Formed of volcanic rock it rises up to 1700 ft above the surrounding land, it drops off to the west to the Sea of Galilee, and the Jordan River, and to the south to the Yarmouk River[?]. The Golan is usually divided into three regions: northern (between Nahals Sa'ar and Gilabon), central (between Nahals Gilabon and Dilayot), and southern (between Nahal Dilayot and the Yarmouk Valley).
A UN force - UNDOF (Disengagement Observer Force) was established in 1974 to supervise the implementation of the agreement and maintain the ceasefire with an area of separation.
The Syrian and Israeli governments are still contesting the ownership of the Heights but have not used overt military force since 1974. The great strategic value of the Heights both militarily and as a source of water means that a deal is uncertain.
In the 700s BCE the Assyrians gained control of the area, but were later replaced by the Babylonian and the Persian Empire. In the 5th century BCE, the region was settled by returning Jewish exiles from Babylon (modern Iraq).
In the 4th cenury BCE, the area came under the control of Alexander the Great and remained under Hellenestic rule, until captured by the Romans. In the mid 2nd century BCE, Judah Maccabee[?] aided the local Jewish communities when they came under attack, although the area itself was not in Jewish hands.
The area was named Golan following the Roman occupation - The Greeks referred to the area as "Gaulanitis", the term used by the Romans, which led to the word "Golan". After the partioning of the Roman Empire in 391 AD, the Golan Heights became part of the Byzantine Empire. In 636, the area came under Arab control and quickly under the control of the Caliph in Baghdad. In the 15th and 16th C, Druze began to settle the northern Golan and the slopes of Mount Hermon[?]. Sudanese, Algerians, Turkomans and Samarian Arabs also settled on the Heights. In the 16th centrury, the Ottoman Turks came in control of the area, and remained so until the end of World War I.
In the 1880s, a Jewish community called Ramataniya was started; it failed within a year. In 1891, Baron Rothschild[?] purchased approximately 18,000 acres of land in what is now Syria which became home to a small local Jewish community. This area were farmed by Jews until 1947 when the land was seized by the Syrian army.
Most of the Golan Heights were included within the British Mandate of Palestine when the mandate was granted in 1922. In 1923, they were given by the British to the French in exchange for a strip of land in the Metula area. The Heights became part of Syria at the end of the French mandate in 1944.
After the 1948-49 Arab-Israeli War, the Syrians fortified on the Heights, from which they shelled civilian targets in Israel and launched other attacks for the next eighteen years. 140 Israelis were killed and many more were injured in these attacks from 1949 to 1967.
Most of the Golans' inhabitants, mainly Syrian Arabs, fled. For various political reasons, they have not been allowed to return. This has led to the unfortunate splitting of many families. The Israelis began resettling almost immediately followed the war. Kibbutz Merom Golan was founded in July 1967. By 1970 there were 12 Jewish communities on the Golan and by 2000 there were 33 settlements holding around 14,000 people. During the Yom Kippur War in 1973, Syrian forces captured parts of the Heights, before being pushed back beyond the border by a Israeli counterattack. Israel and Syria signed a ceasefire agreement in 1974 that left the Heights in Israeli hands.
See also:
wikipedia.org dumped 2003-03-17 with terodump