Trump: It's time to recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory

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Reuters

President Donald Trump overturned decades of US policy stating that it was time to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, which it had captured to Syria in 1967.

In a tweet, Mr. Trump said that the plateau was "critical strategic and security importance for the state of Israel and regional stability".

Israel annexed the Golan in 1981 in an internationally unrecognized movement.

Syria, which has sought to return to the region, has so far made no comment.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu – who warned against the "military retrenchment" of Iran, the sworn enemy of his country, in Syria and ordered air strikes to try to thwart him – tweeted his thanks to Mr. Trump.

"As Iran seeks to use Syria as a platform to destroy Israel, President Trump boldly recognizes Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights," he wrote.

Richard Habad, former senior US State Department official and chairman of the Foreign Relations Council think tank, said he "strongly disagrees" with Trump. He said that such recognition of Israeli sovereignty would violate a UN Security Council resolution "that prohibits the acquisition of territory by war."

• What does Trump's move really mean in Golan
• Why are the Golan Heights so important?

The president 's statement comes as Netanyahu faces a disputed legislative election on April 9, as well as a series of bribery indictments.

In 2017, Mr. Trump recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and ordered the transfer of the United States Embbady to Tel Aviv. The decision was condemned by the Palestinians, who want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future Palestinian state, and the UN General Assembly called for its cancellation.

"A nice surprise for Netanyahu"

Was President Trump's tweet a surprise to his closest collaborators?

The press traveling with Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was waiting at Prime Minister Netanyahu's house to hear the two men when Trump's decision on the Golan was announced.

They delayed their appearance long enough for us to ask if they were trying to formulate an answer.

But if this announcement was a surprise, it was a good surprise for Mr. Netanyahu – "I'm so excited" were his first words.

And the surprise would have been in the timing, not in the content, because the idea of ​​the recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the Golan by the United States was actively being studied in the Trump administration for some time now. time.

Israel has gained popularity in the White House and in some parts of Congress by claiming that Iran is using Syria as a base to target Israel, with the Golan Heights as a front line.

But the official recognition of the United States does not change anything on the ground: Israel was already acting with complete military authority.

Critics therefore concluded that it was a blatant attempt to give Mr Netanyahu a boost in a hotly contested election.

If so, it is an offense that violates important principles of international law, they said: Mr. Trump has approved the take-over and will have no moral authority to blame Russia for doing so. Ukrainian Crimea.

What are the Golan Heights?

The region is located about 60 km southwest of the Syrian capital, Damascus, and covers about 1,200 km 2.

Israel seized most of the Golan in Syria at the end of the 1967 war in the Middle East, and thwarted a Syrian attempt to retake the region during the 1973 war.

The following year, the two countries agreed on a disengagement plan providing for the creation of a 70-km (44-mile) demilitarized zone patrolled by a United Nations observation force. . But they remained technically in a state of war.

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AFP / Getty Images

In 1981, the Israeli parliament pbaded a law applying its "law, jurisdiction and administration" in the Golan, actually annexing the territory. But the international community did not recognize the movement and maintained that the Golan was a occupied Syrian territory. United Nations Security Council Resolution 497 declared the Israeli decision "null and void and without international legal effect".

Three years ago, while former President Barack Obama was in power, the United States voted in favor of a Security Council statement expressing deep concern that Mr. Netanyahu has declared that Israel would never give up the Golan.

Syria has always insisted that it can only accept a peace agreement with Israel if it withdraws from the entire Golan. The last direct peace talks negotiated by the United States failed in 2000, while Turkey negotiated in 2008 as mediator.

There are more than 30 Israeli settlements in the Golan, where about 20,000 people live. Settlements are considered illegal under international law, although Israel disputes this. The settlers live alongside 20,000 Syrians, mostly Druze Arabs, who did not flee after the capture of the Golan Heights.