Majdal Shams (; ) is a predominantly Druze town in the Golan Heights region, Quneitra Governorate, Syria. Under Israeli occupation since 1967, it is located in the southern foothills of Mount Hermon. In it had a population of .
Majdal Shams played a significant role in the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925–1927 that was led by Druze leader Sultan al-Atrash, who is commemorated by several monuments in the city. Beginning in the 1930s, Majdal Shams became involved in political developments in nearby Mandatory Palestine, and supported the Arab Palestinians during the 1948 Arab–Israeli War.
Since the Six-Day War in 1967, Majdal Shams along with the broader Golan Heights have been under Israeli occupation, and were effectively annexed in 1981. The move was recognized by the United States in 2019, after having been lobbied by Israeli officials.
Majdal Shams is the largest of the four remaining Syrian Druze communities in the Israeli-occupied territories of Golan Heights, the other three being Ein Qiniyye, Mas'ade, and Buq'ata. While the Golan Heights and Mount Hermon are administratively joined, they differ geologically and geographically, with their boundary being marked by the Sa'ar Stream; Majdal Shams and Ein Qiniyye sit on limestone on the Hermon side, while Buq'ata and Mas'ade are on the Golan side, which is characterized by black volcanic rock (i.e., basalt).
Etymology The name originates from Aramaic, meaning 'tower of sun' in reference (possibly) to the town's elevation. Another hypothesis suggests that the town was originally called Majdal al-Sham (Majdal of Damascus) to distinguish it from the towns of similar names, like Majdal Zoun and Majdal Salem in Lebanon, al-Majdal on the Mediterranean coast and al-Majdal on the Sea of Galilee.Herbert Rix, Tent and Testament: A Camping Tour in Palestine with Some Notes on Scripture Sites (London: Williams and Norgate, 1907), 98
History Ottoman Syria The presence of Druze around Mount Hermon is documented since the founding of the Druze religion in the beginning of the 11th century.Roy Marom, “Sukayk and al-Summāqah: Mamluk Rural Geography in the Northern Jawlān/Golan Heights in the Light of Qāytbāy's Endowment Deeds,” in Kate Raphael and Mustafa Abbasi (ed.s), The Golan in the Mamluk and Ottoman Periods: an Archaeological and Historical Study: Excavations at Naʿarān and Farj, In Honour of Moshe Hartal, Yigal Ben Ephraim and Shuqri ‘Arraf, Annual of the Nelson Glueck School of Biblical Archaeology Hebrew Union College—Jewish Institute of Religion Volume xiv (2024): 67 According to one version, Majdal Shams was established in 1595 by Druze warlord Fakhr-al-Din II, in order to strengthen Druze presence in the Hermon mount. Another version says that the Druze families began to settle on the southern slopes of Mount Hermon in the early 18th century.Fadwa N. Kirrish, “Druze Ethnicity in the Golan Heights: the Interface of Religion and Politics,” Journal of the Institute of Muslim Minority Affairs 13.1 (1992): 126 By the late 19th century, Majdal Shams was an important regional center and home of the local Ottoman administrator (Mudir).G. Schumacher, The Jaulan: Surveyed for the German Society for the Exploration of the Holy Land (London: Richard Bentley and Son, 1888): 10 In times of strife, residents of the surrounding villages travelled to Majdal Shams for safety because of the village's elevation and proximity to a major water source at Lake Ram. During the winter of 1895, for example, Druze residents of neighboring communities sheltered in Majdal Shams during a local conflict between irregular Druze and Circassian militias.Drummond Hay, “Despatch No. 76 from Mr. Drummond Hay, Consul-General, Beyrout, to SirPhilip Currie, British Ambassador, Constantinople, 6 December 1895, regarding the fears of the Druzes of Mount Hermon of an attack by the Circassians and Kurds,” in Bejtullah Destani ed., Minorities in the Middle East, Druze Communities 1840-1974, Volume 3: 1866-1926 (London: Archive Editions, 2006): 192-194
The Swiss traveler Burckhardt visited Majdal Shams in 1810. He described the village, which he called Medjel, as situated on a small plain high up in the mountains, with a population of Druzes and four or five Christian families. W. M. Thomson reported that in 1846, the large village "Mejdel es Shems, [was] inhabited by Druses, a fierce, warlike race, sufficiently numerous to keep the Bedawîn Arabs at a respectful distance." In 1870, missionaries associated with the Reformed Presbyterian Church of North America opened a school and church in the town. The mission school operated until 1885, when it was closed by Turkish authorities.Papers relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, Transmitted to Congress, With the Annual Message of the President, December 8, 1885 (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1886): 836-839 Majdal Shams also attracted foreign geologists such as William Libbey because of the town's proximity to an exposed strata of Jurassic period fossils.William Libbey and Franklin E. Hoskins, The Jordan Valley and Petra II (New York and London: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1905): 353 Fossils excavated at Majdal Shams were acquired by the American University of Beirut and Harvard University.Charles E. Hamlin, "Results of an Examination of Syrian Molluscan Fossils, Chiefly from the Range of Mount Lebanon," Memoirs of the Museum of Comparative Geology at Harvard College 10.3 (April 1884).
