TEL AVIV: Israel has pledged to double its population in the occupied Golan Heights while saying threats from Syria remain – although the de facto leader in Damascus said the country’s “war-weary” state “does not allow new clashes”.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said: “Strengthening the Golan means strengthening the State of Israel, and that is particularly important at this time. We will continue to preserve it, make it flower and settle there.
Syria’s de facto leader Ahmad al-Sharaa – also known as Abu Mohammed al-Golani – said Israel was using false pretexts to justify its attacks on Syria, but was not not interested in engaging in new conflicts while his country focuses on reconstruction.
Israel conquered most of Syria’s strategic plateau in the Six-Day War in 1967, and annexed it in 1981. In 2019, then-President Donald Trump declared US support for United with Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, but the annexation was not recognized by most countries. Syria asked Israel to withdraw, but Israel refused, citing security concerns. Various peace efforts have failed.
Netanyahu, who spoke with Trump on Saturday about Syria, said: “We have no interest in a conflict with Syria,” adding that Israeli actions in Syria were aimed at “countering potential threats from Syria and to prevent the takeover of terrorist elements near our territory. border.”
Defense Minister Israel Katz said in a statement that the latest developments in Syria have increased the threat against Israel, “despite the moderate image that rebel leaders claim to present.”
Netanyahu’s office said the government unanimously approved an $11 million plan to encourage population growth in the Golan. It said Netanyahu submitted the plan to the government “in light of the war and the new front facing Syria, and with the aim of doubling the population of the Golan.”
Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan and the United Arab Emirates condemned Israel’s move, with the UAE – which normalized relations with Israel in 2020 – describing it as a “deliberate effort to expand occupation.”
Some 31,000 Israelis have settled there, said analyst Avraham Levine of the Alma Research and Education Center, which specializes in Israel’s security challenges on its northern border. Many work in agriculture, particularly in the vineyard, and in tourism. The Golan is home to 24,000 Druze, an Arab minority who practice a branch of Islam, Levine said. Most identify as Syrian.
Avoid “new confrontations”
Sharaa leads the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) which took control of Damascus a week ago. Since then, Israel has settled in a demilitarized zone inside Syria, created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli War, including the Syrian side of strategic Mount Hermon overlooking Damascus, where its forces have retaken a post abandoned Syrian soldier.
Israel, which has said it has no intention of staying there and calls the incursion into Syrian territory a limited and temporary measure intended to ensure border security, has also carried out hundreds of strikes against Syrian strategic weapons stocks.
It said it was destroying weapons and military infrastructure to prevent them from being used by rebel groups, some of which hail from movements linked to al-Qaeda and the Islamic State.
In an interview with Syrian television, Sharaa said the focus was on construction rather than confrontation.
“The weary state of Syria, after years of conflict and war, does not allow further clashes,” he said. “The priority at this stage is reconstruction and stability, without getting drawn into conflicts that could lead to further destruction. »
Sharaa also said that diplomatic solutions were the only way to ensure security and stability and that “uncalculated military adventures” were not desired.
