JERUSALEM - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu opened a new settlement on the occupied Golan Heights on Sunday in honor of US President Donald Trump.
On March 25, Donald Trump acknowledged Israel's sovereignty over the part of Syria that it had occupied during the 1967 Middle East war and then annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognized by the international community.
"The Golan is Israeli and will remain so," Netanyahu said. "Trump is a great friend of Israel who made decisions that were not taken before."
The cabinet held an extraordinary session in a tent in the Golan Heights in the presence of US ambassador David Friedman and decided to vote for the construction of the Ramat Trump settlement in the kibbutz of Quila Bruchim in 1984, where four settler families currently live.
For his part, Friedman praised the "extraordinary gesture".
Outside the tent, a sign bearing the name of the settlement was revealed shortly after the announcement in front of local Jewish and Druze officials.
The Israeli Prime Minister added that "President Trump shows once again his commitment to Israel's security and future," recalling that Trump transferred the US Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem in May 2018.
He said that the opening of a new settlement, which "has not happened for many years", will promote the development of the Golan Heights.
In 1949, the Israeli government opened a town in the center of the country in the name of "Kfar Truman" - the village of Truman in Hebrew - in recognition of US President Harry Truman being the first to recognize Israel on 14 May 1948.
Some 23,000 Syrian Druze live in part of the Golan Heights, as well as 25,000 settlers who arrived in 1967.