like even today when all the bombings go
going over there
yeah people work in the fields we're
traveling over here
the restaurant now is full with people
that come in to dine into the golan
heights
and maybe also take a look at the world
that's going next to us
right now we're just about 300 yards
from the new border
fence that israel has built since the
start of the civil war in syria
al-nusra al-qaeda affiliate they're just
on the other side of that fence now
controlling a lot of this territory on
your border
how does that make you feel hearing the
news about isis they've been okay
thank god if we don't have isis here
this is one of the top tourist
destinations in the israeli-controlled
golan heights
up here on a clear day like today
there's a great view of volcanic hills
sprawling vineyards and
serious civil war so take this in with
you this surreal moment
the guide is a bit confused isis for now
is nowhere near here but that is
artillery and mortar fire from the
al-qaeda-affiliated al-nusra front
and the syrian military locked in a
battle for control of the road to
damascus
as tourists watch the action here so
does a team of united nations observers
or at least what's left of it
u.n peacekeepers have been monitoring
this disputed border since 1974
the end of israel's last war with syria
but this past august
al-nusra took 45 fijian peacekeepers
prisoner
when it took control of the border
crossing
the soldiers were released two weeks
later but it was enough to spook the
force
into abandoning its post in syria now
they watch the war
from the same place as the rest of us
we made several formal attempts to
interview the commander of the observer
force
but his spokesman told us it wasn't a
good time to talk
so when we spotted these fijian un
observers we tried to talk to them
hi are you from the u.n from the
observer mission
i'm sorry we cannot say anything we are
not allowed to say anything oh really
yeah
nothing at all no i cannot i cannot
are you observing now is that what
you're doing
you don't look like tourists
you and guys aren't too talkative
they must be pretty embarrassed that
they don't have their checkpoint anymore
i scared them all away i mean if they're
scared of me it's no wonder that they're
not at their uh checkpoint down there
anymore
not far from the lookout is kibbutz
marom galan home to about a hundred
families who work as farmers
and in tourism this popular restaurant
is run by the kibbutz
and it's where many un observers and
tourists grab a stake in a glass of
local wine after watching
syria's civil war ari golonsky manages
the restaurant
and he says life hasn't really changed
since the al-nusra front sees the nearby
border crossing
listen you're in a war zone you need a
helmet
he took us on a horseback ride to show
us how life goes on
we go up the mountain so we have the
view of the other side of the mountain
giddy
this car this car literally has a mind
of its own
like even today when all the bombings go
going over there
yeah people work in the fields we're
traveling over here
the restaurant now is full with people
that come to
to dine and tour the golan heights and
enjoying the weather
and maybe also take a look at the world
that's going next to us
it's a weird juxtaposition being over
here so close to it
and uh you know pretending that you're
just
on a nature trail you know some tourists
come because of that
you get like people that want to see
that you don't have a lot
of spots where you can be like observers
from the side
to drink coffee to sit by and see like a
war zone
that was another big one the sounds
today
are far in the distance but increasingly
the war is spilling into israeli
territory
the israeli military says it shot down a
syrian aircraft the military says the
plane
infiltrated israeli airspace over the
golan heights
it's unclear what may have happened to
the pilot this happened in late spring
the official story was that the israelis
shot down the syrian sukhoi 24
aircraft after it flew into the golan
heights
and that both the pilot and the co-pilot
ejected into syria
but ari says he and his neighbors saw
what really happened
yeah they survived and they were treated
here and go back to syria after that
so they landed on the israeli side yeah
can you show me where the jet was shot
down well
approximately here in this in this area
wow
that was a big one beautiful scenery huh
have you ever had any shells come down
in this area
yeah a few during the night we never saw
during the day
and here you see the crater of a of a
missile that
land here a while back oh this is the
crater
from uh from a missile yeah well what
can be done about
this massive civil war in syria
well again i'm not the address to ask
this uh this question yeah
but people get killed there on daily
basis
the question is who's willing to
interfere and stop it
you know we we don't think we are not
part of the problem
and we don't have to be part of the
solution we will defend ourselves if we
need to we are ready for that
but look we're traveling here there's
bomb going on over here and
we don't feel scared we don't feel like
any threat
so so so far for us we just feel bad for
the citizens that get killed over there
that's the reality
a few miles from the kibbutz is an
abandoned syrian military training
facility
a friend of ari's brings us to the roof
after warning about possible sniper fire
i thought we weren't supposed to go out
on the roof we're not supposed but
just for a quick view jabba al-nusra
al-qaeda affiliate they're just on the
other side of that fence now controlling
a lot of this territory on your border
how does that make you feel hearing the
news about isis they've been okay
thank god that we don't have isis here
if al-qaeda call isis crazy
yeah so we said okay we'd rather have
them
yeah everything was relative huh yeah
seems like that for them also keeping
the border quiet
it's a common entrance right now we're
just about 300 yards from the new border
fence that
israel has built since the start of the
civil war in syria
there's an israeli flag on this side
over here a minefield
left over from the wars with syria in
the 60s and 70s
but just over there beyond the un
checkpoint there's a building
with the black flag of al-nusra flying
on the top
foreign
you