan Heights. These residents are spread across more than 30 settlements, residing alongside roughly 24,000 Druze residents, with the Israeli government having approved plans to further expand this population. So the group could have waited for government approval and planning. Evidently they hadn't.
The Druze in the Golan Heights hold a complicated, shifting position, traditionally identifying as Syrian but increasingly leaning toward Israel for security and stability as of 2025–2026. While many historically maintained loyalty to Syria, recent violence in Syria and the collapse of the Assad regime have prompted more to seek Israeli citizenship for better economic opportunities and safety
NPR reported on July 18, 2025, that: Syrian forces who fought Druze militias left Sweida province under a ceasefire. Israeli soldiers stood guard as Syrian Druze people crossed back into Syria at the Israel-Syrian border in the Israeli Golan Heights town of Majdal Slhams on Thursday.
Based on reports from early 2026, the Druze-majority Sweida province in southern Syria, where the fighting is happening, while maintaining a level of local control and autonomy, has faced severe shortages of water and other essential supplies. The region did not have full, self-sufficient access to all necessities, suffering from critically low resources due to conflict, blockades, and damaged infrastructure.
As of early 2026, Sweida Province (or As-Suwayda) is not part of the Golan Heights, though it borders the Daraa Governorate to its west, which in turn borders the eastern Golan Heights. Sweida is predominantly populated by the Druze minority, who maintain a separate, often tense relationship with the central Syrian government in Damascus, rather than being under Israeli administrative control.
While Israel has shown strategic interest in Sweida, often acting to protect the Druze community from jihadists or supporting their independence from Damascus, this is conducted through military influence (airstrikes) rather than direct territorial occupation, acting as a "buffer" rather than an annexed region. Again, remember that Israel is also trying to protect the Druze, who are good friends of Israel. Druze and Jewish populations, particularly Ashkenazi Jews, share a very high degree of genetic similarity, often showing close proximity in genetic studies due to shared ancient Levantine and Near Eastern ancestry. Research suggests that, while having distinct origins, they share common genetic markers and are closer to each other than some other Middle Eastern populations, likely due to ancestral connections and historical interactions.
Resource:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golan_Heights
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