Israel: plan to double the number of settlers in the occupied Golan
The Israeli government gathered around Naftali Bennett in Mevo Hama, a kibbutz in the occupied Golan, for an exceptional Council of Ministers this Sunday, December 26, 2021. AP - NIR ELIAS
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The Israeli government announced this Sunday, December 26, via a press release from Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, that it had approved a plan to double the number of Israeli settlers in the occupied Golan, a strategic area. conquered from Syria in 1967, and annexed in 1981 by Israel.
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It is a unanimous and unprecedented decision, according to the Prime Minister.
"
The government voted in favor of an unprecedented investment plan in the Golan to double the Israeli population there,
" Naftali Bennett said in a statement.
This announcement came at the end of a Council of Ministers held exceptionally on the plateau, conquered during the 1967 war against the Hafez al-Assad regime.
On December 14, 1981, the Knesset, Israel's parliament, ratified a text placing the Golan Heights under Israeli law, jurisdiction and administration.
In other words, an annexation.
This procedure was only recognized in Israel until 2019 (see box).
►Read again:
Damascus accuses Israel of having assassinated a Syrian official near the Golan Heights
The Golan Heights is a popular destination for vacationing in Israel.
It is home to attractions, which the authorities also intend to fully support.
Some 23,000 Israelis could thus join
the population of the occupied Golan
, which is home to around 25,000. These people live alongside 23,000 Druze, most of whom claim to be from neighboring Syria while having the status of residents in Israel.
It is of course also a question of investing in infrastructures: medical and educational systems, but also of reinforcing aid for farmers and industrialists.
The Golan Heights, a disputed territory since 1967. RFI
Technically, Israel and Syria are still at war, over this strategic territory very rich in water, which overlooks the Galilee as well as the Sea of Galilee ("Sea of Galilee") under Israeli control, and the road to Damascus on the side. Syrian.
"
Doubling, and further doubling the population of the plateau
", such is the stake.
Ultimate goal, explains our correspondent in Jerusalem,
Michel Paul
: 100,000 inhabitants in 2030.
Trump's legacy in the Middle East
In the eyes of Naftali Bennett, at the head of a vast and very heterogeneous coalition, "
it goes without saying that the Golan Heights are Israeli
".
"
The need to strengthen, develop and inhabit this region is common to us
", he pleads.
And the Israeli Prime Minister to highlight all the "
importance
" that "
the recognition of Mr. Trump and the fact that the administration of Joe Biden has clarified that there was no change of position. this policy
”.
In March 2019
, Donald Trump signed a decree officially recognizing, on behalf of the United States, Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, breaking with the position observed by Washington for decades.
Last February, the Biden administration, through Secretary of State Antony Blinken, declared the Golan to be "
very important to Israel's security
," while theorizing that "
questions of legality are of another order
”.
At the time of Donald Trump, Damascus denounced a "
flagrant attack
" on its sovereignty.
But in June 2019, a new colony was inaugurated on the annexed part of the plateau,
called “Ramat Trump”
, “Trump hill” in Hebrew.
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Syria
Israel
Disputed territories
Naftali Bennett