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Jack Cohen – Golan Heights
After the Israeli victory in the Yom Kippur War of 1973, when Israel recaptured the Golan Heights from Syria, Israel annexed the Golan Heights. That means that it became part of Israel and became Israeli sovereign territory. Unlike the Israeli occupation of Egyptian Sinai, which was returned to Egypt in 1979 as part of a peace agreement, Israel did not return the Golan to Syria. This was because Syria was run by the irredentist rejectionist regime of Pres. Assad, who was a declared enemy of Israel, while Pres. Sadat of Egypt made peace with Israel.
But those who might think that Israel had no right to annex the Golan are wrong. It was part of the biblical State of Israel from 930 to 722 bce and it was still part of the Jewish State when it was conquered by the Romans in 63 bce. After this there were 3 uprisings by the Jews against Roman rule. This was described in detail by Josephus in his epic book “The Jewish Wars.” In particular he describes the capture of the city of Gamla, that was besieged by the Romans, the ruins of which can still be visited in the center of the Golan today, as I did several years ago. This area was later part of the Turkish Empire and was assigned to the French Mandate of Syria when the British received the Palestine Mandate after WWI. It was only this great power agreement that severed the Golan from Palestine.
The recent news that the US under Pres. Trump and Secty of State Mike Pompeo will recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan is good news. Like the recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, this is really a recognition of the reality of the situation. There is no conceivable way that Israel would ever return the Heights to Syria, and make itself vulnerable again to being constantly attacked from above.
This is also a part of the US-Russian maneuvering in Syria. While Russia is now entrenched in Syria and is guarantor of the survival of the Assad regime, with Iran, it could not prevent the US from exercising its right to recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, which is a huge loss for Syria. Neither would Russia sanction any Syrian move against this recognition, since Putin certainly does not want to risk his position in Syria by being embroiled in a conflict with Israel and the US. The Golan is now confirmed as a permanent part of Israel.
