Regional identity and the sense of political belonging in a disputed land: the Golan Trail as symbolic socio-political initiative

ABSTRACT

The long-distance hiking Golan Trail in Israel is a local socio-political initiative established in the internationally and locally disputed land of the Golan Heights, facing an uncertain political future. As uncertainty increased sharply in the 1990s, the leadership of the Golan region pushed for a comprehensive conceptual strategy change, intended to build local and public solidarity and a sense of spatial-political belonging. Our findings suggest that in the early 2000s, the establishment of the trail was initiated as an integral part of the conceptual strategy change, and upon its inauguration (2007) the trail was incorporated in educational and social programmes for the Golan settlers. The article analyses social and political discourse derived from documents and interviews, to illustrate the intention of using the trail for the purpose of ‘landscape normalisation’. The trail was to present the Golan as a safe and attractive destination of natural and human beauty, in addition to being a strategically important and integral part of the State of Israel. We argue that the creation of the trail and its use are an act of political symbolism, intended as a regional unification facilitator, and serving to downplay political uncertainty by boosting the perception of the Golan as geographically, socially, and politically normalized land.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

¹ Uri Heitner, 25 May 2006, Golan Heights Archive (GHA), 40th anniversary file.

² The Golan march: Invitation to the dedication of the Golan Trail marking 40 years of settlement in the Golan, 24 May 2007, GHA, 40th anniversary file.

³ Michael. B. Oren, Six days of war, June 1967 and the making of the modern Middle East (N.Y: Oxford University Press, 2002), 42–49; Yigal Kipnis, The Golan Heights: Political history, settlement and geography since 1949 (Oxon: Routledge, 2017).

⁴ Golan Heights Law 5742–1981 (15.12.1981).

⁵ Uri Heitner, ‘A brief history of the Golan committee’, Shishi begolan, 6 March 2016. Hebrew.

⁶ Basic Law: Referendum, 2442–2014 (19.3.2014).

⁷ 2019 figures from the Israel Central Bureau of Statistics.

⁸ Gearoid Cuinn, ‘Land and space in the Golan Heights: A human rights perspective’, in The Right to Landscape: Contesting Landscape and Human Rights, Shelly Egoz & Gloria Pungetti eds. (Farnham: Ashgate 2011), 85–98; Moriel Ram, ‘White but not quite: Normalizing colonial conquests through spatial mimicry’, Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography, 46, no. 3 (2014), 736–753; Ibid, ‘Colonial conquests and the politics of normalization: The case of the Golan Heights and Northern Cyprus’. Political Geography, 47 (2015), 21–32; Michael Mason & Muna Dajani, ‘A Political Ontology of Land: Rooting Syrian Identity in the Occupied Golan Heights’, Antipode: A Radical Journal of Geography, 51, no. 1 (2019), 187–206.

⁹ Catherine Lutz, ‘Empire is in the details’. American Ethnologist, 33, no. 4 (2006), 593–611.

¹⁰ Ram, ‘White but not quite’; ibid, ‘Colonial conquests’.

¹¹ Kipnis, The Golan Heights, 150–172.

¹² Rachel Lev-Wiesel, ‘Adolescence in the shadow of forced displacement’, Mifgash le’avoda sotzialit 6, (1995), 56–69. Hebrew; Sara Arnon. The personal and social ramifications of a state of continuous uncertainty—The individual and the community on the Golan Heights confronted with the threat of uprooting in 1995–1996. Unpublished doctoral dissertation (Haifa: University of Haifa, 2001). Hebrew.

¹³ Yael Abada, Sense of place and regional awareness under the shadow of expulsion, Golan Heights 1995–1996, Unpublished master’s thesis (Haifa: University of Haifa, 1997). Hebrew; Avigdor Klingman, ‘Children’s affective reactions and coping under the threat of uprooting: The case of the Golan Heights’, School Psychology International, 21, no. 4 (2001), 377–392.

¹⁴ Arnon. The personal, 131–143.

¹⁵ Arad Communication. Views and perceptions of the Golan, Interim Summary (Internal memo, 2003); ibid, The Golan brand (Internal memo, 2005); Eran Mabal Architectures, Master plan for Golan tourism. (Internal memo, 2007). Hebrew.

