Ein Qiniyye

Overview

Ein Qiniyye is one of four Druze towns in the Golan Heights, part of the State of Israel and the historic region of Bashan. Most of Bashan lies in Syria and is today occupied by Syria. Ein Qiniyye, Majdal Shams, Mas’ade and Buq’ata form the Golan’s four principal Druze communities. Together, the villages had a population of approximately 23,000. Ein Qiniyye’s history reflects the community’s ties across the border with Syria, its place within Israel’s civic system and the effects of attacks on northern Israel.

Geography

Ein Qiniyye stands in the northeastern part of the Golan Heights, in the foothills of Mount Hermon. The town belongs to a group of Druze villages whose residents have worked in agriculture, construction and services. Their location has sustained family and religious connections with Druze communities across the border. Druze clergy from the Golan villages were permitted annual visits to their counterparts in Syria.

The four villages’ shared geography has also shaped their access to education. High school graduates could attend Damascus University without tuition and choose subjects regardless of their grades or test results. Those opportunities existed alongside access to Israeli schools. As the Syrian civil war disrupted cross-border connections, university attendance in Damascus declined.

Modern history

Israel captured the Golan Heights, including Ein Qiniyye, from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War. Israeli governance brought the town into Israel’s public-service and municipal systems. Residents paid taxes and received municipal water and electricity. Access to Israeli schools and other public services did not depend on accepting Israeli citizenship.

Citizenship became the focus of a confrontation in the early 1980s. Druze residents of Ein Qiniyye and the neighboring villages held strikes against Israeli government efforts to confer citizenship. Hundreds of Golan Druze were arrested during the protests. Fewer than 10 percent accepted citizenship in that period, and residents who did so faced social ostracism within their communities. The protests therefore concerned both relations with the Israeli state and divisions within the villages themselves.

In 1986, Israel ended its effort to increase citizenship uptake among the Golan Druze, while citizenship remained available. The villages subsequently exercised substantial local autonomy. Under the municipal arrangements described at the time, mayors were required to hold Israeli citizenship and were selected by Israel’s Interior Ministry. Daily life nevertheless remained connected to Israeli institutions through schools, taxation and utilities. Employment in agriculture, construction and services supported a standard of living far above that of nearby communities under Syrian rule.

Wael Mughrabi, a Druze community leader, has headed the Ein Qiniyye Local Council since 2018. His public role has included cooperation with other Israeli municipalities. He signed a friendship and cooperation agreement with the mayor of Great Neck, New York, linking the town to an exchange initiative focused on education, culture and community ties.

Security

Hezbollah, a terrorist organization based in Lebanon, killed Ein Qiniyye resident Zahar Bashara during a rocket attack on Kiryat Shmona on March 27, 2024. Bashara was 25. Hezbollah fired 30 rockets in the barrage; one directly struck the building from which rescuers pulled him. He was pronounced dead after the rescue, and two other people were wounded. His death brought the violence affecting northern Israel directly into Ein Qiniyye’s community.

On July 27, 2024, Hezbollah fired a rocket that struck a playing field in Majdal Shams and killed 12 Druze children. Approximately 40 people were wounded, including four children who remained in intensive care immediately afterward. Authorities released the names of 11 of those killed on July 28. Eleven children were mourned at a ceremony in Majdal Shams, while the funeral of the twelfth was held in Ein Qiniyye. The two towns’ funerals joined their communities in mourning. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant pledged a response against Hezbollah.

Ein Qiniyye’s council head joined other Druze leaders in the public response to the attack. During a visit to Majdal Shams on July 29, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu met Mughrabi, Majdal Shams council head Dolan Abu Saleh and Druze spiritual leader Muwaffaq Tarif. The visit placed Ein Qiniyye’s local leadership alongside the bereaved neighboring town at a moment of national attention.

Present day

Ein Qiniyye remains a Druze town governed through its local council within Israel’s civic system. Residents have access to Israeli schools, water and electricity regardless of citizenship status. The town’s experience combines local autonomy with public services shared with other Israeli communities. Ein Qiniyye and the three neighboring Druze towns have also received the same online-schooling directive, reflecting the coordination of education measures across the Golan villages.

Mughrabi has advocated for minority communities in Syria as well as for Ein Qiniyye’s residents. He joined a panel in Geneva on the opening day of the United Nations Human Rights Council’s 60th session to address the crisis facing those communities. He has also spoken about the danger facing Druze relatives in Syria. His involvement reflects the continuing family ties between Ein Qiniyye and Syrian Druze communities, even as the town’s municipal life and public services are rooted in Israel.