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Trump backs Israeli sovereignty in Golan Heights

Trump backs Israeli sovereignty in Golan Heights
Trump backs Israeli sovereignty in Golan Heights

2019-03-22 00:00:00 - Source: Baghdad Post

President Donald Trump said on Thursday the United States

should acknowledge Israeli sovereignty over the hotly-contested Golan Heights,

in a major pre-election gift to his ally Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin

Netanyahu, AFP reported.

"After 52 years it is time for the United States to

fully recognize Israel's Sovereignty over the Golan Heights," Trump said

in a tweet.

Trump called the Golan – a strategic area seized from Syria

and annexed in a move never recognized by the international community –

"of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and

Regional Stability!"

About 20,000 Israeli settlers live in the Golan, which

overlooks Syrian territory.

Trump's abrupt announcement was immediately cheered by

Netanyahu, who faces a tough reelection battle and visits Washington next week.

"At a time when Iran seeks to use Syria as a platform

to destroy Israel, President Trump boldly recognizes Israeli sovereignty over

the Golan Heights," the right-wing prime minister wrote on Twitter.

"Thank you President Trump!"

There was also quick approval from the senior Republican in

the US Senate, Lindsey Graham, who is pushing for Congress to recognize Israeli

control over the Golan.

"President Trump's decision to recognize the Golan as

part of Israel is strategically wise and overall awesome. Well done, Mr.

President!" Graham tweeted.

Trump's announcement coincided with a visit by Secretary of

State Mike Pompeo to Jerusalem, where he became the first high-ranking American

official to visit the Western Wall alongside an Israeli prime minister –

another boost for Netanyahu.

However, Leon Panetta a veteran Democrat who served as CIA

director and defense secretary, among other roles, blasted Trump for

"tweeting out another policy that obviously has not been worked out with

our international partners."

Diplomatic bombshell

The Golan recognition is only the latest diplomatic

bombshell dropped by Washington, which is Israel's main backer, in seeking to

redraw the fraught Middle East map.

In 2017, Trump also went against decades of practice in

recognizing the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel's capital, rather than the

previously accepted Tel Aviv.

The Golan Heights move was hinted at a week ago when the

State Department changed its usual description of the area as "occupied"

to "Israeli-controlled."

The Trump State Department has likewise dropped previous

definitions of the Palestinian territories of the West Bank and Gaza Strip as

being "occupied" by the Jewish state.

Israel occupied the Golan Heights, West Bank, East Jerusalem

and the Gaza Strip in the 1967 Six-Day War.

It later annexed the Golan Heights and East Jerusalem in

moves never recognized by the international community.

During Pompeo's Jerusalem trip, there was also speculation

that his Western Wall visit with Netanyahu could be interpreted as tacit

approval of Israel's claim to sovereignty over the site. The wall is one of

Judaism's holiest spots, but located in mainly Palestinian east Jerusalem.

Trump's latest shakeup comes ahead of the expected unveiling

of a White House plan for Israeli-Palestinian peace. Palestinian leaders, who

broke off contact with Washington after the recognition of Jerusalem by Trump,

say they expect the plan to be blatantly biased in favor of Israel.

Panetta, who was speaking on CNN, said the Golan recognition

"gives up one of the chips that everyone thought would be part of a Middle

East peace agreement deal."

"It's going to create real problems with our Arab

partners in that part of the world," he said.

Trump will host Netanyahu at the White House next Monday and

Tuesday. The Israeli leader will be in Washington for the annual conference of

the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) pro-Israel lobbying

group.

Netanyahu, who is campaigning under threat of indictment for

corruption, is hoping that the strong US backing will help push him over the

finish line.

But Robert Malley, president of the Crisis Group

consultancy, said the "intensely political" decision by Trump was

"in disregard of international law" and "an ominous step at a

time when voices in Israel calling for the annexation of the West Bank are

growing louder."





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