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Approval of Wind Energy Project Threatens All Aspects of Natives’ Lives in the Occupied Syrian Golan

September 24, 2019

On Monday, September 9, Israel’s National Infrastructure Committee (“NIC”) approved Energix Renewable Energies’ (“Energix”) wind energy project, which is planned to be built on almost a quarter of the limited agricultural land that Syrians still control in the occupied Syrian Golan (“Golan”). The project will now advance to Israel’s Cabinet of Ministers for final approval. If approved, the project, which was discussed at length in an Al-Marsad report and in recent Al-Marsad submissions to the United Nations, will have a disastrous impact on the native Syrian communities in the Golan. Al-Marsad condemns the NIC’s approval and calls on Israel’s Cabinet of Ministers to reject sanctioning the project.

Throughout the NIC’s review process, Al-Marsad engaged in targeted advocacy to contest Energix’s project. As part of its advocacy efforts, Al-Marsad submitted comprehensive objections to the project in collaboration with the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Planners for Planning Rights (Bimkom). The objections were filed on behalf of Syrian agricultural cooperatives, civil society groups, and thousands of civilians who had signed a petition rejecting the project. The objections explored numerous expert opinions that addressed the troubling implications of the project. In addition to Al-Marsad’s joint objections, three local village councils, a group of Israeli settlers, and numerous other individuals filed objections with the NIC.

As articulated in the joint objections, Energix’s project will have serious consequences for the health and safety of the Syrian communities in the Golan. The project’s proximity to Syrian population centers will lead to dangerous exposure to infrasound and flickering. Syrian farmers and civilians who spend much of their time in the agricultural fields on which the project will be built will be especially vulnerable to these health impacts. Additionally, the project will occupy thousands of dunams of Syrian agricultural land in the Golan, further straining the Syrian apple and cherry industries while irreparably damaging agricultural tourism and Golani Syrian culture. Furthermore, the joint objections are rooted in experts’ belief that the project will heavily restrict the expansion of the Syrian villages of Majdal Shams and Masada. This will exacerbate the suffocating housing crisis in the Syrian villages. The project also threatens wildlife in the region, especially migratory birds such as eagles, falcons, and bats.

Al-Marsad’s targeted advocacy against Energix’s project has also included highlighting how the project violates international law because of how it targets and discriminates against Syrians. The project has been reported to provide lower payments to Syrian landowners compared to what similar projects built on Israeli owned land have paid to Israeli landowners. Additionally, the project’s location has shifted numerous times, including being moved away from Israeli settlements and closer to Syrian villages. The project also violates numerous principles embedded in international humanitarian law, including the prohibition on pillage and the permanent alteration of occupied land as well as the obligation to administer occupied land as “usufructuary.”

Despite all of this, the NIC ignored Al-Marsad’s and its partners’ objections, approving the construction of 25 wind turbines for the project. The NIC decided to postpone the approval of six other turbines due to the Israel Land Authority’s own objections to the project regarding Israel’s State ownership claims over some of the land included in the project.

Al-Marsad condemns the NIC’s endorsement of Energix's project because of its serious repercussions on all aspects of Syrians’ lives in the Golan and its violations of international law. Al-Marsad demands that Israel’s Cabinet of Ministers reject approving the project for construction. Al-Marsad also calls on the international community to exert pressure on Israel to uphold its obligations under international conventions and human rights treaties it has ratified in order to protect the basic human rights of Syrians in the Golan.

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