American University in Cairo AUC Knowledge Fountain Theses and Dissertations 6-1-2012 Education in the Syrian Golan Heights under international human rights law and international humanitarian law Michelle Strucke Follow this and additional works at: https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds Recommended Citation APA Citation Strucke, M. (2012).Education in the Syrian Golan Heights under international human rights law and international humanitarian law [Master’s thesis, the American University in Cairo]. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/979 MLA Citation Strucke, Michelle. Education in the Syrian Golan Heights under international human rights law and international humanitarian law. 2012. American University in Cairo, Master's thesis. AUC Knowledge Fountain. https://fount.aucegypt.edu/etds/979 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by AUC Knowledge Fountain. 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The American University in Cairo School of Global Affairs and Public Policy EDUCATION IN THE SYRIAN GOLAN HEIGHTS UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW A Thesis Submitted to the Department of Law in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in International Human Rights Law By Michelle Strucke June 2012 The American University in Cairo School of Global Affairs and Public Policy EDUCATION IN THE SYRIAN GOLAN HEIGHTS UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW A Thesis Submitted by Michelle Strucke to the Department of Law June 2012 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in International Human Rights Law has been approved by Professor Hani Sayed _______________________________ Thesis Adviser American University in Cairo Date __________ Professor Nesrine Badawi _______________________________ Thesis First Reader American University in Cairo Date __________ Professor Thomas Skouteris _______________________________ Thesis Second Reader American University in Cairo Date ___________________ Professor Thomas Skouteris _______________________________ Law Department Chair American University in Cairo Date ___________________ Ambassador Nabil Fahmy _______________________________ Dean of GAPP Date ____________________ ii DEDICATION To my husband Zaki Barzinji, without whom I may not have found my voice, and to my mother Laurie Strucke, without whom I would not have learned how to use it. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS In completing this work, I benefited from the advice and encouragement of countless people. Notably, Professor Hani Sayed and Professor Elna Sondergaard, whose encouragement and lucid advice helped me reach further depths in this topic. I received valuable advice from Sital Kalantry of Cornell Law School about the right to education, and from the students in the Cornell Research Colloquium, whose insightful comments assisted me greatly while editing. I received support from the faculty and students of the Department of Law at the American University in Cairo, who provided a stimulating environment for creative legal thinking, and gave me the support to present this research at an international conference in Austria. I would like to especially thank Professors Tanya Monforte, Alejandro Lorite Escorihuela, Thomas Skouteris, and Diana Van Bogaert, for all of their encouragement and insight – they have truly changed the way I think about law and the world. I benefitted deeply from the perspectives of Dr. Martin Isleem and Dr. Munir Fakhereldin and am indebted to them for offering me their expertise regarding the Druze in Israel and the residents of the Syrian Golan. I am deeply grateful to the staff of Al-Marsad including Nizar Ayoub, Naief Fakhereldeen, and Salman Fakereldin, for their hospitality and support over the summer of 2008, and for making me feel at home among the people of the Syrian Golan, especially from the village of Majdal Shams. And I have been deeply touched and inspired by their warmth, friendship, hospitality, and inspirational responses, especially their artistic responses, to a difficult political situation. In particular, I wanted to thank Jad Mari, Eyad Abu Saleh, and all others who generously offered me their friendship. I wanted to thank Daanish Faruqi, Kerry, Khulood, Gissella Montenegro, Allison Silver, Lindsey Humphreys, and everyone else who spent countless hours offering their counsel and advice throughout the process of research and writing, and for their friendship across oceans. I am thankful to Dr. Peyi Soyinka-Airewele of Ithaca College for first stimulating my interest in education and conflict and in the state’s role in attempting to shape citizens’ identities. I wanted to thank my family for supporting me throughout the course of this project, especially Ann, Krista, Bill, and my parents Laurie and Bill, and to Afeefa Syeed, Najeeba Syeed, Esa Syeed, and Nafeesa Syeed, for valuable discussions around educational curricula within conflict zones and for peacebuilding, and on writing around conflict. I wish to thank Dr. Sayyid Syeed, Rafia Syeed, Suhaib Barzinji, and Afeefa Syeed for their hospitality, inspiration, and encouragement. I am deeply grateful to Dina Mansour for her advice, encouragement every step of the way, friendship, and for going out of her way to ensure my thesis was delivered, even when I was halfway around the world. Finally, I want to thank Zaki Barzinji for reading countless versions of my drafts, for his encouragement from beginning to end, and for his endless love, patience, tranquility, and curiosity. I could not have done this without him. All errors are my own. iv The American University in Cairo School of Global Affairs and Public Policy Department of Law EDUCATION IN THE SYRIAN GOLAN HEIGHTS UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW AND INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW Michelle Strucke Supervised by Professor Hani Sayed ABSTRACT Compulsory education, in particular history and religious education, is often used by states as a critical tool of nation building, as states attempt to socialize and shape the attitudes and beliefs of citizens in line with their strategic aims. As a state that defines itself as "Jewish and democratic" and that has instituted special compulsory education curricula for students on the basis of ethnicity and religion, the state of Israel is no exception. The Syrian Golan despite being under occupation by Israel for the last forty- five years has been written about only sparingly compared to the overwhelming amount of research that has been performed on the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The Druze residents of the Occupied Syrian Golan are subject to a separate compulsory education curriculum designed and implemented by the state of Israel that attempts to shape their identity in religious terms that reflect Israel's strategic aims at the expense of accurately depicting the history and heritage of the Syrian Golan and its residents. It attempts to obscure their identity as Syrian Arabs entirely, focusing instead on a narrative of historical similarity and alliance of Druze and Jews and their common persecution by Muslims. And most importantly, it is the same curriculum that Israel has created for its own citizens, highlighting a fundamental problem in Israel’s denial that it occupies the Syrian Golan. The problem in the Syrian Golan is not simply that the residents receive a separate education on the basis of religious and ethnic difference. It is not simply that the residents are left without the option of choosing an alternative education for their children that respects their origins. It is that the abuse of the principle of non-annexation has fundamental consequences for the human dignity of the affected residents, and negative implications on the international legal system upon which the principle is based. This study undertakes to analyze the problem of education in the occupied Golan in relation to norms of IHRL and IHL and to propose reconciliation between these conflicting norms to the extent that it is possible. It will focus primarily on Israel’s obligations under the ICESCR, CRC, CADE, and key international humanitarian agreements including the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Hague Regulations in the context of belligerent occupation. And finally, it will briefly analyze the problematic legal consequences of Israel’s conduct in relation to the residents of the Syrian Golan, and the international legal system. v LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS CADE Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination in Education (UNESCO) CESCR Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights CDCE Committee for Druze Culture and Education CRC Convention on the Rights of the Child DMZ Demilitarized Zone ECOSOC United Nations Economic and Social Council GAA General Armistice Agreement GC Geneva Conventions GHL Golan Heights Law [1981] HR Hague Regulations HCJ High Court of Justice (Israel) HRC Human Rights Committee ICRC International Committee of the Red Cross ICJ International Court of Justice ICCPR International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights [1966] ICC International Criminal Court ICESCR International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights [1966] ICERD International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination ILC International Law Commission IDF Israel Defense Forces ISMAC Israel-Syria Mixed Armistice Commission IHL International