US President as namesake: Israel has found place for "Project Trumpville"

The Israeli government is serious about the idea that the media baptized something sloppy "Project Trumpville": After Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu first spoke in April of naming a place in honor of US President Donald Trump, the project is now taking more concrete shape on.

Following a Cabinet meeting, Netanyahu said the government had identified a specific place to build the settlement. This is reported by Israeli media like the "Jerusalem Post" (click here for the article). Most of all, it is explosive because the settlement is to be built in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, which are internationally recognized as Syrian territory occupied by Israel.

Israel conquered the original Syrian Golan Heights in 1967 during the Six-Day War and annexed the area in 1981. Internationally, the area claim was not recognized - until Donald Trump came. The US President had acknowledged Israel's sovereignty over the strategically important region in March, despite vociferous international criticism. Previously, he had already relocated the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.

So far Israel maintains 33 settlements in the Golan. The last one was founded in 1999. The new town, which is to bear Trump's name, would therefore be the first new establishment in twenty years. According to a report by the Israeli newspaper "Makor Rishon", it will initially be built for 120 families in northern Golan.