Skip to main content

Golan Heights Students Return To Syria Despite War

Despite the war in Syria, some students from the Golan Heights are still crossing back into Syria to continue their university studies.
A student studying in Syria carries his luggage as he crosses through the Quneitra border crossing between Israel and Syria, as seen from the Israeli side of the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights July 11, 2013. A spokesperson for the International Committee of the Red Cross said 23 students, mostly from the Druze community, crossed into the Golan Heights from Syria at Quneitra on Thursday. REUTERS/Baz Ratner (POLITICS SOCIETY) - RTX11JTW

Quneitra, GOLAN HEIGHTS — In the sweltering August heat, Majid (not his real name) was sweating while studying for an upcoming exam. The difficulty was not in the complexity of the material, but rather in the fact that the examination hall was going to be in an active war zone, in Damascus. While thousands of Syrians are trying to flee the atrocities in their homeland — which have so far claimed over 110,000 lives — Majid is one of 35 students who returned from their peaceful villages in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights to the country ravaged by a civil war that has been raging for more than 2½ years. More than 30 more students are set to travel back to Syria later this month.

Druze and Alawite youths from the Golan Heights have been coming to Syria for decades to study at the University of Damascus. The reasons for this are both ideological and practical. Many of the students’ parents and grandparents were born in Syria, but found themselves under Israeli rule after the Israelis captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it. The Damascus government has encouraged the students by waiving university fees and providing a small monthly stipend, which continues to be distributed even today. In Israel, entry requirements for competitive courses such as medicine are considerably higher.

Access the Middle East news and analysis you can trust

Join our community of Middle East readers to experience all of Al-Monitor, including 24/7 news, analyses, memos, reports and newsletters.

Subscribe

Only $100 per year.