Yom Kippur, 1973

 
   

In 1973, Syria from the Northeast and Egypt from the South, backed by other Arab countries, invaded Israel on Yom Kippur. They took advantage of the one day of the year when nearly all Israelis would be indoors, resting, fasting, and praying. Many soldiers left their posts to spend the day with their families. Public transportation and broadcasting were shut down in observance of that day. However, some analysts believe that the surprise attack was to the Israelis' advantage. The roads were clear to mobilize forces and broadcasting was free to focus the public's attention on the conflict. The war lasted just under three weeks, from October 6 to October 25. In the end, Israel resisted the invasion and pushed back the Arab forces.

We visited Mount Bental in the Golan Heights. This was a strategic point during the 1973 war. As Syria tried to invade their land, the Israelis defended Mount Bental. The Syrians had 1,500 tanks to Israel's 160 and 1,000 artillery pieces to Israel's 60. The battle was brutal and casualties were high but in the end, Israel still controlled the Golan Heights. Between Mount Bental and Mount Hermon to the north is a long valley. It came to be called Kuneitra Valley, or Valley of Tears.

The Israelis overtook the Syrian town of Kuneitra during the war in the most interesting way. On the final day of the war, a Syrian broadcast announced that Kuneitra, the Syrian headquarters for the area, had fallen to the Israelis. It hadn't, but the Syrian soldiers didn't know that, so they retreated further into Syria. The Israelis then captured Kuneitra without a fight. A ceasefire was called and the Yom Kippur War officially came to an end. What remains of Kuneitra lies in a demilitarized zone between the two nations.

Interestingly, Paul's dramatic encounter with the Lord on the Damascus Road is traditionally believed to be in Kokab, a village to the northeast of Kuneitra.

We walked through the old bunkers and trenches, some of them pockmarked, mute reminders of the blood that was shed in this area in October of 1973.

The view from the top of Mount Bental is beautiful. On a clear day the observant eye can see far into the distance. A weathered signpost points to regional cities - Damascus, Amman, Baghdad - and tells the distance to those places. A United Nations compound in the valley is easily observed. They are there to maintain the sometimes volatile, paper-thin relationship between Israel and Syria.

On top of Mount Bental, it is easy to understand why the Israelis founght so hard to retain the Golan Heights. They are a formidable mountain range, a natural defense barrier, a protective wall.The Golan Heights are towering mountains of rock which rise steeply and immediately from the valley floor. I am a far cry from a military analyst, but after seeing the terrain, I presume that whoever holds the Golan also controls the area around it, and that is what makes the Golan Heights worth dying for.