Israel approves plan to expand settlements in occupied Syrian Golan Heights

The Israeli occupation government yesterday unanimously approved a plan to enhance illegal Israeli settlement building in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, with a budget exceeding 40 million shekels ($11.13 million), Anadolu reported.

In a statement, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said the government unanimously approved the plan to “encourage demographic growth in Golan settlements and Katzrin, with a total cost exceeding 40 million shekels.”

The Golan Heights is Syrian territory occupied by Israel since the 1967 Middle East war.

Katzrin, or Qasrin, is a Syrian village occupied by Israel that was part of Syria’s Quneitra province in the Golan Heights.

Netanyahu’s office explained that the plan was approved “in light of the war and the new front with Syria, and out of a desire to double the population of the Golan.”

“This decision strengthens the Golan settlements and includes measures such as education, renewable energy, establishing a student village, and an organisational development plan to support the Golan Regional Council in accommodating new residents,” it added.

Last week, Netanyahu declared his commitment to occupying the Syrian Golan Heights, considering the fall of the regime of deposed President, Bashar Al-Assad to have “opened a dramatic chapter in Middle East history in every sense of the word”.

He also thanked the U.S. President-elect Donald Trump for recognising Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Height in 2019, stressing that the area “will forever remain an integral part of the State of Israel”.

Currently, approximately 50,000 people live in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, half of whom are Israeli settlers, while Druze, Alawites and others make up the rest of the population, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.

There are 33 Jewish settlements in the occupied Golan, incorporated into what is called the Golan Regional Council.

Bashar Al-Assad, who ruled Syria with an iron fist for nearly 25 years, fled to Russia on 8 December after anti-regime groups seized control of Damascus.

Taking advantage of Al-Assad’s fall, Israel has intensified its air strikes against military sites across Syria, in blatant violation of the country’s sovereignty.

Israel also declared the collapse of a 1974 disengagement agreement with Syria and deployed its forces within the demilitarised zone in the Golan Heights, in a move widely condemned by the United Nations and several Arab nations.

Earlier on Friday, Israeli Defence Minister Yisrael Katz announced that he had ordered the military to “prepare to stay” throughout the winter in the buffer zone in the Syrian Golan Heights.

Read: Israel occupies 3 new villages in southern Syria