The Golan Heights were captured from Syria during the 1967 war. In 2003, Israel was still refusing to abide by U.N. Resolutions 242 and 338, which ordered Israel to give the land back, because it claimed:
1. Israeli farmers in the Hula Valley were the victims of relentless shelling from the Golan Heights during the period leading up to the 1967 war.
2. Israel seized the Golan Heights in what it regarded as a defensive war (although in public admissions, former Israeli Prime Ministers Begin and Rabin said that Israel started the war, not the Arabs).
3. The Golan Heights was essential to Israeli security.
The main point of contention was Israel's assertion of sovereignty over the demilitarized zone created on the Heights by the 1949 armistice that ended the first Arab-Israeli war. Israel began its incursions into the zone almost before the ink was dry on the armistice agreement. The U.N. Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) reported a series of border skirmishes between Israeli farmers and Syrians because of, as UNTSO put it, "progressive extension of Israeli cultivation toward the east" inside the demilitarized zone. Swedish General Carl von Horn of the U.N. peacekeeping forces wrote that, "gradually, beneath the glowering eyes of the Syrians, who held the high ground overlooking Zion, the area had become a network of Israeli canals and irrigation channels edging up against and always encroaching on Arab-owned property."
Then, beginning in 1951, Israeli army units entered Arab villages in the zone, destroyed Arab houses and property, and drove villagers out. Israel initially ignored UNTSO protests, but, following the passage of U.N. Resolution 93, allowed Arab residents to return. However, Israel refused to pay compensation for damages done.
Israeli farmers increased tensions further by installing irrigation systems that diverted water away from Syrian land. Israeli army units mounted additional raids. One on December 11, 1955 left 56 Syrians dead, seven wounded, and 32 missing. The U.N. Security Council passed Resolution 111 condemning Israel's "flagrant violation" of the 1949 armistice. Another assault was mounted by Israeli forces on March 16-17, 1962 that led to UN Security Council Resolution 171 which again sanctioned Israel. (more on water issues in the Middle East)
In 1966, Israel provoked Syrian fire again by moving tractors and bulldozers into Syrian territory. Israel was to claim that Syrian fire forced her into the war which began the following year. But later, Israeli General Matityahu Peled admitted that most of the border clashes before the 1967 war, "were a result of our security policy of maximum settlement in the demilitarized zone."
During the 1967 war, it was Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Dayan who reluctantly gave the order to conquer the Golan. Dayan later admitted he yielded to pressure from those who coveted the Golan for its farmland and who were less concerned with security (See Serge Schmemann, "General's Words Shed a New Light on the Golan," New York Times, May 11, 1997.)
(See Sheldon Richman, "The Golan Heights: A History of Israeli Aggression," The Washington Report for Middle East Affairs, November, 1991, p. 23. See also Laura Drake, "The Golan Belongs to Syria," Middle East International , September 11, 1992, 24.)