The occupied Syrian Golan – Report of the Secretary-General (A/78/529)

13 October 2023

Seventy-eighth session

Agenda item 50

Israeli practices and settlement activities affecting the rights of the Palestinian people and other Arabs of the occupied territories

The occupied Syrian Golan

Report of the Secretary-General

Summary

The present report has been prepared pursuant to General Assembly resolution 77/125, in which the Secretary-General was requested to report to the Assembly at its seventy-eighth session on the implementation of the resolution.

I. Introduction

1. The present report is submitted pursuant to General Assembly resolution 77/125. In paragraph 1 of that resolution, the Assembly called upon Israel, the occupying Power, to comply with the relevant resolutions on the occupied Syrian Golan, in particular Security Council resolution 497 (1981), in which the Council, inter alia, decided that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan was null and void and without international legal effect and demanded that Israel, the occupying Power, rescind forthwith its decision.
2. In paragraph 2 of its resolution 77/125, the General Assembly called upon Israel to desist from changing the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure and legal status of the occupied Syrian Golan and in particular to desist from the establishment of settlements. In paragraph 7 of the resolution, the Assembly requested the Secretary-General to report to the Assembly at its seventy-eighth session on the implementation of the resolution.

II. Implementation of General Assembly resolution 77/125

3. On 22 May 2023, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), on behalf of the Secretary-General, addressed a note verbale to the Government of Israel referring to General Assembly resolution 77/125 and requesting information on steps taken or envisaged concerning the implementation of the resolution. At the time of finalizing the present report, no reply had been received from the Government of Israel.
4. Also on 22 May 2023, on behalf of the Secretary-General, OHCHR addressed a note verbale to all permanent missions in Geneva to draw their attention to General Assembly resolution 77/125 and to request Member States to provide information on any steps taken or envisaged concerning the implementation of the relevant provisions of the resolution. The Permanent Missions of Brazil, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea, Iran (Islamic Republic of), Iraq and the Syrian Arab Republic responded to the request.
5. On the same day, on behalf of the Secretary-General and pursuant to General Assembly resolution 77/125, OHCHR addressed a note verbale to the competent United Nations organs, specialized agencies, international and regional intergovernmental organizations and international humanitarian organizations to bring the resolution to their attention. At the time of reporting, no responses had been received.

III. Replies received

A. Syrian Arab Republic

6. On 15 June 2023, the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva addressed a note verbale to OHCHR stressing that, for decades, the General Assembly (through several resolutions, including resolution 77/125) had requested Israel, the occupying Power, to comply with United Nations resolutions related to the occupied Syrian Golan, in particular Security Council resolution 497 (1981), which stipulated, among other things, the invalidity of the decision of the occupying Power dated 14 December 1981 to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan, and to consider it null and void and without any legal effect, and demanded that Israel immediately rescind its decision. It further noted that all these decisions, including the current one, had not been implemented.
7. The Syrian Arab Republic stressed that, since 1967, the international community had rejected the occupation by Israel of the Syrian Golan and insisted on its full withdrawal from that territory. The Syrian Arab Republic referred to paragraph 6 of General Assembly resolution 77/125, in which the Assembly reiterated its demand that Israel fully withdraw from the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967 in implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions.
8. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that, despite the United Nations resolutions in which the occupying Power had been repeatedly called upon to end its continued occupation of the Syrian Golan and to stop the daily repressive practices against Syrian citizens under occupation and its overt violations of international law without any deterrent, Israel continued to act above international law, benefiting from the protection of some members of the Security Council, including the United States of America.
9. The Syrian Arab Republic renewed its condemnation of the illegitimate decision by the former President of the United States to recognize what he called “Israeli sovereignty” over the occupied Syrian Golan. The Syrian Arab Republic stated that that illegal decision constituted a flagrant violation of international law, the Charter of the United Nations and the relevant resolutions of the Organization, foremost of which was resolution 497 (1981), which had been unanimously adopted by the Security Council, and which affirmed that the decision was null and void and without international legal effect. The Syrian Arab Republic also noted its condemnation of the fact that the current United States Administration had not withdrawn or cancelled that decision.
10. The Syrian Arab Republic further noted that, during the period following the illegal declaration by the former United States Administration, the Movement of Non‑Aligned Countries had renewed, at its summit meeting held in Baku on 25 and 26 October 2019, the Movement’s principled position regarding the occupied Syrian Golan and the protection of the rights of its Syrian citizens. It noted that the countries of the Non-Aligned Movement had condemned the recognition by the United States of the annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan by Israel. The Syrian Arab Republic further noted that the Non-Aligned Movement had called upon the international community and the Security Council to assume their responsibility in that context, given that the declaration was in violation of international law and the purposes of the Charter of the United Nations and relevant United Nations resolutions, in particular Security Council resolution 497 (1981).
11. The Syrian Arab Republic stressed that the people of the occupied Syrian Golan had always expressed their absolute rejection of the attempt by the occupying Power to impose, in the view of the Syrian Arab Republic, its dangerous illegal decision to legitimize occupation and apply its laws by holding elections for local councils in the occupied Syrian Golan.
12. The Syrian Arab Republic recalled that, on 16 October 2021, Israeli occupation forces had shot and killed liberated Syrian prisoner Medhat al-Saleh while he was returning to his home in Ayn al-Tinah, close to the occupied town of Majdal Shams. The Syrian Arab Republic added that Mr. Al-Saleh was active in defending the rights of Syrians in the occupied Syrian Golan.
13. The Syrian Arab Republic condemned the continued settlement policies of Israel aimed at perpetuating the occupation of the Syrian Golan, including the construction and expansion of settlements, the confiscation of agricultural lands and the establishment of an agricultural industry that supports Israeli settlers and harms the agricultural industry of the Syrian residents of the occupied territory. In particular, the Syrian Arab Republic highlighted the following points:

