Land leveling work is underway in preparation for the construction of the homes

"Trump Heights" ... an Israeli settlement under construction in the occupied Golan

The Israeli Prime Minister at the inauguration of the "Trump Heights" settlement site, in the presence of US Ambassador David Friedman, on June 16, 2019.

On a dirt plain in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, in front of a rusted wire fence, there is a sign bearing the Israeli and American flags, written in gold: "Trump Heights."

The Israeli settlement, named after US President Donald Trump, was opened in gratitude to him after his recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

It seems that this recognition has aroused the appetite of investors in the region.

"Since Trump's announcement, and the decision to build on the site, we have been witnessing a great deal of investor interest," said Haim Rokash, head of the Golan Regional Council.

"There is really a big change," he says.

Israel occupied the Golan Heights, a strategic military region, from Syria in the 1967 war. Trump's recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights is added to a series of steps that violate international consensus, including the recognition of Jerusalem as the unified capital of Israel, and the granting of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu the green light to complete Settlement expansion, which is considered illegal, under international law.

The settlement, which now bears the name of the US president, was established in 1991, coinciding with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Russian immigrant Jews who arrived in the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

Only small groups populated the area, but the renaming of the site after Trump appears to have been an opportunity to revitalize it.

Twenty Israeli families are due to move in by November.

According to the director of foreign affairs in the Golan Regional Council, Shay Yehekil, the land settlement work is underway, in preparation for the construction of houses, and 20 families are expected to arrive annually, during the next decade.

"For the first time in nearly 30 years, we have hope," Yehezkel says.

"The area will become one of the most prominent sites of the Golan," he added.

Zone revitalization

Since the settlement was renamed, it has become a destination for strangers.

It is already inhabited by elderly people, to whom groups of young people provide assistance as part of training, in preparation for military service.

"Some of the only elderly live here," said Illit Shawarib (18 years old), who comes from the Efrat settlement in the West Bank.

Her companion, Uday Hazan, who was standing next to her, notes that one of their goals is for more people to move to the area.

Hazan, who came from the Burat community in central Israel, expects that "new people will arrive, to build this place and revitalize it."

The Golan is inhabited by 23 thousand Druze, who remained in their lands after its occupation in 1967, and 23 thousand settlers.

As for the number of settlers in the West Bank, they are much higher, as about 450,000 Israelis live in settlements built on Palestinian lands, which number 2.8 million.

Settlement building witnessed a slowdown during the era of US President Barack Obama, before it rose again during the Trump era.

Great damage

Statistics from Peace Now, an Israeli non-governmental anti-settlement organization, indicate that the number of approved settlement units has doubled in the first three years of the Trump era, compared to the last three years of the Obama presidency.

"Settlement building has, indeed, doubled in the Trump era," says Brian Reeves of the movement.

Settlement activity is expected to increase over the next three years, even if President Trump loses the elections in November.

Reeves believes that Trump has caused "great damage to the international consensus, regarding the reading of the peace process and how to make it, that cannot be repaired."

The Palestinians severed relations with the Trump administration, due to its staunch support for Israel, and early this year they rejected Trump's Middle East peace plan.

Israeli officials say that the shift in US policy has opened the way for investors to finance projects in areas that "will remain under Israeli control indefinitely."

This may be an opportunity for Yehezkel to build a huge hotel, as he says, "We have a lot of hotels in the Golan, but the rooms are not enough."

He hopes that "more hotels will be built here in the near future."

And who knows?

One of them might also bear the name Trump.

• The settlement, which now bears the name of the US President, was established in 1991, in conjunction with the arrival of hundreds of thousands of Russian immigrant Jews who arrived in the country after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

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