In the early hours of 7 December 2020, employees of Energix Renewable Energies Ltd. (‘Energix’) began entering Syrian agricultural lands with Israeli police escorts. The police proceeded to block the roads leading to the agricultural lands, which are owned by nearly one thousand Syrian farmers, to allow Energix to start preparing to build its enormous wind farm project. The project continues to face unprecedented opposition from the native Syrian population of the Occupied Golan (‘Golan’).

The commander of the police forces in the area stated that the police are aware that the implementation of Energix’s project is conditional on obtaining approvals from landowners and that most of the landowners do not agree to the establishment of the project on their lands. He added that Energix is conducting preliminary tests on the soil structure on four plots whose owners have not contested the company’s actions on their land. For Energix to gain access to these four plots, Israeli police have cut nearly one thousand Syrian farmers off from their own personal property. Hundreds of Syrians, led by Sheiks, gathered at the Israeli police roadblocks to protest these actions and to object to Energix’s project.

In a joint statement, Al-Marsad and the Association for Civil Rights in Israel condemned the bullying and aggressive behavior of the Israeli police and called for the immediate withdrawal of police forces from roadblocks across Syrians’ agricultural lands. Based on information received by Al-Marsad to date, there has been no judicial order allowing for Energix to begin advancing its project, and thus its actions, and the actions of the Israeli police, are unlawful.

Israeli police, in concert with Energix and through force, are imposing baseless restrictions on and harassing the indigenous Syrian population, restricting access to property and freedom of movement for what may be several days. The police’s imposition of these restrictions constitutes a collective punishment against indigenous Syrians in the Golan.

The wind farm project Energix is advancing will occupy about one-fifth of the agricultural lands still remaining in the possession of indigenous Syrians in the Golan. The project will lead to the elimination of traditional Syrian agriculture, the weakening of agricultural tourism, and the distorting of the landscape in the Golan. Additionally, the project unlawfully exploits the natural resources of the indigenous Syrian population and specialists indicate that it will cause environmental and health problems in the region. The project is also expected to exacerbate the urbanization crisis in the Golan’s remaining Syrian villages, especially in light of Israel’s confiscation of more than 80,000 dunams of indigenous Syrian land for the “Hermon Protectorate” project and refusal to expand the structural map of the Syrian villages.