- And what are we looking athere from this point of view?
- The Sea of Galilee isdown, straight down here.
Right in front of you, youhave the mountains of Tiberia.
Right after them, behind them,
you have the mountains of Nazareth.
And then if you go tothe right, to the north,
you get to the Upper Galilee.
And of course this is wheremost of the Gospels took place.
Around the Sea of Galilee.
- Amitai Elon owns aholiday village called Natur
at the top of the Sea ofGalilee on the Golan Heights.
- [Interviewer] Why haveyou chosen to live here?
- [Amitai] If you want tolive in nature, surrounded by
beautiful nature and the sound of birds.
Can go to the Golan, Galilee, and
you can go to the Negev Desert.
- [Interviewer] Now this isn't farm.
- [Amitai] So its a farm, its a space that
we use for a lot of things.
We're sitting right nowin a geographic dome
that is a greenhouse.
Sometimes it will hold aevent, venue or party or
camping or a big family.
Its kind of magical.
- But as beautiful and peacefulas it is the borders of
Lebanon and Syria runalong the Golan Heights.
Iran too, is trying to setup bases on the Syrian side
nearby, from which to attack Israel.
- [Interviewer] How far areyou from this Syrian border?
- [Amitai] Very close.
- [Interviewer] There's nothreat from the other side?
- [Amitai] Except for'67 where in (inaudible)
this place has been thesafest in the country.
- [Interviewer] Have yougrown more apprehensive
since Iran has gained a bigger foothold
near the Israeli Golan?
- [Amitai] If you look at thebig picture of the history
of this place.
Thousands of years, we hadextremely ups and extremely downs
but we are here.
- Further north we visitedsecurity expert, Kobi Marom,
who was former Israeli military commander
on the Golan Heights and now lives here.
- [Kobi] The unstable situation is Syria.
We riding deployment, itscritical for Israel to be in the
Golan Heights and stay here because with
so many challenges I can think about the
situation we could be under, 67 live.
- [Interviewer] Israel capturedthe Golan Heights in 1967.
During the last twodays of the six day war,
the Israeli-Syrian borderalong the Golan Heights
is about 55 miles long.
- Are you under a constant threat here?
- [Kobi] We feel very safe.
To the Israeli thechances are very factive.
The Iranian regime had the project.
They plan to have hereacross the border, 100,000
Shilities militia with the kiz-bal-a
They plan to have airforcebases, navy bases,
intelligence centers, theyplan to have an advanced
industry to produce a precisemissile that can be a real
threat to the center of Israel and the
strategic spots of Israel.
So that's why we've signedthe last three or fours years
that Israel has taken thisIranian deployment and destroyed
and we've become very successful.
- [Interviewer] 50,000 peoplemore than half Jewish Israelis
live on the Golan Heights.
But internationally itsconsidered Occupied Territory.
In March 2019, however, PresidentTrump broke with tradition
and recognized the strategicHeights as part of Israel.
Israel named the community in his honor,
calling it Trump Heights.
- [Kobi] Its a dramaticstatement, its unbelievable.
- [Interviewer] Positive?
- [Kobi] Positive sure. Itsa significant declaration
because it came fromthe strongest the most
important Israeli allies,the United States.
With the Trump recognitionof the Golan Heights
there is a big challenge forthe next Israeli government.
I think we have to bring100,000 Israelis to the
Golan Heights in the next 10 years.
- [Interviewer] Amit EliyahuBerkowitz in Katsrin,
the largest city on the Golan Heights.
He emigrated to Israel 28years ago from New Jersey
and moved to the Golanabout seven years ago.
Are you at all intimidatedby the events surrounded
Israel and specifically the Golan?
- [Eliyahu] We're alwaysworried about Israel, but there
is a lot to be optimistic about.
I don't know what peoplethink of the Golan.
They built bomb shelters herewhen they first settled it.
And they've never been used.
- [Interviewer] Known in theBible as Bashaun, some 635,000
tourists visited theGolan Heights last year.
Three quarters of them Christian,to see its stunning views,
historical sites, and wineries.
- We've always been alone,and when I see Christians
interested in Israel, that'ssomething totally new.
It gives me incredible optimism,I'm very happy about it.
- [Eliyahu] I think I'm helpingthem to be better Christians
and they are certainlyhelping me to be a better Jew.
- [Interviewer] In what way?
- [Eliyahu] Because I wantto stay here in Israel,
and their helping that.
And also, I'm not here just for me,
I'm here for the whole world.
The Torah was given at Mt.Sinai and we were supposed to be
a light unto the nations.
If you keep it to yourselfthen your breaking it.
- [Interviewer] Elon who isalso a tour guide, summed up
Christian commitment toIsrael and the Golan Heights.
- [Elon] If you came herebetween 2000 and 2005 we had kind
of intifada happening here.
It was empty, except for Christians.
- [Interviewer] Why do you think that is?
- [Elon] That is theperspective. That's all.
Your connection to theland, is it from the Bible
or is it from CNN, or fromthe narrow perspective
of few years of trouble?
If you are connected by narrowperspective of few years,
you would say itsdangerous and won't come.
- [Interviewer] Do you believe that God is
watching over Israel? Do you believe that?
- [Elon] The fulfillment ofthe prophecy is every step
you take in the countryit hard to ignore it.
- [Interviewer] Scott Ross for CBN
on the Golan Heights Israel.
