The Israeli-occupied Syrian Golan Heights made headlines on Saturday after a missile landed on a football field in the Druze town of Majdal Shams, killing 12 people and injuring dozens.

"Israel" was quick to pin the blame on Hezbollah and claimed that the Lebanese group targeted the town with an "Iranian rocket".

Playing the role of the "hero", Israeli occupation Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu also vowed that "Israel will not let this murderous attack go unanswered and Hezbollah will pay a heavy price for it, a price it has not paid before," according to a statement from his office.

Hezbollah denied that it targeted Majdal Shams, a town where many residents have rejected Israeli nationality since the Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights in 1967.

In a statement, the Lebanese Resistance group said it "categorically denies the allegations reported by certain enemy media and various media platforms concerning the targeting of Majdal Shams."

"The Islamic Resistance has no connection to this incident," it affirmed.

Later, Axios cited an American official as saying that Hezbollah officials told the UN that the Golan Heights incident was the result of an Israeli interceptor missile hitting the playground in Majdal Shams, the largest town in the Golan.

Moreover, reporters of several media outlets cited some anonymous eyewitnesses as saying they saw an interceptor missile falling on the field but noted that they refused to speak in front of the camera out of fear of retaliation from Israeli authorities.

Al Araby journalist reported that some eyewitnesses at the explosion site in Majdal Shams town told her that the Israeli air defense was the cause of the heavy explosion. pic.twitter.com/MoLwVn8AMl

— IRNA News Agency (@IrnaEnglish) July 28, 2024

A couple of days later, Israeli occupation forces launched an aggression on Beirut's southern suburbs, resulting in the assassination of Hezbollah's top military leader Sayyed Fouad Shokor.

In a speech delivered at a large funeral ceremony held for Shokor, Hezbollah Secretary-General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah said the Israeli regime tried to label its aggression on Beirut as a "response" to the incident in Majdal Shams.

He reiterated that the Resistance has rejected this accusation and denied responsibility after a thorough investigation, adding that "we have the courage to take responsibility if it was our attack, even if it was a mistake, and we have precedents in this matter."

Sayyed Nasrallah pointed out that "Israel cannot accept the hypothesis that the incident in Majdal Shams was due to an Israeli interceptor missile" despite the massive evidence suggesting it, which was even put forward by numerous military experts.

He affirmed that "the aim of accusing the Resistance is to incite sectarian strife between the [Druze] people of the occupied Golan and [Hezbollah] and behind it the Shiite sect, in order to undermine the most significant achievements of Al-Aqsa Flood" of unity and solidarity among Arabs and the people of the region.

The Hezbollah chief confirmed that this strife was quelled and disabled "thanks to the awareness and firm positions of the leaders of the Druze community," extending his gratitude to the political and spiritual leaders of the Druze for their stance.

The town held Saturday a funeral ceremony for the victims of the attack, with the Israeli Channel 13 reporting that residents of Majdal Shams attacked members of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's Likud party who showed up for the ceremony.

Meanwhile, the Israeli news website Walla mentioned that Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich was met with rejection and protests upon his arrival in the town. 

"Get out of here. We don't want you here, you killer," the residents told Smotrich, accusing the Israeli minister of making use of their children's blood.

A circulated video on social media shows residents of Majdal Shams in the occupied Syrian #Golan expelling Bezalel Smotrich, the Minister of Finance in the Israeli government, from a funeral held by the village's residents for the victims.

Residents of #MajdalShams in the… pic.twitter.com/EPs5zynB0y

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) July 28, 2024

Al Mayadeen's correspondent Hanaa Mahameed visited the site where the projectile landed and gathered testimonies from the town's residents, who challenged the Israeli narrative that Hezbollah was behind the attack.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) also reported that the residents of Majdal Shams attempted to kick out Netanyahu from the town, calling him a "fascist" and a "criminal".

Netanyahu had arrived in Majdal Shams alongside a convoy of high-ranking security officials. 

People in the occupied Syrian #Golan prevent Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu from entering Majdal Shams, calling him a fascist and criminal.

In a similar incident, the residents kicked out Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, Minister of Economy Nir Barakat,… pic.twitter.com/V5gslxYhly

— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) July 29, 2024

Al Mayadeen's correspondent in the occupied territories reported that Netanyahu arrived in Majdal Shams at around 2:00 pm (local time) and was received by the town's Israeli-appointed council chief in an administrative building. Netanyahu entered through the back door of the building to avoid being seen. 

After news had gotten around to the town's residents, hundreds gathered outside the said building, protesting Netanyahu's visit to the occupied Syrian town. 

The demonstrators berated the Israeli prime minister, denouncing him as a "child killer" and a "criminal".

Netanyuahu's visit to the town did not last for more than 15 minutes, locals told Al Mayadeen, after the incident had enraged residents who refused to receive the Israeli prime minister. 

