Download pdf version (102 kb)
31 December 2008
In the 1967 war, Israel occupied Syria’s western Golan Heights. Between 70,000 (according to Israeli estimates) and 153,000 people (according to the Syrian government) were forced to leave or fled into unoccupied Syria during the war. Following the end of the conflict, Syrians were not allowed to return by the Israeli government, and hundreds of villages were destroyed and razed to the ground. IDPs and their descendants numbered as many as 433,000 by 2007.
The Syrian government has made some efforts to help those displaced from areas bordering the occupied Golan Heights, including by rebuilding the town of Quneitra and neighbouring villages bordering the occupied area, but progress has been slow.
The living conditions of displaced Syrians are not well documented; though most displaced families appear to have integrated, many have expressed a desire to return to Golan. Some reports suggested that IDPs have been given priority for public service jobs and university places. A pressing human rights issue is the separation from their families remaining in the Golan, caused by entry and exit restrictions imposed by the Israeli government.
Grassroots organisations on both sides of the border have called for the situation of the displaced people to be resolved. Observers remark that neither the return of the displaced population nor compensation for property lost can be envisaged without a peace agreement between Israel and Syria.
The international response to the situation has largely been political rather than humanitarian. Apart from ICRC, there are no international humanitarian or development organisations addressing the needs of affected people either in Golan or elsewhere in Syria.