How the Druze community has self-managed its economy in Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
A Druze woman harvests olives on the outskirts of Ein Qiniyye village in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on 18 November 2022
Wesam Sharaf writes in Middle East Eye:
Almost all modern societies function financially through social services and infrastructure provided by the state, creating a system of dependency on the central government. These state services help create a quid pro quo of taxes and loyalty from citizens who equally rely on the role of the government in sustaining a strong economy.
While this approach is the case in many modern and western societies, it has not been the case in areas that Israel has occupied since 1967. The Syrian Arab communities living in those areas remain effectively “outlawed”, in the sense that they exist outside of official laws and rights that are not afforded to them.
Aside from its military control, the Israeli government has been absent from all aspects of life, including its failure to provide basic resources and infrastructure as the standard condition in those areas. This has created a permanent state of confrontation between the coloniser and the colonised communities who refuse to be loyal to the occupying state and aspire for liberation from the occupation.
A perfect example of a society that is self-managed, away from the occupier, and depends on its own infrastructure, economy, and manpower, while achieving goals of growth and prosperity under occupation, is the Druze community in the Occupied Golan Heights.Necessity breeds invention
Since 1967, the Druze villages in the Occupied Golan Heights have self-managed their own society and economy by creating an agricultural economy that is separate from Israeli agriculture. Major projects involving irrigation, crop storage, refrigeration systems, sales marketing, and more were launched, bypassing the occupation and serving the local Syrian community and economy.
The basic industry of the Occupied Golan Heights is agriculture. Prior to 1967, the community was dependent on stock and wheat agriculture, switching to fruit tree agriculture as it would establish the indigenous communities’ “sumud” (steadfastness) on the land.
The 1948 Israeli land law and the new land law passed in 1969 established that every land not planted would be considered state property, and since stock and wheat agriculture do not require the year-round use of the land, local farmers started planting fruit trees to preserve a permanent agricultural presence.
In 2014, the latest year in which the data was collected, the four villages of Majdal Shams, Masada, Buq’ata, and Ein Qiniyye together produced 47,500 tons of apples, averaging 1.9 tons for every citizen in these villages. They additionally produce cherries, olive oil, seasonal fruits, and more each year.
The Israeli planning of roads and infrastructure has never taken into consideration the needs of local Arab communities. The occupying government’s methods and policies are based solely on security claims to justify land confiscation from its minorities for the benefit of Israeli towns, cities, and settlements.
Indeed, the occupied Golan Heights is no different and is subject to these same exclusionary policies. However, due to strong local relationships and social innovation, the Syrian communities in this area were able to successfully implement infrastructure projects that the Israelis either refused to grant or banned entirely. They were carried out by volunteers and financed locally.