¹⁶ Arad Communication. Views; Hadas Markus, The Golan Trail—A case study reflecting the gaps between planning and development, Unpublished master’s thesis (Haifa: University of Haifa, 2019), 30. Hebrew.

¹⁷ Benedict Anderson. Imagined communities: Reflections on the origin and spread of nationalism (Verso books, 2006).

¹⁸ Public domain map, Edits by Karen Levisohn.

¹⁹ For example: Dallen. J. Timothy & Stephen William Boyd, Tourism and trails: Cultural, ecological and management issues (Bristol: Channel View Publications, 2015).

²⁰ For example: Kristin Godtman Kling & all, ‘Negotiating improved multifunctional landscape use: trails as facilitators for collaboration among stakeholders’, Sustainability, 11, no. 13 (2019), 3511.

²¹ For example: Tim Ingold, ‘Culture on the ground: The world perceived through the feet’, Journal of Material Culture, 9, no. 3 (2004), 315–340.

²² For example: William Cronon, ‘The trouble with wilderness; Or, getting back to the wrong nature’, Environmental History, 1, no. 1 (1996), 7–28; Kevin Hannam & all, ‘Editorial: Nobilities, immobilities and moorings’, Mobilities, 1, no. 1 (2006), 1–22; Noga Collins-Kreiner & Nurit Kliot, ‘Particularism vs. universalism in hiking tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research, 56, no. 3 (2016), 132–137.

²³ At times, the experience of the place is not connected to the construction of the trail but to the individual experience and cultural-collective interpretation given to landscapes, as it appears in Raja Shehadeh’s book ‘Palestinian Walks’, which describes the Palestinian landscape from a national-nostalgic perspective. Raja Shehadeh, Palestinian Walks: Forays into a Vanishing Landscape (New-York: Scribner, 2008). On this topic, see also Nicola MacLeod, ‘Seeing places: A critique of the heritage trail as a visual interpretation of place’, In: Leisure, Space and Visual Culture: Practices and Meanings, Cara Aitchison & Hellen Pussard, eds (Brighton: Leisure Studies Association, 2004); ibid, ‘The role of trails in the creation of tourist space’, Journal of Heritage Tourism, 12, no. 5 (2017), 423–430.

²⁴ For example: Gianna Moscardo. ‘Cultural and heritage tourism: The great debates’, In: Tourism in the 21st century: Lessons from experience, Bill Faulkner & all, eds. (London: Continuum, 2000), 3–17.

²⁵ Wiendu Nuryanti, ‘Heritage and postmodern tourism’, Annals of Tourism Research, 23, no. 2 (1996), 249–260; Melanie. K, Smith, Issues in cultural tourism studies, (Routledge, 2003); Maria Simone-Charteris & Stephen Boyd. ‘The potential for Northern Ireland to promote politico-religious tourism: An industry perspective’, Journal of Hospitality Marketing & Management, 20, no. 3–4 (2011), 457–483.

²⁶ Dallen. J. Timothy & Stephen William Boyd. Heritage tourism. (Pearson Education, 2003); Lachlan. B. Barber, ‘Heritage tours and trails on foot in Hong Kong: towards a typology that crosses the tourist-local divide’, Journal of Heritage Tourism, 14, no. 4 (2019), 295–307; Tamar Hermann, Walking the Israel National Trail (Haifa: Pardes, 2019). Hebrew.

²⁷ The Freedom Trail is associated with the history and values of the United States. The Sanhedrin Trail commemorates landmarks in the history of the Sanhedrin, the ancient Jewish court.

²⁸ A joint Israeli-Palestinian initiative from 2011, to date not state-officially waymarked, intended to familiarize the public with Palestinian culture.

²⁹ Shay Rabineau, Marking and Mapping the Nation: The History of Israel’s Hiking Trail Network. (Brandeis University, 2013) 117–123.

³⁰ Simone-Charteris & Boyd, ‘The potential’.

³¹ Dallen Timothy. ‘Tourism, border disputes and claims to territorial sovereignty’. In: Rami. K. Isaac et all (Eds.), Tourism and hospitality in conflict-ridden destinations (Routledge,2019), 25–38.

³² Yaniv Poria et al, The core of heritage tourism. Annals of tourism research, (2003) 30(1), 238–254.

³³ Alon Gelbman & Dallen Timothy, ‘From hostile boundaries to tourist attractions’, Current Issues in Tourism, 13, no. 3 (2010). 239–259.

