Al-Marsad - Arab Human Rights Centre in Golan Heights
Founded2003
580424687 (Israel Non-Profit Registrar)
Location
Area served
Golan Heights
Key people
Dr. Nizar Ayoub, Consultant, Legal Adviser[1]
Websitegolan-marsad.org

Al-Marsad – Arab Human Rights Centre in Golan Heights is an independent, not-for-profit international human rights organization with no religious or political affiliation that operates in the Golan Heights.[2] The Golan Heights region is internationally recognised by all but the US as Syrian territory occupied by Israel, although Israel asserts it has a right to retain control over the area.[3] The organisation was created in October 2003 and is run from Majdal Shams.[2][4] It was the first human rights organisation founded in the Golan.[5]

Al-Marsad is registered with the Israeli Registrar of Non-Profits,[6][7] and is a member of the OPGAI (Occupied Palestinian and Golan Advocacy Initiative)[8] and Convenio Palestina 2015.[9]

Issues and campaigns

Human rights and humanitarian law

Al-Marsad has published detailed legal studies on behalf of affected individuals in the Golan Heights, concerning: forced evictions and internal displacement, the illegality of family separation, parallel reports to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, including advocacy before the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights concerning human rights abuses,[10] economic occupation,[11] and Israeli violations of international law.[12]

Al-Marsad has also voiced concern over what it deems Israel's "ethnic cleansing" of the Syrian Arab population in the Golan.[4] 130,000 Syrian Arabs from the Golan Heights were expelled or fled to Syria following Israel's capture of the territory in 1967. Most villages were also destroyed by Israeli forces, leaving six villages and 23,000 Syrian residents remaining in the Golan.[13]

Al-Marsad has reported that Israeli settlers receive five times the amount of water than the area's Syrian farmers do,[14] and that land has been expropriated for Israeli settlements.[15] Al-Marsad has also reported that Arab residents, moreover, pay more taxes to Israel than their Israeli counterparts while receiving fewer services.[15]

Israeli (de facto) annexation of the Golan Heights

Al-Marsad campaigns against Israel's (de facto) annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights.[16]

See also

References

  1. ^ "Board & Staff". Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  2. ^ a b Humphries, Isabelle. In the Ghost Towns of the Occupied Golan, Five Villages Defiantly Wave the Syrian Flag Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, August 2006
  3. ^ Y.Z Blum "Secure Boundaries and Middle East Peace in the Light of International Law and Practice" (1971) pages 24–46
  4. ^ a b Szerman, Nathalie and Feki, Masri. Les druzes du Golan Israël Magazine, 9 July 2007 (in French)
    Original: L'objectif révélé du centre est de «faire l'inventaire des graves violations de l'occupation israélienne contre les Arabes syriens du Golan afin de faire connaître à la communauté internationale la situation des. Droits de l'homme dans le Golan» et d'encourager une intervention internationale. L'un de ces abus serait le «nettoyage ethnique» des Arabes syriens du Golan effectué par Israël. Al-Marsad, fondé en octobre 2003 par un groupe d'avocats et de professions libérales est une organisation indépendante à but non lucratif.
    Translation: The centre's explicit aim is to "draw up an inventory of the serious violations made by the Israeli occupation against the Syrian Arabs of the Golan," in order to both bring to the international community's attention and encourage intervention. One of the abuses is the "ethnic cleansing" of Syrian Arabs of the Golan carried out by Israel. Al-Marsad, founded in October 2003 "by a group of lawyers and professional people" is an independent, non-profit organization.
  5. ^ Burghoorn, Alex. Klem tussen bezetter en dictatuur de Volkskrant 15 August 2008. (in Dutch)
    Original: Munir Fakher Eldin, een 36-jarige historicus, die in Majdal Shams drie jaar geleden betrokken was bij de oprichting van Al Marsad, de eerste mensenrechtenorganisatie op de Golan.
    Translation: Munir Fakher el-Din, a 36-year-old historian, who three years ago in Majdal Shams was involved in the founding of Al-Marsad, the first human rights organization in the Golan
  6. ^ "Al-Marsad Entry on Guidestar.org.il". Archived from the original on 2012-04-25. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  7. ^ "Search page for Israeli non-profits - enter Al-Marsad's #580424687". Archived from the original on 2011-10-28. Retrieved 2011-11-10.
  8. ^ "Al-Marsad Entry on OPGAI". Archived from the original on 2013-04-26. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  9. ^ "Al-Marsad Entry on OPGAI". Archived from the original on 2013-04-27. Retrieved 28 April 2017.
  10. ^ "Suggested issues for Consideration Regarding Israel's Combined tenth, eleventh, twelfth, and thirteenth Periodic Report to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination(CERD)" (PDF).
  11. ^ "From Settlement to Shelf: The Economic Occupation of the Syrian Golan" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2012-12-16.
  12. ^ "Al-Marsad Publications". Archived from the original on 2013-01-13.
  13. ^ Keane, David; McDermott, Yvonne, eds. (2012), The Challenge of Human Rights: Past, Present and Future, Edward Elgar Publishing, pp. 142–143, ISBN 9780857939005
  14. ^ "Water is Life: A Consideration of the Legality and Consequences of Israeli Exploitation of the Water Resources of the Occupied Syrian Golan" (PDF).
  15. ^ a b "ISRAEL-SYRIA: Could a new regime in Syria be good for the Golan Heights?".
  16. ^ http://www.golan-marsad.org/Images/022011/Dearabizing%20the%20golan.pdf[permanent dead link]
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