The Golan Heights, located in the southwestern corner of Syria and bordering Israel, Lebanon and Jordan, is a rocky area about 1,000 kilometers from Damascus, although it is more important than that and has been a political beacon. for decades.
Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since the 1980s and its forces have occupied the demilitarized zone, due to the fall of Bashar al-Assad’s dictatorship in Syria.
Troops have also been deployed outside the demilitarized zone and in Syrian territory, with Israel’s defense minister, Israel Katz, saying that Israeli forces have been ordered to create a “safe defensive zone” in southern Syria, adding that they will not remain there permanently. Israel has previously described reports from Syria that it violated the buffer zone as “false”.
Speaking at a press conference in Jerusalem, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel’s supreme control “guarantees our security and sovereignty” adding “the Golan will be part of the State of Israel forever”.
Israel’s cabinet has given approval to Mr Netanyahu’s $11 million (£8.7m) plan to double the population of the Golan Heights because of the security threat following the ousting of Bashar al-Assad from Syria.
His office said the money will be used in education, renewable energy, the establishment of a student residence, and a program to recruit new residents.
It’s a move that has sparked protests across the region and from the UN. Here, The Independent reveals why Israel considers the Golan Heights important.
Why is Israel occupying the Golan Heights?
It was captured by Israeli forces during the 1967 Six-Day War, a brief conflict between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Syrian Arab residents fled the area during the war, before the military line was captured and the region was brought under Israeli occupation. Residents started entering the Golan not long ago.
Israeli military vehicles drive after crossing the fence to the buffer zone with Syria, near the Druze village of Majdal Shams in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights (AFP via Getty Images)
Fourteen years of military rule followed – including Syria’s failed attempt to retake the Golan in 1973. Israel and Syria signed an arms deal in 1974 and the United Nations has been in a ceasefire since 1974. Israel took it unilaterally in 1981. .
In December of that year, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 497, declaring that the Golan Heights is still an occupied area and that the illegal occupation is “null and void and without international law”.
More than four decades later, the entire international community – including the US and Israel – recognizes the Golan Heights as Syrian territory occupied by Israel. In 2019, the US recognized the Golan Heights as an independent territory of Israel during the first term of Donald Trump – becoming the only country to do so.
Israeli soldiers take up positions near the so-called Alpha Line that separates the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights from Syria, in the town of Majdal Shams (AP)
The Minister of Defense, Israel Katz, said the decision was taken on Sunday to take over the area to protect its residents. Israel later told the UN Security Council that it was taking “limited and temporary” measures against threats to its security.
The move was condemned by regional powers including Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Turkey.
Reports from Syria that Israel had breached Syrian territory across the Golan Heights – and they were only 25 kilometers from the Syrian capital of Damascus – were strongly denied by Israel, which said its forces remained “within a closed area”.
Why is Israel so interested in the Golan Heights?
About 23,000 Druze people, who are more commonly known as Arabs and did not flee the country during the 1967 war, currently live next to 30 Israeli settlements in the Golan Heights.
Israeli military vehicles cross the fence as they return from the buffer zone with Syria (AFP via Getty Images)
In 2021, Israel vowed to double the number of Jewish residents in the Golan Heights within five years, allowing 730,000 homes in the area to accommodate 23,000 more. Israel’s prime minister at the time, Naftali Bennett, told the cabinet: “It does not say that the Golan Heights is Israel.”
This place is important for the war. When Syria controlled the Heights between 1948 and 1967, it would use it as an observation post to attack northern Israel. On top of the Heights sports a view that reaches to Damascus and oversees most of the southern part of Syria, allowing Israel to monitor the movements of Syria and making the Syrian army against Israel difficult.
The Golan also has fertile soil, and is an important source of water for the arid region.
The Syrian government has previously sought a peace agreement with Israel, demanding a complete withdrawal from the pre-1967 borders and the withdrawal of all Israeli settlements.