Israel says it will “double the settlements” at Golan Heights Occupied Golan Heights News

Prime Minister Naftali Bennett says the investment in the region was driven by the US’s acceptance of sovereignty over Israeli territory in Israel.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett has said the country wants to double the number of settlers. He occupied the heights of the Golan Heights More than 50 years ago, Israel took over Syria with a multi-million dollar plan aimed at further consolidating its territory.

Bennett said the new investment in the region was driven by the Trump administration Recognition of Israeli sovereignty In 2019 the land department and the Biden administration have stated that they will not challenge this decision any time soon.

“This is our moment. This is the time for the High Golan, ”Bennett said at a special cabinet meeting on Sunday in the High Golan.

“After many years of static, in terms of settlement area, our goal now is to double the settlement at Golan Heights,” he added.

Israel took the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and captured it in 1981. The vast majority of the international community believes in this movement. illegal under international law.

About 25,000 Israeli settlers live in the Golan Heights, along with about 23,000 Druze, who remained on the ground after being captured by Israel.

The United States was the first country in Israel to recognize sovereignty over the territory.

Bennett said the Syrian war had made the idea of ​​control of Israeli territory more acceptable to international allies, adding that the alternative would be much worse.

Israel has long argued that the strategically important area, for all practical purposes, has been fully integrated into Israel since its capture by Syria, and that control of the strategic highlands is necessary as a protection for its allies in Iran and Syria.

Bennett, who leads an ideologically different eight-party coalition, needs government approval before the Golan plans can move forward.

Sunday’s meeting was temporarily postponed after the prime minister’s 14-year-old daughter tested positive for coronavirus, sending Bennett into solitary confinement, but a vote on the plan was still expected.