Trump: The Time to Recognize Israeli Sovereignty Over the Golan Has Arrived

Donald Trump, the President of the United States, wrote on Twitter on Thursday, March 21, 'After 52 years, it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.' Mr. Trump described the Golan Heights as having 'strategic and security importance for Israel' and also for 'regional stability.' Israel took control of the Syrian Golan Heights during the 1967 war. Benjamin Netanyahu, the Prime Minister of Israel, quickly reacted, mentioning Iran in a tweet, 'At a time when Iran wants to use Syrian territory as a platform to destroy Israel, President Trump recognizes Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights; thank you, President Trump.' Meanwhile, neither Mr. Trump nor the Israeli Prime Minister referred to the history of the U.S. recognition of Israeli control over the Golan. Recently, Mr. Netanyahu emphasized that the time has come to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan. Netanyahu then, in a joint press conference with Mike Pompeo, the U.S. Secretary of State visiting Israel, said, '2500 years ago, other Persians wanted to destroy us, but now on the day of Purim, a miracle has happened, and the Persians will be defeated again.' Netanyahu's reference to the 'Purim miracle' refers to the Jewish celebration of their deliverance from potential extermination during the Achaemenid Empire in ancient times. The Israeli Prime Minister also stated in a meeting with Mike Pompeo that if Israel were not present in the Golan, Hezbollah and Iran would have advanced to Galilee. Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who visited Israel ten days ago, stated that it is necessary to ensure Israel's continued control over the Golan. Senator Graham promised to ask Mr. Trump to recognize Israel's sovereignty upon returning to Washington. UN Security Council Resolution 242, issued after the 52-year-old war between Israel and Arab countries, refers to the Golan as occupied territory and calls for Israel to return these areas. In 1981, when Israel officially annexed the Golan under Menachem Begin's leadership, Ronald Reagan, the then U.S. President, also supported UN Security Council Resolution 497 regarding the return of the Golan to Syria. No country in the international community, including the U.S., has recognized the annexation of the Golan by Israel to date. During the political negotiations between Israel and Syria during Ehud Barak's premiership in Israel and the leadership of Hafez al-Assad and then Bashar al-Assad in Syria, Israel apparently agreed to return parts of the Golan in exchange for full peace with Syria, but disagreements over the Tiberias Lake, which Assad requested, led to the failure of the negotiations. Israeli media had speculated that Donald Trump would recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan during Benjamin Netanyahu's upcoming visit to Washington. Analysts from the Israeli state network 'Kan' described Trump's timing of announcing his opinion on recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan as an indirect effort by the U.S. President to boost Netanyahu's popularity in Israeli public opinion ahead of the elections on April 8. Benjamin Netanyahu, who is going to Washington next week to speak at the annual AIPAC conference, will meet with Donald Trump at the White House on Monday, April 1. Syria, which has recently emerged from an eight-year war and is experiencing relative calm, has not yet responded to the tweets from Donald Trump and Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday, but it is expected to condemn this decision. Syria only controls about 600 kilometers of the 1800 square kilometers of the Golan Heights. Over more than half a century of its control over the Golan, Israel has established dozens of cities and settlements in this area.