Al Mayadeen also found that several locals refused to allow Israeli occupation forces to use their homes and rooftops as guarding points ahead of Netanyahu's arrival.

It is noteworthy that, to this day, the vast majority of Majdal Shams' residents maintain their Syrian identity, with only about 20% having accepted Israeli citizenship.

Israeli media previously reported that in 2018, only 272 people out of a population of about 12,000 voted in local elections held by the Israeli occupation authorities.

Illegal Israeli occupation of Syrian Golan Heights

To better understand the current situation in the Golan Heights following the Majdal Shams incident, it is only crucial to look back at the history of this region since its occupation by "Israel".

In the 1967 war, known as the Six-Day War, between the Arab and Israeli forces, the latter managed to occupy the Gaza Strip, West Bank, al-Quds, the Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights.

The Golan spans an area of 1,860 square kilometers, accounting for 1% of Syria's total land area. During the June 1967 war, "Israel" occupied approximately 1,250 square kilometers of this territory, of which Syria regained 100 square kilometers following the October 1973 war.

Israeli occupation forces displaced over 95% of the Golan's population—around 140,000 Syrian citizens—and demolished their villages, totaling 340 villages and the city of Quneitra.

As part of its settler colonial project, "Israel" has gradually established 33 agricultural settlements and the city of Katzrin on the ruins of Syrian villages, with a settler population of at least 26,000. They also planted 76 minefields containing approximately two million mines, some within and around inhabited villages.

Currently, "Israel" occupies about 1,176 square kilometers of the Golan Heights, including 100 square kilometers of demilitarized zones as per a 1949 Armistice Agreement.

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There are five villages in the occupied Golan Heights: Majdal Shams, Mas'ada, Buq'ata, Ein Qiniya, and Ghajar. About 10% of the residents of the five villages work in the agricultural sector, utilizing only about 21,000 dunams for farming compared to 110,000 dunams used by Israeli settlers, according to local data.

The people of Golan have cultivated the region for decades, if not centuries, and are renowned for their olives and fruits, particularly apples. However, the limited use of water does not meet local irrigation needs, with farmers receiving approximately five million cubic millimeters of water annually, affecting the quantity of their agricultural production.

According to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, expanding Israeli settlements and their activities have limited Syrian farmers' access to water through discriminatory pricing and fees.

Some of the main water sources in the Golan have been seized for exclusive use by settlers, and other water sources are partially diverted for use in "Israel", according to a study by researcher Scott Kennedy titled "The Druze of the Golan: A Case of Non-Violent Resistance."

Central Golan is also known as one of the richest areas in livestock, but this sector has disappeared from the local economy due to the Israeli occupation's usurping of grazing lands. 

In a move reflecting its savage nature, in 1981, the Israeli government officially "annexed" the Golan Heights through the "Golan Heights Law" passed by the Knesset, violating international resolutions that deemed the decision "null, void, and without international legal effect," a stance reaffirmed by the United Nations on November 28, 2023.

Despite the UN and the international community not recognizing the "annexation" of these territories and international law considering the 33 Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights illegal, "Israel" has desperately sought recognition of its step, finally receiving it in 2019 by then-US President Donald Trump.

Subsequently, a new settlement was established in the occupied Golan Heights named after Trump.

Even after Joe Biden assumed office in 2020, his administration did not reverse the decision and has referred to the region as "northern Israel" rather than occupied Syrian territory.

In the same context, on December 26, 2021, the Israeli government, led then by Naftali Bennett, approved a plan to double the Jewish population in the Golan by 2030, with an initial budget of one billion dollars aimed at attracting 23,000 settlers to the area.

Golan residents refuse Israeli citizenship, affirm Syrian identity 

The void Israeli decisions did not prevent the residents of the occupied territory from asserting their right to self-determination, where more than 90% of the Golan Heights residents rejected Israeli "citizenship" in 1981.

Jonathan Kuttab, a Palestinian attorney and human rights activist, recalled in an interview in 1983 that "those who accepted Israeli identity cards were often shunned by the entire community."

"They decided that anyone who accepts Israeli identity cards is really cutting themselves off from the community 'They are no longer one of us, no longer a Druze,'" he says.

In his study, The Druze of the Golan: A Case of Non-Violent Resistance, Scott Kennedy also detailed the matter, writing:

"A harsh reception greeted those who took Israeli identification: few would speak to them or enter their homes; they were not invited to community events, weddings or funerals; and they were not welcomed to religious gatherings. Their dead were denied the community's prayers. Such tremendous social pressure was exerted on them that all but a few diehard quislings returned their cards. Those who repented were required to recant publicly, or to go door-to-door to apologize to their neighbors, and to contribute money to support the families of those imprisoned."