³⁴ Olivia Mason, ‘Walking the line: Lines, embodiment and movement in the Jordan trail’, Cultural Geographies, 27, no. 3 (2020), 395–414.

³⁵ Yizhak Ariel, The Etzion trail—a position paper. (Private archive: 2020), Hebrew.

³⁶ Oz Almog, The sabra: The creation of the new Jew. (University of California Press, 2000), 160–184.

³⁷ Tamar Katriel, ‘Touring the land: Trips and hiking as secular pilgrimages in Israeli culture’, Jewish Folklore & Ethnology Review, 17, no. 1–2, (1995), 6–13; Gil Gertel, Natural path: natural pedagogy and educational field trips. (Tel-Aviv: Sifriyat Hapoalim, 2010), Hebrew.

³⁸ Orit Ben David, ‘Tyul (hike) as an act of consecration of space, in: Grasping land: Space and place in contemporary Israeli discourse and experience, Eyal Ben Ari & Yoram Bilu, eds (State University of N.Y Press, 1998), 129–145; Adriana Kemp, ‘The border as the double face of Janus: Space and national awareness in Israel’. Theory and Criticism, 16 (2000),13–43. Hebrew.

³⁹ Charles Liebman & Eliezer Don Yehia. Civil religion in Israel: Traditional Judaism and Political Culture in the Jewish State. (University of California, 1983).

⁴⁰ Daniela Arieli, ‘The cultural construction of nature: The Society for the Protection of Nature in Israel’, Megamot 38, no. 2 (1997), 189–206, 201. Hebrew.

⁴¹ Sharon Tvito, Touring the Land: Hiking along the ‘Israel National Trail’ as a Leisure Activity, Unpublished master’s thesis. (Haifa: University of Haifa, 2010) 69–72. Hebrew; Nurit Kliot, & Noga Collins-Kreiner, ‘Social world, hiking and nation: The Israel National Trail’. Social and Cultural Geography 21, no. 6 (2018), 810–838; Hermann, Walking, 177–236.

⁴² Irving Seidman. Interviewing as qualitative research in education and the social sciences, (Teachers College Press, 2006).

⁴³ Sharlene. N. Hesse-Biber & Patricia Leavy, The Practice of Qualitative Research, (California: Sage,2011).

⁴⁴ Thomas Headland & all, eds., Emic and Etics: the insider/outsider debate. (California: Sage, 1990).

⁴⁵ Todd. D. Jick, ‘Mixing qualitative and quantitative methods: Triangulation in action’, Administrative Science Quarterly, 24, no. 4 (1979), 602–611.

⁴⁶ Richard Shipway & Ian Jones, ‘Running away from home: Understanding visitor experiences and behaviour at sport tourism events’, International Journal of Tourism Research, 9. no. 5 (2007), 373–383.

⁴⁷ Klaus Krippendorff, Content analysis. An introduction to its Methodology (3rd ed.), (Ca: Thousand Oaks, Sage, 2013); Kimberly Neuendorf, The content analysis guidebook (2nd ed.) (Ca: Thousand Oaks, Sage, 2017).

⁴⁸ Clifford Geertz, Local knowledge: further essays in interpretive anthropology, (N.Y: Basic books, 1983).

⁴⁹ Tvito, Touring; Michal Demsky & Noga Collins-Kreiner, ‘Hiking the Israel National Trail’, Horizons in Geography, l 94 (2018),129–144. Hebrew; Kliot & Collins-Kreine. ‘Social world’; Daniel Vaknin & Asaf Selzer, ‘Hikers on Israel’s National Trail: With ardour but scant knowledge of the land’, Horizons in Geography, 97 (2019), 29–46; Hermann, walking.

⁵⁰ Ya’akov Saar & Yagil Henkin, Jesus Trail & Jerusalem—The Golan Trail. (Jerusalem: Eshkol Publishing, 2019), Hebrew.

⁵¹ Karen Levisohn, ‘The Path is wiser than its maker’ (2005–2011). Unpublished master’s thesis (Haifa: University of Haifa, 2018), Hebrew.

⁵² Ori Dvir, ‘The Golan Trail’, Teva Hadvarim 13 (2007), 141, Hebrew.

⁵³ Rabineau, Marking, 272; Hermann, walking, 236–284.

