Scaling the Golan Heights is no small feat. The roads run straight up into the sky from the shores of Lake Kinnesserat. Our first stop at the top is where battlements stood looking down on the settlements nestled along the shore. From here Syrian troops regularly picked off settlers in their fields. A long and complicated history between the French and the British divided the land along peculiar lines until the ’67 Six Day War.
Since then the Golan Heights have been in Israeli hands and they are rich. Orchards and vineyards blanket the slightly rolling plateau. Cattle graze, the sleek “cows of Bashan” from Amos 4:1, for this is Bashan.
It looks incredibly peaceful and that is the deception. The mines that still dot the fields don’t show through the thick grass but are deadly. The bunkers and occasional leftover bombed out tanks are mostly covered with trees. Eucalyptus groves disguise the battlement. Mountain tops bristle with communication devices.
It’s a tense and uneasy peace brought with blood. For now there is a veil of safety but it could change quickly.
But life has taken hold in the Golan Heights and a people who are tough and aggressive are willing to hedge their bets, plant, tend, and harvest the rich land. Tomorrow may bring destruction, but what is new about that?
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