Regional identity and the sense of political belonging in a disputed land: the Golan Trail as symbolic socio-political initiative

The long-distance hiking Golan Trail in Israel is a local socio-political initiative established in the internationally and locally disputed land of the Golan Heights, facing an uncertain political future. As uncertainty increased sharply in the 1990s, the leadership of the Golan region pushed for a comprehensive conceptual strategy change, intended to build local and public solidarity and a sense of spatial-political belonging. Our findings suggest that in the early 2000s, the establishment of the trail was initiated as an integral part of the conceptual strategy change, and upon its inauguration (2007) the trail was incorporated in educational and social programmes for the Golan settlers. The article analyses social and political discourse derived from documents and interviews, to illustrate the intention of using the trail for the purpose of ‘landscape normalisation’. The trail was to present the Golan as a safe and attractive destination of natural and human beauty, in addition to being a strategically important and integral part of the State of Israel. We argue that the creation of the trail and its use are an act of political symbolism, intended as a regional unification facilitator, and serving to downplay political uncertainty by boosting the perception of the Golan as geographically, socially, and politically normalized land.