Much is unchanged in the Golan. The fog hangs heavy in the evening, blanketing the landscape. It remains throughout the night and only fades a bit in the morning, to be replaced by a humid haze.
The Golan Heights overlook the Huleh valley and Kiryat Shmona, an area that has been frequently under attack since October 7 when Hezbollah chose to enter the war and support Hamas.
The Golan is both removed from this war and also a part of it. This is because the Golan is dotted with army bases and the war can be heard from the heights. The booms, explosions, airstrikes, and artillery fire echo across the Huleh valley and the sound travels. On the other hand the Golan is still peaceful and its communities were not evacuated.
Full of life
A recent report at Ynet noted “some 16,710 students have been evacuated from northern communities across the country – about 9,000 of them were relocated to communities within the northern district and the rest to other districts. For example, 684 students are enrolled in eight relocated schools, 3,168 are learning in 60 community centers, 4,044 are placed in existing schools, 1,016 in six temporary schools, and 950 children in kindergartens or daycare centers that have been placed in existing institutions or community centers.”
The Golan communities of Jews and Druze do not have this problem. I spent a day driving around the Golan, speaking with residents and checking out the area, and unlike Kiryat Shmona down in the valley, the Golan is still full of life. However, it is a truncated life because the usual summer flocks of tourists have not arrived. One Druze man put up a post on social media telling people to come pick his cherry trees for free because there are too many cherries. In normal times people would come pay to pick the cherries.
The Golan is an area of contrasts. In the Druze towns the economy consists of applies, cherries and other agriculture, as well as tourism. There are signs for local cuisine and also some hotels. There don’t seem to be many visitors. The same sense of a lack of visitors is clear outside the Druze downs, such as in the national parks and hiking trails. The Golan is under threat from Hezbollah and the threats have increased. In the last month Hezbollah has increased its use of drone attacks. There is no warning for the drones or other projectiles if one is hiking on a trail and outside an area where sirens will alert you. In addition people are familiar with the video of kids stuck on a bus during during a rocket attack in February. No one wants their child to be put in that situation.
The Golan was relatively unscathed in the beginning of the conflict, however Hezbollah has now increased its focus on the area. It has increased attacks near the town of Katzrin for instance. This causes residents to be concerned. In addition the attacks have set off fires, now that summer heat is baking the fields on the heights.
Like other areas of Israel, the communities on the Golan have their own local security teams that keep watch over the gates of the communities and train for possible scenarios. This has taken on increased importance since the war began, much like it has in communities in the Galilee.
The Golan has a historic role in Israel’s defenses. The landscape is marked with the stories of battles of old. One can drive across the old Tapline road that played a role in the 1973 war, or see signs for the Valley of Tears and other sites. There are also the old Bar Lev Line bunkers. The Golan was also on the frontline during the Syrian civil war. It has thus felt more exposed in recent years. Israel’s enemies such as Hezbollah, are active in Syria as well. This means that any future conflict will involve this area, as much as the rest of Israel. Everyone understands that.
The area has also been a site of recent investment in wind turbines, which now dot a whole swath of the heights between the Druze villages and the southern Golan. The turbines, when I was there, reached into the fog, such that their giant turning blades were slashing through the fog and then rotating downward into the visible area, as if they were cutting into some invisible entity above. They provided an otherworldly frame to an area that is otherwise peaceful and full of orchards, cows and open fields.
If war comes, this peace will be broken, as it was in 1973 and the heights will once again form a bulwark for Israel against enemies near and far.