Journeying through the Golan

A Druze (religious-identity) sweet-shop owner's statement that "there are no winners in war," rang strongly while driving through the mountainous and fertile Golan Heights. The Druze here in the Golan heights know more than many others about the effects of war, seeing as they lived through one of the harshest battles for territory in modern-history. The Golan Heights was annexed from Syria by Israel during the 1967 Six Day War. Reminance of the tragedies on both sides remain as stark reminders of the casualties of war. Memorials comemmorating the thousands of fallen Israeli soldiers have been erected along the roadside. Dilapidated and bombed out Syrian Mosques, military bases, and homes every few kilometers remind us of the historical civilization that once lived in the region. We walked through the foundation of what once was a beautiful Syrian Mosque, now a bullet-ridden, grafittied structure, with no in-tact determining symbol of a Mosque other than the minaret standing hundreds of feet from the ground.


Black spray paint reading "Kahana Tzadek" ('Kahana was right') around the Golan Heights affirms the presence of the right-wing sentiment that exists amongst many Israelis, possibly a stumbling block towards a peaceful and substainable solution. Meir Kahana was an Israeli extremist whose party, 'Kach', was deemed a terrorist organization and banned by Israel. A large anti-war movement exists in Israel and we look forward to meeting some of the organizers in the near-future. But thus far, we are yet to meet anyone who even most American-Zionists could consider 'moderate'.

Politics is deeply entrenched in this culture, and unlike most American teens, even the most average and apathetic teenagers here feel strongly about the current political situation. Our friend Avi's girlfriend and her friend, near in age, seemed taken back and shocked when we told them our reasoning for visiting their country. It was as if we had struck a nerve, as if we were traitors and joining up with the enemy, as they blurted out the first emotional reaction that came to their head: "Why would you go there?!?" We simply described how we are interested in studying the conflict first-hand. Avi explained that volunteering in the West Bank is just like volunteering anywhere else. We're not going on a political mission; we simply seek to witness the conflict, derive our own conclusions, and help the people in need, just as one would do in other 3rd world countries.

We found them to be quite hypocritical and guilty of their own arguments against Arabs. Saying, "They don't want peace" does not mean much when preceded sarcastically with, "we like Arabs too...we like them in their coffins." This type of racism is so prevalent in many parts of Israeli society, seeing that most Jewish citizens must serve in the Israeli army, enriching their pride and respect for their homeland.

Keeping in mind, we've only spent a few days here, and though trying to talk to as many Israelis as possible, we do not yet have a grasp of the diverse opinions that may exist in Israel. This is simply what we have seen thus far. We hope that in the following weeks we are able to get a better depiction of the nature and opinions of the people of Israel.