What is life like in the Golan Heights in the face of a possible war with Hezbollah?
Much has not changed on the Golan Heights. In the evenings, heavy fog hangs in the air and covers the landscape. It stays all night and only lifts a little in the morning to give way to a damp haze.
The Golan Heights overlooks the Huleh Valley and Kiryat Shmona, an area that has been frequently attacked since October 7, when Hezbollah decided to enter the war and support Hamas.
The Golan Heights are isolated from this war, but they are part of it. This is because the Golan Heights are dotted with military bases and the war can be heard from the heights. The threats, explosions, air strikes and artillery fire echo through the Huleh Valley and the noise spreads. On the other hand, the Golan Heights are still at peace and the communities there have not been evacuated.
Full of life
A recent report by Ynet states: “About 16,710 students have been evacuated from the country’s northern municipalities – about 9,000 of them were relocated to municipalities within the northern district and the rest to other districts. For example, 684 students are enrolled in eight relocated schools, 3,168 are studying in 60 community centers, 4,044 are housed in existing schools, 1,016 in six temporary schools, and 950 children in kindergartens or day care centers that have been relocated to existing facilities or community centers.”
The Golan communities of Jews and Druze do not have this problem. I spent a day driving around the Golan Islands, talking to residents and exploring the area. Unlike Kiryat Shmona down in the valley, there is still life in the Golan Islands. However, it is a shortened life because the usual summer tourist crowds have not come. One Druze posted a post on social media asking people to pick from his cherry trees for free because there are too many cherries. Normally, people would pay to pick the cherries.
The Golan Heights is an area of contrasts. In the Druze towns, the economy is based on apples, cherries and other agricultural products, as well as tourism. There are signs advertising local specialties and also a few hotels. There do not seem to be many visitors. The same feeling of lack of visitors is also evident outside the Druze hills, such as in the national parks and on the hiking trails. The Golan Heights is under threat from Hezbollah, and the threat has increased. In the last month, Hezbollah has increased its drone attacks. There is no warning of drones or other projectiles when hiking on a hiking trail and outside an area where sirens warn you. Also, people have seen the video of children trapped on a bus during a rocket attack in February. No one wants their child to be in that situation.
At the beginning of the conflict, the Golan Heights were relatively unscathed, but Hezbollah has since increased its focus. For example, it has increased its attacks near the town of Katzrin, which has worried the population. The attacks have also sparked fires as the fields on the heights have dried out due to the summer heat.
As in other parts of Israel, the communities in the Golan Heights have their own security teams that guard the gates of the communities and train for possible scenarios. Since the beginning of the war, this has become more important, similar to the communities in the Galilee.
The Golan Heights plays a historic role in Israel’s defense. The landscape is steeped in stories of old battles. You can drive along the old Tapline road, which played a role in the 1973 war, or see signs to the Valley of Tears and other sites. There are also the old bunkers of the Bar Lev Line. The Golan Heights was also a frontline during the Syrian civil war, so it has felt more exposed in recent years. Israel’s enemies, such as Hezbollah, are also active in Syria, meaning that any future conflict will affect this area as much as the rest of Israel. Everyone knows that.
The area has also seen recent investment in wind turbines, which now line a whole strip of the heights between the Druze villages and the southern Golan. When I was there, the turbines reached up into the mist, so that their huge rotating blades cut through the fog and then rotated down into the visible area, as if cutting into an invisible entity above. They gave an otherworldly setting to an area that is otherwise peaceful and full of orchards, cows and open fields.
If war comes, that peace will be broken, as it was in 1973, and the heights will once again become a bulwark for Israel against enemies near and far.
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