According to Kuttab, after the Israeli Knesset passed a law authorizing the "annexation" of the Golan, the region's residents appealed to the Israeli government and petitioned for a reversal of the decision, which would entail forcing Israeli citizenship on them. When their demands were rejected, they announced that they would not comply with the occupation authorities' measures.

"Israel can do whatever it wants to us: they can confiscate our land. They can kill us. But they cannot tell us who we are. They cannot change our identity," Kuttab cited Golan villagers as saying.

Following the "annexation" decision, Golan residents launched a heroic nonviolent Resistance in an attempt to defy Israeli diktats.

Detailing these steps, Kennedy indicated that the laborers' refusal to work disrupted industry in northern occupied Palestine for several weeks, and the elderly and young defied Israeli-imposed curfews to harvest crops.

Groups of women confronted Israeli soldiers, seizing at least 16 weapons and handing them over to army officers, demanding the withdrawal of troops. The weapons were sometimes exchanged for the release of detainees.

One village, taking advantage of the strike, completed a major sewer project that had been denied funding and permits by Israeli authorities for years. The strike also saw trenches dug and pipelines installed.

Villagers began developing cooperative economic structures, such as community-wide tree spraying with the understanding that the crops would be shared by all. They also started establishing their own schools.

After four months, Israeli authorities indicated that efforts to force Golan residents to accept Israeli "citizenship" would be suspended. The residents were led to believe that, on April 1, 1982, the Israeli efforts to impose "citizenship" on them would cease, only for "Israel" to further escalate its repressive measures against the people of the Golan.

Amid a media blackout, an estimated 14,000-15,000 Israeli soldiers raided the region and imposed a 43-day siege, cutting off electricity and water to the villages and destroying several homes.

In one demonstration, nine people were injured, and at least two died as ambulance services to nearby hospitals were blocked. At least 150 people were detained daily, with fourteen receiving four-to-five-month sentences and most fined for not having Israeli identification.

During the siege, Israeli troops conducted door-to-door raids, seizing Syrian-era identification papers and replacing them with Israeli IDs. The following morning, the town squares of various Golan villages were littered with discarded Israeli identity cards, a sign of the resident's firm refusal of Israeli identification, even if it means that they have to endure direct threats of personal harm and communal suppression.

As a result of the residents' fierce resistance and adherence to their land and Syrian Arab identity, the Israeli government eventually lifted the siege, withdrawing troops, removing checkpoints, and leaving the Golan residents alone.

But today, most Golan residents unwillingly hold Israeli ID cards, where their status is described as residents and non-citizens, primarily to travel to their workplaces. Their situation is similar to that of the residents of the eastern part of occupied al-Quds who have refused Israeli "citizenship".

Israeli media highlight that the residents of the occupied Golan Heights have maintained close ties with homeland Syria even after "Israel" occupied the area in 1967 and "annexed" it in 1981, which proves that the occupation has failed to isolate and detach the Golan from its true Arab identity and surroundings.

Amid the Israeli restrictions imposed on the movement of residents in the occupied Golan Heights, the region's citizens still head to a hill that separates Majdal Shams from the liberated part of Syria and use loudspeakers to communicate with their separated relatives during weekends and holidays to exchange greetings, well-wishes, and conversations, which led to the site being named "The Shouting Hill."

According to Israeli figures, among the 21,000 Druze living in the Golan, only 4,300 are considered Israelis, including some who inherited their "legal status" from parents who previously accepted citizenship, while the vast majority identify as Syrian.

The aforementioned historical details are evidence that the residents of the occupied Golan Heights have historically resisted Israeli laws aimed at their "Israelization". Now, it seems that "Israel" is using the Majdal Shams incident as a pretext to further tighten its occupation of the Golan and detach its people from their Syrian Arab identity.

Armed Resistance

Regarding armed Resistance, Eduardo Aboultaif's study traced the history of the military Resistance against Israeli occupation in the Golan Heights.

The study, based on interviews with Resistance members, indicated that a group of about 50 young men from the Golan formed a secret Resistance movement immediately after the Israeli occupation of the region.

According to one of the founding members, the group's aim was to provide intelligence to the Syrian army, motivated purely by its members' patriotism, without any religious, familial, tribal, or sectarian affiliations.

The main activity of this Resistance network, which comprised three operational cells, was gathering intelligence and establishing communication with the Syrian army.

A group of 12 young men also escalated their military Resistance by planting mines near Israeli military sites in the Golan, culminating in a successful attack on an Israeli tank ammunition depot containing 1,200 rockets.

Following the discovery of the Resistance cell, some members were sentenced to 25-32 years in Israeli prisons and two were killed at the hands of Israeli occupation forces.

Read more: Did an Israeli Iron Dome missile cause the Majdal Shams massacre?