(a)     The Regional Council of Israeli Settlements continued to announce, in its weekly bulletin, the expansion of settlements in the light of the increase in number of Israeli settlers. As in the case of the settlements of Trump and Metzar, the pace of construction of temporary homes or caravans had accelerated, with plans to create longer-term residences. This was also seen in the case of the settlements of Odem and Ani‘am. Work continued on the construction of so-called service facilities for the settlements in Katzrin, Kidmat Zvi, Nov, Kanaf, Neve Ativ and Yonatan. According to the Central Statistics Office of Migration of Israel, the number of settlers in Katzrin settlement had increased by 2,000 new settlers since 2019;

(b)     The continued implementation of a multi-year plan to develop and strengthen agriculture in the Israeli settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan had begun, encouraging Israeli youth to join the agricultural sector;

(c)     In April 2019, the Israeli occupation authorities announced plans to expand settlements, which included the construction of 30,000 housing units, the construction of new settlements and the transfer of 250,000 settlers to the occupied Syrian Golan, which would change the demographic composition of the area;

(d)     Israel had supported the seizure of land by Israeli settlers, and the exploitation of land by the settlements for the purpose of producing various agricultural products. The Syrian Arab Republic explained that this constituted an unbearable economic burden on the Syrian residents of the occupied Syrian Golan, noting that unfair competition due to discriminatory policies threatened the future livelihood of the Syrian population, which depended on agriculture;

(e)     Israel continued to impose restrictions on the Syrian residents of the occupied Syrian Golan to prevent the building and expanding of villages, especially in the village of Majdal Shams. The overcrowding in this area was further exacerbated after the confiscation of more than 80,000 dunums, extending from the north of Majdal Shams to Ayn Qinyah, reportedly in the name of the Hermon Protectorate project, and the refusal to expand the structural map of the village of Majdal Shams, which is experiencing a crisis in terms of urban expansion;

(f)     On 11 October 2021, in the context of seeking to expand settlement projects in the occupied Syrian Golan, a conference entitled “Economic strategic regional Israeli development in the occupied Syrian Golan” was convened in the settlement established in Khasfayn village. One of the objectives of the conference was the expansion of settlement projects in the occupied Syrian Golan, with the aim of reaching half a million settlers by 2048.

14. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that the project to install wind turbines on Syrian-owned lands in the occupied Syrian Golan reflected one of the ways to consolidate Israeli settlement expansion policies. The Syrian Arab Republic stressed the dangerous impact of that project and referred to the facts below, which were previously shared with OHCHR:

(a)     The Israeli occupation authorities granted the Israeli energy company Energix a licence to build between 45 and 52 wind turbines to generate energy on the lands of Syrian farmers in the occupied Syrian Golan, in the context of its policies of creating facts on the ground to perpetuate the Israeli occupation;

(b)     The wind turbines would be installed to generate energy on an area of 6,000 acres of agricultural land belonging to Syrians and surrounding various villages in the occupied Syrian Golan. Large protests by inhabitants of the Syrian Golan were held to reject this project, which limits the ability of the occupied villages to expand and besieges their residents in suffocating and dense residential outposts, with severe negative health, environmental and agricultural effects. The project would expand over one fifth of the remaining agricultural lands in the Golan to the detriment of the remaining source of livelihood of the people in the occupied Syrian Golan. Israeli authorities pursue efforts to establish an additional number of wind turbines including 42 turbines in the Tall Faras region and 30 turbines in the areas of Tall Sahel and Mansurah, which are both occupied;

(c)     The Syrian Arab Republic noted that it had repeatedly warned against the impact of the wind turbine project, particularly its detrimental health and environmental impact, and the fact that it represents a serious violation of international human rights law and international humanitarian law. It also stressed that the Israeli occupation authorities’ insistence on pursuing this project reflected their plans to impose a discriminatory colonial policy on the occupied Syrian Golan and its population in violation of all related United Nations resolutions on the matter. It further noted that the negative environmental and health impact of the turbine project was meant to create irreversible damage to the land with the intention of displacing its population. This represents an illegal de facto annexation of the occupied territory, changing the nature of the territory and imposing irreversible damage to its environment and people, which will also undermine any future possibility for comprehensive and just peace based on the full withdrawal of Israel from Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, and from the occupied Syrian Golan since 1967, in conformity with Security Council resolutions 242 (1967), 337 (1973) and 497 (1981).