⁵⁴ Israel Eshed, personal interview, 21 April 2020 (henceforth, Eshed, 2020).

⁵⁵ Ein Keshatot website, 30.6.2021.

⁵⁶ Israel Eshed, ‘operational plan for Pathways in the Golan’, 1998, private archive.

⁵⁷ Eshed, 2020.

⁵⁸ ‘Key topics for the year 2007’, p. 1, 11 December 2006, Israel Trails Committee Archive under SPNI; Dafna Feldman, personal interview, 13 March 2020 (henceforth, Feldman, 2020); Feldman was appointed the trail’s project leader.

⁵⁹ Eshed, 2020; Oded Porat, Midreshet Hagolan, Hispin, personal interview, 14 February 2019 (henceforth, Porat, 2019). Porat was part of the planning team of the trail.

⁶⁰ These values were evident in the suggested messages of the branding campaigns launched by the GRC (Arad Communications, 2003, 2005; Mabal, 2007); in the master plan for the region ‘forty years of liberation’ celebrations in 2007 (Motti Rosenblum, Ahidov Communications: ‘The Golan is the Land of Israel, a suggested message as it celebrates forty years of liberation’, GHA, 40th anniversary file, undated. Henceforth: Rosenblum, The Golan); these values are also inculcated in the regions’ local education system and regional formal and un-formal social and educational programs. See in details: Anat Kidron, ‘From the ‘Green Line’ to the ‘Green Golan’: Ideological education as a political tool, Iyunim, (2021) 35, 1–26, Hebrew.

⁶¹ Feldman, 2020; Eshed, 2020; Porat, 2019.

⁶² Eshed, 2020.

⁶³ Rosenblum, The Golan.

⁶⁴ Israel Eshed & Ya’akov Shkolnik, Golan Trail—The guide, (Golan Research Institute, 2010), 4, Hebrew.

⁶⁵ Markus, The Golan, 52–54.

⁶⁶ Eshed, 2020; Feldman, 2020.

⁶⁷ Timothy & Boyd, Tourism, 181–182; Godtman Kling, Negotiating, 6–7.

⁶⁸ Markus, The Golan, 58–59.

⁶⁹ ‘Social table: Summing up an era’, 25 June 2006, GHA, 40th anniversary file.

⁷⁰ Forty years of settlement in the Golan: council Protocols, 15 October 2006, GHA. The 50th anniversary celebrations, in 2017, were guided by the same approach.

⁷¹ Hagay Samet, personal interview, February 11, 2019.

⁷² The regional education department was established only in 1993. Adopting a policy of cultivating a sense of regional belonging and pride came as a result of the social and emotional difficulties that young people experienced during the period of uncertainty, but was not yet part of a broader regional plan. Simcha Levi, personal interview, 24 October 2019 (henceforth Levi, 2019).

⁷³ Trail inauguration, 21 March 2007, GHA, Golan Trail file.

⁷⁴ Feldman, 2020; Yuval Lidor. ‘Preparing to celebrate: Unification day trip for all Golan settlements, Ma’ariv, 29 December 2007, 20. Hebrew.

⁷⁵ Gully Ortal-Ivry, Ministry of Education, Golan region, personal interview, 25 February 2019 (henceforth: Ortal-Ivry, 2019).

⁷⁶ G.H.C website.

⁷⁷ For a comprehensive analysis of these programs see: Anat Kidron, ‘Walking the Golan Trail as an educational practice’, Time for Education, 5 (2019), 223–244. Hebrew.

⁷⁸ Oren Zingboim, personal interview, 18 September 2018.

⁷⁹ Kobbi Gavish, personal interview, February 30, 2019.

⁸⁰ Na’ama Mansfeld, Israel Nature and Parks Authority Golan, personal interview, February 18, 2019; Ortal-Ivry, 2019.

⁸¹ Dafna Meir, Shishi Bagolan. May 19, 2017. Hebrew.

⁸² Ram, ‘White but not quite’; ibid, ‘Colonial conquests’; Kipnis, The Golan Heights.

⁸³ Simon Schama, Landscape and memory (N.Y: A.A. Knopf,1995).

⁸⁴ Levi, 2019.

⁸⁵ Maslulary—nature and heritage at the Golan Heights.

⁸⁶ Mansfeld, 2019.