Israel’s Golan Druze see a blow in wind energy plan
Towering wind turbines may soon jut up from the picturesque patchwork of Druze farmland in the Golan Heights, angering villagers who see the project as a threat to their agrarian way of life, an encroachment on ancestral lands and a solidification of Israel’s occupation of the territory.
Jewish communities have also opposed similar renewable energy projects, but the Druze view their predicament as particularly challenging. Claiming they were duped into signing on to the project, they are a largely disenfranchised minority with no national political representation, hobbling the chances for a successful struggle against a state driven to wean the country off fossil fuels.
“I can’t imagine how I will tend to my orchard and my trees under a 200-meter high monstrosity,” said Emil Masoud, a Druze farmer and the secretary of a local agricultural collective. “We don’t oppose renewable or green energy. We oppose projects that threaten us as residents, as well as our rights over our lands and orchards.”
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed the territory in 1981 — a move that was not internationally recognized until the Trump administration did so this year. No other countries have yet followed suit.
In contrast to the Palestinian territories captured in 1967, the Golan has remained quiet under Israeli rule. The Golan’s 26,000 Druze, a sect in Islam, hold Israeli residency status that gives them the right to travel and work freely. Residents speak Hebrew and the Golan, with its rugged landscape and many restaurants, is a popular destination for Israeli tourists.
But most of the Druze residents have chosen not to take Israeli citizenship, and many still feel inextricably linked to Syria. Without citizenship, they do not vote in national elections and therefore have no elected representatives in Israel’s Parliament. And while local elections were held for the first time last year following decades of stateappointed local government in the area’s four Druze villages, the vote suffered from low turnout by disenchanted residents who saw it as another attempt to cement Israel’s hold on the territory. Many view the newly elected councils as not representative.
“No one takes them into account in decision making and no one defends their rights in Israeli politics,” said Oded Feller, a lawyer with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel, which is challenging the wind project alongside the Druze.