Israel organizes controversial hiking tours for settlers in occupied Syrian territory: Report

The Israeli military is reportedly organizing hiking tours for Israeli settlers in the occupied Golan Heights demilitarized buffer zone, internationally recognized as Syrian territory, during the Passover holiday.

According to Israeli media, the tours will be conducted twice daily for a week starting this Sunday in the contested Golan Heights region, reaching up to 2.5km deep into the occupied Syrian territories near the village of Maaraba.

With the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s government last December, the Israeli regime intensified its aggression on Syria, initiating an unlawful land appropriation beyond the occupied Golan Heights in what is seen as a component of the so-called “Greater Israel” project.

This strategic territory has been occupied by Israel since the 1967 Six-Day War.

The Israeli military in December advanced beyond the Golan Heights demilitarized buffer zone, occupying Mount Hermon and other strategic areas inside Syria, in violation of a 1974 international agreement between Israel and Syria.

Tickets for the controversial hiking tour sold out almost immediately.

Settlers will cross the occupied Golan Heights in small groups in bulletproof buses into areas of Syria more recently captured following the fall of the Assad government, escorted by Israeli military forces.

They will include visits to the Wadi al-Ruqad, a tributary of the Yarmouk River, and the Hejaz Railway Tunnel at the river.

These tours will be guided by the Israeli army, with participants receiving special permits.

Families will be allowed to join the tours, which will also include the Shebaa Farms, a strip of Lebanese land on the Lebanese–Syrian border occupied by Israel, at the foot of Mount Hermon.

According to the Israeli paper, Yedioth Ahronoth, the trips have been organized by Israel’s military 210th Division, the Golan regional council, the Keshet Yehonatan religious education centre, the environmentalist Golan Field School, and the Israel nature and parks authority.

‘Greater Israel’: With Assad out of picture, Israel moves to grab more Syrian land

With the fall of Assad government, Israeli regime has intensified its aggression on Syria, grabbing more land beyond the occupied Golan Heights to push its Greater Israel project.

In 1981, in a controversial move, Israel illegally grabbed the Golan Heights. The decision to unilaterally claim sovereignty was met with widespread international opposition and condemnation.

The United States stands alone in its formal recognition of Israel’s illegal occupation of the Golan Heights, while the international community unanimously rejects it, regarding the region as Syrian territory under Israeli occupation.

The United Nations also recognizes the region as a part of Syria.

In 1981, the UN Security Council adopted a unanimous resolution denouncing Israel’s occupation of the Golan Heights, explicitly declaring it “null and void and without international legal effect.”

After the overthrow of the Assad government, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he had ordered Israeli forces to seize the buffer zone in the occupied Golan Heights, announcing the unilateral dissolution of the 1974 ceasefire agreement with Syria, which sparked international condemnation.

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