15. The Syrian Arab Republic reaffirmed that Israeli occupation authorities continued to pressure the residents of the occupied Syrian villages to accept property documents issued by the Israeli Survey Records Office instead of the property documents registered by the Syrian Arab Republic, through threats to confiscate their lands. The Syrian Arab Republic also referred to demands by the Israeli authorities for submission of land ownership certificates of the inhabitants of the occupied Syrian Golan, especially those in Ayn Qinyah and the industrial area in Majdal Shams. The authorities also reportedly threatened to confiscate those lands if the documents were not submitted.
16. The Syrian Arab Republic noted that Israel had continuously sought to impose Israeli identity and civil documents on the Syrian Arab population as a way to consolidate its occupation. Furthermore, Israel continued to prevent Syrians of the occupied Syrian Golan from visiting and communicating with their families in the Syrian Arab Republic.
17. The Syrian Arab Republic further noted that Israel continued to violate the human rights of Syrians in the occupied Syrian Golan, especially the right to health and work. Those rights were violated through a set of discriminatory practices and measures taken by Israeli forces. The Syrian Arab Republic recalled providing examples of these practices to OHCHR.
18. The Syrian Arab Republic recalled the report of the Director General of the International Labour Organization issued in May 2023 contained in document ILC.111/DG/APP, on the situation of workers of the occupied Arab territories, including in the occupied Syrian Golan. The report emphasized the continuation of the discriminatory practices of the occupation authorities against Syrian workers in favour of Israeli settlers.
19. The Syrian Arab Republic added that the occupying Power continued to exploit the health needs of Syrian residents in order to put pressure on them. For example, the occupying Power obliged the Syrian citizens to subscribe to the health systems of the occupying Power while obliging them to pay exorbitant health insurance allowances that were deducted from the salaries of workers and employees. The Syrian Arab Republic stressed that the occupying Power continued to ignore repeated demands to provide Syrian residents in the villages of the occupied Syrian Golan with integrated health centres, including a psychiatric treatment centre in each of the occupied villages, and demands related to the construction of a hospital that would accommodate 30 beds and facilities with the capacity to perform minor surgeries. Syrian doctors in the occupied Syrian Golan, 95 per cent of whom had completed their education in Syrian universities, were unable to participate in scientific events and seminars that were held outside the occupied Syrian Golan as a result of the restrictions imposed on their movement and travel to the Syrian Arab Republic. Syrian children in the occupied Syrian Golan suffered psychologically from the consequences of the ongoing occupation and its discriminatory practices, including those related to the imposition of educational curricula and the cutting off of social ties with their relatives in the Syrian Arab Republic.
20. The Syrian Arab Republic emphasized that discriminatory practices of the occupying Power had peaked during the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic. Medical supplies diminished in clinics in the occupied villages. Despite the vigorous work of the Syrian medical cadres, the shortage of medical supplies and equipment had exacerbated the suffering of the Syrians and doubled the number of COVID-19 cases. The Syrian Arab Republic indicated that the occupying Power also refrained from providing detailed statistical data on Syrian citizens in the occupied Syrian Golan in the context of responding to the pandemic, in order to conceal the indicators allowing an assessment of the response needed.
21. The Syrian Arab Republic renewed its rejection of attempts to perpetuate the occupation of the Syrian Golan by Israel, and the continued violation by Israel of international law, especially the relevant Security Council resolutions and the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 1949 relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, in the occupied Syrian Golan. The Syrian Arab Republic further rejected any form of support provided by other Member States to this approach, which would be in violation of their international obligations as States Members of the United Nations.
22. The Syrian Arab Republic reiterated its call upon Member States that sought to promote international law to pressure Israel, the occupying Power, to end its occupation of the Syrian Golan, and not to recognize any legal situation arising from violations of peremptory norms of international law by Israel. Furthermore, the Syrian Arab Republic called upon Member States to refrain from providing any assistance to the occupation.
23. The Syrian Arab Republic reiterated its call upon the Secretary-General and OHCHR to establish and update the report on the database of all business establishments and commercial companies involved in activities that have enabled or that would enable, directly or indirectly, and benefit from the construction and growth of settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan, in violation of international law and Security Council resolutions, including resolution 497 (1981), and to submit a follow-up report in that regard.
24. The Syrian Arab Republic demanded the implementation of the recommendation of the Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting the Human Rights of the Palestinian People and Other Arabs of the Occupied Territories contained in paragraph 63 (h) of the report of the Special Committee (A/77/501), in which it urged OHCHR to take the steps necessary to update the database of business enterprises involved in settlement activities in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem, and in the occupied Syrian Golan, and to make it available to the public. The Syrian Arab Republic also placed emphasis on the Committee’s recommendation in paragraph 63 (i), to ensure that corporations respect human rights and cease to fund or enter into commercial transactions with organizations and bodies involved in settlements or the exploitation of natural resources in the Occupied Palestinian Territory and the occupied Syrian Golan.
25. The Syrian Arab Republic stressed, in particular, the need to refrain from providing political and economic support, including through business activities and tourism, which would, in its view, allow Israel to perpetuate its occupation of the occupied Syrian Golan and to continue its violations of relevant provisions of international law, especially Security Council resolution 497 (1981) and the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, highlighting in particular any assistance to the continuation of Israeli settlements or the establishment of new settlements in the occupied Syrian Golan.
26. The Syrian Arab Republic also called upon the international community and international organizations to monitor the flagrant violations by Israel of international law and demanded that effective and concrete measures be taken to stop these violations, especially those related to illegal settlement practices aimed at perpetuating the occupation.
27. The Syrian Arab Republic reiterated its call to allow the inhabitants of the occupied Syrian Golan to visit their families in the Syrian Arab Republic by opening the Qunaytirah crossing. It stressed that the latter was considered to be the sole exit and connection those inhabitants had with the Syrian Arab Republic. The closure of the crossing prevented them from undertaking family visits, transporting crops and pursuing their studies in Syrian universities, which violated their basic rights.
28. The Syrian Arab Republic affirmed that the occupied Syrian Golan was an inseparable part of the territory of the Syrian Arab Republic and that its recovery from the Israeli occupation, by all means guaranteed by international law, was an eternal right that would not be subject to bargaining or concession or a statute of limitations.
29. Finally, the Syrian Arab Republic reiterated that the stability of the Middle East region and the credibility of the United Nations required that measures be taken to ensure the implementation of all international resolutions related to ending the Israeli occupation of the occupied Arab territories, including the Syrian Golan, and the withdrawal to the line of 4 June 1967, in accordance with relevant Security Council resolutions, notably resolutions 242 (1967), 338 (1973), 497 (1981) and 2334 (2016).

