evidence: Ramat Hamagshimim, in what is now Syria. First Aliyah (1881-1903) immigrants established five small communities on this land, but were forced to leave by the Turks in 1898. The lands were farmed until 1947 by the Palestine Colonization Association and the Israel Colonization Association, when they were seized by the Syrian army. Most of the Golan Heights were included within Mandatory Palestine when the mandate was formally granted in 1922, but Britain ceded the area to France in the Franco-British Agreement of March 7, 1923. The Heights became part of Syria upon the termination of the French mandate in 1944. Zionists attempted to buy land in the area, but the French would not allow them to do so because of their concern that the British would then seek to take control of the Heights as part of the Palestine mandate. [...] From 1948-67, when Syria controlled the Golan Heights, it used the area as a military stronghold from which its troops randomly sniped at Israeli civilians in the Huleh Valley below, forcing children living on kibbutzim to sleep in bomb shelters. In addition, many roads in northern Israel could be crossed only after probing by mine-detection vehicles. In late 1966, a youth was blown to pieces by a mine while playing football near the Lebanon border. In some cases, attacks were carried out by Yasir Arafat’s Fatah, which Syria allowed to operate from its territory. [...] "Syria Gains Control of Golan Heights," Center for Israel Education.