US President Donald Trump holds a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington on 20 December 2017. © Jonathan Ernst / Reuters
U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an official decree recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights on Monday, Israel’s Acting Foreign Minister, Israel Katz, revealed.
“Tomorrow, President Trump, in the presence of Prime Minister Netanyahu, will sign a decree recognizing Israel’s sovereignty on the Golan. Israel-U.S. ties are closer than ever,” Katz said on Sunday, according to the Reuters news agency.
Netanyahu arrived in Washington, DC to begin a four-day work visit few hours ago. The Israeli PM said that he will thank Trump for his historic recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights and also discuss with him the joint work against Iran.
Trump became the first U.S. president to publicly support Israel’s plan to annex the Golan Highest earlier this week, when he said that it is time for the U.S. to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the occupied region.
“After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability,” Trump said.
Israel occupied the Golan Heights by force during the 1967 war. The U.N. recognizes the region as a Syrian territory occupied by Israel. In 1981, the U.N. Security Council rejected an Israeli law meant to annex Golan and described the law in resolution 497 as “null and void.”
Both the Syrian government and the opposition slammed Trump’s intention to gift the occupied region to Israel. The rest of the world was not also pleased with the U.S. President’s remarks. Russia, Iran, the Arab League, the European Union and even Turkey supported Syria’s right in the Golan Heights.
Israel is preparing to face massive public anger once Trump recognize the Golan Heights as a part of the country’s territory. On Saturday, the Israeli military said that it is preparing for possible unrest in the occupied region.
The recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights will raise the tension in the Middle East, which is already suffering from Trump’s troubled foreign policy.
