Jerusalem: Israel will keep Golan Heights, which it captured Syria In the 1967 war, even as international views on Damascus change, Israel’s prime minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday.
The then US President in 2019 Donald Trump broke with other world powers by recognizing Israel as sovereign golan Heights, which she did not attend in 1981, a move she recognized internationally.
Bennett’s remarks came as the current US administration defended the legal position of the Golan and some US-allied Arab states eased away from the Syrian president. Bashar Al Assad To deal with a decades-old civil war.
Addressing a conference about the future of the Golan, Bennett said that the internal Syrian conflict has “persuaded many people in the world that perhaps it is better that this beautiful and strategic region be in the hands of the State of Israel.
“But even in such a situation – be that as it may – the world changes on Syria or with regard to Assad, it has no effect on the Golan Heights,” he told the forum organized by the conservative Makor Rishon newspaper.
“The Golan Heights is Israel, full stop.”
Assad’s grip on power
Assad’s two-decade-old presidential extension in May’s election did little to break his pariah position in the West, but fellow Arab leaders are coming to terms with the fact that he has a firm grip on power.
Geopolitical considerations that contributed to his reckoning include calls by pro-Assad Russia for reunification of Syria, Washington’s more pragmatic regional approach, and Arab hopes of countering Iranian and Turkish clout in Damascus.
While not altering policy, President Joe Biden’s administration has been watchful on the Golan issue, describing Israel’s hold in real rather than legal terms.
Asked in a February interview whether Washington would continue to annex the Golan Heights portion of Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken signaled openness to a final policy review on an area that most countries consider occupied.
“As long as Assad is in power in Syria, as long as Iran is present in Syria, a militia group backed by Iran … in that case control of the Golan is, I think, the real key to Israel’s security,” he told CNN. .
“The legal questions are something else. And, over time, if the situation in Syria changes, we will look into it.”
In his speech, Bennett pledged to double the size of Israel’s population on the Golan, which currently equates to a Druze Arab community that often professes allegiance to Syria.
The then US President in 2019 Donald Trump broke with other world powers by recognizing Israel as sovereign golan Heights, which she did not attend in 1981, a move she recognized internationally.
Bennett’s remarks came as the current US administration defended the legal position of the Golan and some US-allied Arab states eased away from the Syrian president. Bashar Al Assad To deal with a decades-old civil war.
Addressing a conference about the future of the Golan, Bennett said that the internal Syrian conflict has “persuaded many people in the world that perhaps it is better that this beautiful and strategic region be in the hands of the State of Israel.
“But even in such a situation – be that as it may – the world changes on Syria or with regard to Assad, it has no effect on the Golan Heights,” he told the forum organized by the conservative Makor Rishon newspaper.
“The Golan Heights is Israel, full stop.”
Assad’s grip on power
Assad’s two-decade-old presidential extension in May’s election did little to break his pariah position in the West, but fellow Arab leaders are coming to terms with the fact that he has a firm grip on power.
Geopolitical considerations that contributed to his reckoning include calls by pro-Assad Russia for reunification of Syria, Washington’s more pragmatic regional approach, and Arab hopes of countering Iranian and Turkish clout in Damascus.
While not altering policy, President Joe Biden’s administration has been watchful on the Golan issue, describing Israel’s hold in real rather than legal terms.
Asked in a February interview whether Washington would continue to annex the Golan Heights portion of Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken signaled openness to a final policy review on an area that most countries consider occupied.
“As long as Assad is in power in Syria, as long as Iran is present in Syria, a militia group backed by Iran … in that case control of the Golan is, I think, the real key to Israel’s security,” he told CNN. .
“The legal questions are something else. And, over time, if the situation in Syria changes, we will look into it.”
In his speech, Bennett pledged to double the size of Israel’s population on the Golan, which currently equates to a Druze Arab community that often professes allegiance to Syria.
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