The Israeli cabinet met for a group photo on the high plateau above the Sea of Galilee. The picturesque background was intended to underline a decision that Prime Minister Naftali Bennett announced with joy: the population of the Golan Heights is to be doubled thanks to an ambitious building program by the end of the decade. The government plans to invest one billion shekels, the equivalent of around 270 million euros, in this. “Friends, this is our moment,” tweeted the prime minister of the right-wing Jamina Settler Party. “We are making history on the Golan.”
The Golan Heights, like the Palestinian West Bank and the Gaza Strip, are among the areas that Israel conquered in the Six Day War of 1967 and has not returned to this day. The rock plateau, which is part of Syria under international law, is 60 kilometers long and 25 kilometers wide and is of enormous strategic importance for Israel. Anyone who controls the Golan overlooks large parts of the north of Israel on the one hand, and Syrian territory on the other, right up to the capital Damascus, 60 kilometers away as the crow flies.
With a view to the security situation, Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, but this was not recognized internationally. To date, 27,000 Jewish Israelis have been resettled. In addition, as in Syrian times, around 24,000 Druze and 2,000 Alawites live in the region. In terms of international law, settlement there is just as much a violation as the construction of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territories. As a rule, however, the international protests are much quieter.
Prime Minister Bennett now apparently sees a favorable window of opportunity for a construction offensive in the area. On the one hand, he relies on facts that US President Donald Trump had created when he single-handedly recognized Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan in March 2019. As a reward, a new settlement called Ramat Trump, Trump-Höhe, had been planned there by return of post. Bennett argues that the new US President Joe Biden has not withdrawn the recognition of sovereignty to this day, and thus at the same time approved it.
Only the environment minister gave a slight contradiction
On the other hand, he refers to the Syrian civil war that has been raging for ten years, which, including the Iranian military presence in the neighboring country, once again clearly shows how important control of the Golan Heights is for Israel. “Every reasonable person in the world understands that the Israeli, blooming, calm and green Golan Heights are better than any other alternative,” said the head of government. “The Golan Heights are Israeli, that’s clear.”
Building plans on the Golan are also much easier for the right-wing prime minister to enforce within the Israeli government coalition than building settlements in the Palestinian West Bank. Because there, the left represented in the government and the Arab Raam party are always protesting. At the crucial cabinet meeting, which was held demonstratively in a kibbutz in the Golan Heights, Bennett spoke of a “broad Israeli consensus” on this issue.
A slight contradiction came from Environment Minister Tamar Zandberg from the left-wing Meretz party. The decision was “complicated”, she said. “We support peace and hope that one day it will come about.” The opposition Arab MP Ahmad Tibi became clearer. “It doesn’t matter how many government meetings are held in the Golan,” he said. “This is Syrian land under occupation.”
The new settlements already have names
A few objections, however, came from environmental protection organizations, who fear for the natural beauty of the Golan Heights in view of the extensive construction work. The office of the head of government therefore promised to take care of the protection of the environment and also announced that the region should be made the nation’s leading center for renewable energies. Hundreds of millions of shekels are to be invested in solar energy projects.
The construction of a total of more than 10,000 residential units is planned for the settlement of new population groups. Most of them are to be built around Katzrin, the seat of the regional administration. However, two completely new settlements are also planned, for which the names Assif and Matar have already been determined.
Bennett is already promoting a move to the north among the citizens. After all, the pandemic has shown that in many cases it is also possible to work at home. There you can do this surrounded by the most beautiful nature, he argued. “To all Israelis who are looking for a place to build a home, I say: come to the Golan.”