(See an updated entry on Quneitra, including a video.)
Quneitra was once a bustling town in the Golan Heights and southwestern Syria's administrative capital with a population of 37,000. The word 'Quneitra' derives from Qantara, or 'bridge', between Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. Known for its abundant water resources, it has been continuously inhabited since the Stone Age. Over the millennia, many peoples, including Arameans, Assyrians, Caldeans, Persians, Greeks, and Arabs have occupied it.
In 1967, during the six-day war, Israel captured Quneitra. It then became a site of many battles but, except for a brief interlude, remained in Israeli hands until 1974, when a UN-brokered agreement led to an Israeli pullback. Before withdrawing, however, Quneitra was evacuated and systematically destroyed by the Israeli army (based on eyewitness accounts; UN General Assembly resolution 3240 in 1974 condemned Israel’s role in its destruction. Israel disputes this account). Many prominent Western reporters, agreeing with the UN and Syrian version of events, saw this as nothing short of an act of wanton brutality — a whole town methodically ransacked, dynamited, and bulldozed.
Quneitra lies undisturbed ever since, a ghost town riddled with land mines, an open-air museum of Middle-Eastern wars (Syria now shows it off as proof of Israeli malice). Church domes and minarets, blackened and broken, rise above the wasteland. Do these sights, I wondered, ever infuriate native sons into seeking compensation in kind? Behind the town, a barbed-wire fence marks the border with the Israeli occupied Golan Heights. Quneitra now falls within the UN-patrolled demilitarized zone. A UN peacekeeper accompanies all visitors to Quneitra who must first obtain a visitation permit from the Syrian government. Here are some scenes from my visit on a rain-drenched afternoon in Feb 2001.
Is this story real ?
رضا
Posted by: رضا | July 14, 2007 at 03:58 PM
SOURIA YA HABIBATI...YA 3YUNI.......YA RO7 ALBI..WHY THEY DID THIS BARBARIC AND BRUTAL ACTS TO YOU.? I WAS ALMOST CRYING IN A SILENT WAY, JUST MEDITATING OVER THE FUTUR OF MY LAND, MY BELOVED LAND ALTHOUGH I HAVEN'T BEEN THERE FOR MORE THAN 30 YEARS, BUT STILL VIVID IN MY HEART. THIS BARBARIAN ISRAELIS SHOULD LEAVE SYRIA ALONE, GIVE US BACK THE GOLAN HIGHTS, AND STAY AWAY FROM US. WHY THEY DON'T ATTACK KUWAIT FOR EXAMPLE AND TAKE THEIR OIL..??? SAUDI ARABIA, QATAR, EMIRATES, ETC.....WHY ALWAYS LEBANON, SYRIA, PALESTINE, WHY....WHY.....? I BELIEVE THEY MUST PAY DAMAGES FOR THE SYRIAN GOVERNMENT FOR SUCH A BARBARIC ACT, AND CLEAN THE MINES THEY LEFT BEHIND. SHAME ON YOU ISRAELIS. THEY WILL NEVER BE ANY FEELINGS BETWEEN US (SYRIANS AND ISRAELIS) I DIDN'T SAY BETWEEN ARABS, BECAUSE ARABS FROM THE GULF REGION ARE TRAITORS, ALL OF THEM WITH THE EXCEPTION OF IRAN OF COURSE. GOD BLESS SYRIA, MY LOVE, MY BIGGEST LOVE ON EARTH. I LOVE YOU SO MUCH DEAR LAND.
Posted by: GEORGE HOMSANY | January 04, 2008 at 09:42 AM
wie kann so eine wunderbares Land so einsam und zerstört sein, so leer und ängstlich.... zur Hölle Israel
Posted by: yamen | October 08, 2008 at 08:13 PM
Other than the vegetation, the place hasn't changed much since I was stationed at Camp Bolivar in 1975. Truly, an example of greed and cynical exploitation: Israel-"If we can't have it, you can't have it."
Syria-"Hey if we desecrate the graveyards, maybe the world will also blame that on Israel."
Posted by: Chuck Laidlaw | November 30, 2011 at 10:26 AM