• Full-day tour of two minority communities in the Golan Heights.
• Visit Ghajar, Israel’s only Alawite village, to learn about this syncretic Shiite offshoot that comprises some 20% of the population of Syria.
• Explore the contested city which has only recently been reopened to the general public after 17 years of being a military enclave.
• Enjoys the sweets at Ahmed Khatib’s famed sweetshop where he bakes up a delicious fusion of French inspired Arabic pastries.
• Eat a traditional Druze lunch in the village of Majdal Shams at the home of a local resident to learn about this secret gnostic religion and regional politics.

On this full-day tour, we head north to the Golan Heights to learn about two minority communities with roots in the Shiite Islamic tradition. The start of our tour is in the recently opened village of Ghajar. Since most of the village is located across the UN mandated “Blue Line” separating Israel from Lebanon, the village effectively became an enclave with entry for non-residents prohibited for over 17 years.

Now that it has reopened, it is finally possible to visit Israel’s only Alawite community. Miniscule when compared to the over a billion Muslims around the world, Alawites are an Islamic sect that nonetheless play an important role in the region and constitute some 20% of the population of nearby Syria. 

During our tour, we will visit Alawite religious sites and sit down with locals to learn about their syncretic faith tradition. In addition, we will explore what life is like on the margins of Israel, Lebanon, and Syria. Last, but not least, we will sample some sweets at Ahmed Khatib’s famed sweetshop before heading further up the Golan Heights.

Located in a beautiful valley under the shadow of the often-snow-covered Hermon Mountain, the town of Majdal Shams is the largest of the four Druze villages captured by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. Here we will enjoy a family meal and meet with a local to learn about this secretive religion that broke off from Shiite Islam over a thousand years ago in Egypt. 

Lastly, we will delve into the political situation surrounding the Golan Heights and the personal hardships that people face due to the ongoing conflict between Israel and Syria.