In 1838, Eli Smith noted Majdal Shams's population as Druze and Christians.Robinson and Smith, 1841, vol 3, 2nd appendix, p. 136
Some travelers wrote vivid descriptions of Majdal Shams. Herbert Rix visited the town around 1907, and commented that "The whole place swarms with children, and many of them are so pretty that the traveller is at first greatly attracted to them."Herbert Rix, Tent and Testament: A Camping Tour in Palestine with Some Notes on Scripture Sites (London: Williams and Norgate, 1907): 98 James Kean, who wrote about the town in the 1890s, described Majdal Shams as a "remarkable village" and noted that it was "famous for the manufacture of steel blades."James Kean, Among the Holy Places: A Pilgrimage Through Palestine (London: T.F. Unwin, 1895): 290-294 Workshops in Majdal Shams continued to make souvenir daggers for European tourists until the 1950s.Munir Fakher Eldin, “Art and Colonial Modernity in the Occupied Golan Heights” (Lecture, Fatah Mudarris Center, Majdal Shams,28 June 2012)
French Mandate for Syria and independent Syria 1925 Great Syrian Revolt
Majdal Shams played a significant role in the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925–1927. In October 1925, a few months after Syrian Druze had begun fighting French forces in the nearby province of Jabal al-Druze, a group of the town's Druze residents looted local Christian property. Mandate authorities sent troops to restore order, and community leaders contacted the central command of the revolt for assistance defending the town against the French.Lenka Bokova, Laconfrontation franco-syrienne à l’époque du mandat, 1925–1927 (Paris: Editions L'Harmattan, 1990), 220–221 In response, rebel leader Zaid al-Atrash (brother of Sultan al-Atrash) led a force of 1,000 men to Majdal Shams. Zaid al-Atrash drove French troops from the area and established a rebel garrison in Majdal Shams to guard the road between Damascus and Marjayoun.Bokova, La confrontation, 223 The garrison housed up to 10,000 rebels until April 1926, when French forces launched a renewed attack on the town. During the assault, French soldiers destroyed much of Majdal Shams and killed approximately 80 residents of the town.Tayseer Mara'i and Usama R. Halabi, "Life Under Occupation in the Golan Heights," Journal of Palestine Studies 22.1 (Autumn 1992), 78–93; Hassan Khater, Monument to the Maryrs of the Great Syrian Revolt, 1925, Buq’ātha, Golan Heights
1928–1945 Beginning in the 1930s, Majdal Shams residents and community leaders became involved in political developments in nearby Mandatory Palestine. During the 1936–1939 Arab revolt in Palestine, traditional leader Assad Kanj Abu Salah proposed forming a local militia to assist the rebels. The plan did not come to fruition; according to conflicting accounts, the militia never formed, or engaged in only a single symbolic attack on the Syria-Palestine border.Laila Parsons, The Druze Between Palestine and Israel, 1947–49 (New York: St.Martin's Press, 2000): 31; Yoav Gelber, "Druze and Jews in the War of 1948," Middle Eastern Studies 31.2 (April 1995): 234
Syrian state (1945–1967) During the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, Abu Salah's son Sultan formed a militia of 300 local men. The militia offered to serve as paid mercenaries for Jewish forces, but later volunteered with Palestinian and Arab forces.Gelber, "Druze and Jews": 233; Kais M. Firro, The Druzes in the Jewish State: A Brief History (Brill: Leiden, 1999): 43–44
Majdal Shams was integrated into economic networks that extended into both other parts of Syria, and Lebanon. The town traded local grapes for olives grown in Fiq, 50 kilometers to the south.Sakr Abu Fakhr, "Voices from the Golan," Journal of Palestine Studies 29.4 (August 2000): 9 Men from Majdal Shams harvested cedar wood in Lebanon, which they manufactured into plows and sold in Suwayda.Abu Fakhr, "Voices": 14 In the 1950s, some local residents travelled to Lebanon to work in construction.Munir Fakher Eldin, "Art and Colonial Modernity in the Occupied Golan Heights". Lecture, Fatah Mudarris Center, Majdal Shams, 28 June 2012.
Residents of Majdal Shams received access to Syrian state services. By the 1960s, there was a public elementary school in Majdal Shams. Residents attended the regional high school and registered marriages at the court in Quneitra.Aharon Layish (1982), Marriage, Divorce and Succession in the Druze Family: A Study Based on Decisions of Druze Arbitrators and Religious Courts in Israel and the Golan Heights. Leiden: E.J. Brill, p. 36Sakr Abu Fakhr, "Voices from the Golan," Journal of Palestine Studies 29.4 (August 2000): 15 These institutions served to integrate the community into the broader region and state.
Israeli occupation 1967–1999
Since the Six-Day War in June 1967, Majdal Shams has been under Israeli occupation. During the 1967 Six Day War, residents of the nearby towns of 'Ayn Fit, Banias, Jubata ez-Zeit, and Za'ura took shelter in Majdal Shams. After Israeli forces had secured the area, soldiers forced refugees across the ceasefire line into Syrian-controlled territory, but permitted residents of Majdal Shams and a few other communities to remain in their homes.Tayseer Mara’i and Usama R. Halabi, "Life Under Occupation in the Golan Heights," Journal of Palestine Studies 22.1 (Autumn 1992): 79 As Israel and Syria fortified the ceasefire line, which ran along the eastern edge of Majdal Shams, the community was isolated from the rest of Syria. Many residents were separated from their relatives living or working in Syrian-controlled territory—as many as 50% from at least one sibling, parent, or child.Peter Ford, "Families Long for an End to Shouting," Christian Science Monitor (27 October 1992): 7