JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel said on Tuesday it would name US President Donald Trump on a new town in the Golan Heights as an expression of gratitude for his recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the strategic region.
Israel occupied the Golan from Syria during the 1967 war and annexed it in a move that was not recognized internationally. The United States battled other world powers last month when Trump signed a decree recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
"All Israelis were deeply moved when President Trump took his historic decision," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a video statement on the Golan Heights.
"He will present a decision to the government calling for the release of President Donald Trump on a new town in the Golan Heights," he added.
Trump's admission of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan after his decision in December 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel contradicted a decades-old US policy on the status of the disputed city with the Palestinians.
Israel has said separately that it plans to name Trump on a planned railway station near the western wall of Jerusalem in recognition of the US president.