B. Brazil

30. On 11 July 2023, the Permanent Mission of Brazil addressed a note verbale to OHCHR stressing the illegality of the occupation by Israel of Arab territories under international law and its obligations as an occupying Power. It referred to paragraph 7 of article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying Power from deporting or transferring part of its civilian population to the territory it occupies. It added that it supported the mandate of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force, which had been renewed with its support until 31 December 2023.

C. Democratic People’s Republic of Korea

31. On 8 June 2023, the Permanent Mission of the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea addressed a note verbale to OHCHR expressing deep concern at the systematic and continuous violations of human rights and discriminatory practices against Syrians in the occupied Syrian Golan. It rejected the expansion of Israeli settlements, including new plans to double the number of settlers in five years and the ongoing depletion of natural resources in the area.
32. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea stressed that all legislative and administrative measures and actions taken by Israel, the occupying Power, as well as measures it took to apply its jurisdiction and administration, there were null and void and had no legal effect. It reiterated its support for the demand of the Government of the Syrian Arab Republic to restore full Syrian sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan.
33. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea called upon Israel to comply with all relevant resolutions of the General Assembly, the Security Council and the Human Rights Council and to withdraw fully from the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of 4 June 1967. It demanded that Israel desist from changing the physical character, demographic composition and institutional structure of the occupied Syrian Golan. It further urged that Israel desist from imposing Israeli citizenship and Israeli identity cards on the Syrian citizens of the occupied Syrian Golan.

D. Iran (Islamic Republic of)

34. On 21 June 2023, the Permanent Mission of the Islamic Republic of Iran addressed a note verbale to OHCHR stressing that the occupied Syrian Golan was an integral part of the Syrian Arab Republic that was occupied by force.
35. The Islamic Republic of Iran noted that Israel continued to oppress Syrians living in the occupied Syrian Golan through the construction of illegal Israeli settlements and the imposition of its own laws and regulations on the local population and the misuse of its natural resources. The Islamic Republic of Iran noted that Israel had continued to apply these policies despite condemnation of such measures by the international community through countless Security Council resolutions. It reiterated its firm position on the necessity of returning the occupied Syrian Golan territory to the Syrian Arab Republic and called upon all States and international organizations to deplore all measures which maintained occupation and led to continued violations of human rights.
36. The Islamic Republic of Iran noted that countering occupation and all forms of racial discrimination constituted the main principles of its foreign policy. It added that, in the application of paragraph 7 of General Assembly resolution 77/125, it had taken a number of steps, including condemning measures to extend the jurisdiction and laws of Israel to the occupied Syrian Golan; rejecting illegal Israeli settlements, which exert significant pressure on members of the local population, compelling them to leave and thus imposing a general policy of demographic change in the area; supporting the right of return for refugees from the occupied Syrian Golan; condemning the Israeli practice of imposing its citizenship on inhabitants of the occupied Syrian Golan; and refusing to recognize any policy or measure contributing to the continued occupation of the Syrian Golan.

E. Iraq

37. On 23 May 2023, the Permanent Mission of Iraq addressed a note verbale to OHCHR affirming its principled position of the rejection of the acquisition of land by force, stressing the importance of all resolutions of the General Assembly and the Security Council with regard to the identity of the occupied Syrian Golan, in addition to condemning the illegal Israeli occupation.
38. Iraq stressed the need to respect the purposes and objectives of the United Nations related to the respect of sovereignty and territorial integrity and to implement international resolutions concerning the occupied Syrian Golan.
39. Iraq reiterated its position rejecting settlement expansion and other commercial projects of Israel in the occupied Syrian Golan, in addition to rejecting all policies which impact the economic situation of the local population.
40. Iraq affirmed the right of return of the displaced people and stressed the illegality of the measures taken by Israel to impose its laws and jurisdiction on the lands it occupied, including the occupied Syrian Golan. Iraq also rejected the local elections that were conducted by Israel in the occupied Syrian Golan and reaffirmed the importance of complying with the Fourth Geneva Convention.
41. Iraq was concerned about the United Nations reports documenting the extent of the suffering of the Syrian people of the occupied Syrian Golan and requested that the United Nations exercise its role in ending that suffering and the illegal occupation.