RAMALLAH, West Bank — The people of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights have rejected the Israeli government’s decision to hold local elections next year in four Golan villages: Majdal Shams, Bukata, Masada and Ein Qinya. To allow such elections, they said, would be to recognize the occupation.
Israeli Interior Minister Aryeh Deri notified local Golan authorities July 6 of the decision to hold elections on Oct. 30, 2018. The elections would be the first under Israeli law since the Golan Heights was occupied in 1967. Israel has been accustomed to appointing local council heads and members in the Golan Heights, where nearly 23,000 people live. To many of those residents, there's a big symbolic difference between appointed and elected leaders.