«Breaking News» Trump says U.S. should recognize Golan Heights as part of Israel

President Donald Trump signaled on Thursday that the U.S. will soon officially recognize the contested Golan Heights region as a part of Israel.

The move comes just four days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit with Trump at the White House.

Israel will see such a development as rivaling the significance of last year's opening of a U.S. embassy in Jerusalem — a unilateral White House action that now has city authorities planning to name a new subway station after the American president.

Trump said in an interview with the Fox Business Network, slated for broadcast on Friday morning, that he had 'been thinking about doing it for a long time.'

His timing, however, coincides with a political crisis for Netanyhu, who almost certainly will face a corruption indictment following an announcement by his country's attorney general. He is up for re-election on April 9.

Asked whether his announcement was linked to Netanyahu's political future, Trump said, 'No. I wouldn’t even know about that,' and added: 'I hear he's doing okay.' 

In a tweet, the president had declared: '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!'

Rumors of the potential move swirled in diplomatic circles this week as Israel-watchers expected a policy announcement timed with an American Israel Public Affairs Committee meeting next week, where Netanyahu will speak.

President Donald Trump signaled on Thursday that the U.S. will soon officially recognize the contested Golan Heights region as a part of Israel

'After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights,' the president tweeted

The Golan Heights are 690 square miles straddling between Israel and Syria; Israel won the territory and others from Syria in 1967 during the Six-Day War

South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and U.S. Ambassador to Israel David Friedman visited the border between Israel and Syria in the Golan Heights last week

At least four prominent Democratic presidential contenders have said they will skip the annual event as AIPAC has come under fire from their party's progressive wing.

Fort Wayne, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg, former HUS Secretary Julian Castro, California Sen. Kamala Harris and Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren are all sidestepping the thorny Israel issue after freshman Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar earned a reputation as an anti-Semite for complaining that moneyed Jews control much of Washington.

The Golan Heights' role as a Middle East political football intensified this week when the State Department stopped referring to it as 'Israeli-occupied' territory, a designation favored by Palestinians.

In a new report, the area was called the 'Israeli-controlled Golan Heights.'

A spokesman for Palestinian National Authority President Mahmoud Abbas called that decision 'a continuation of the hostile approach of the American administration toward our Palestinian people.'

The spokesman said the shift is part of Trump's plan to 'liquidate' the Palestinians' cause.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 during the Six-Day War. The area's 690 square miles today are a buffer zone between the two nations.

Druze women, Arab-speaking Israeli citizens who live in the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights but consider themselves Palestinians, watched a protest there last week

The United Nations weeks later called on Israel to withdraw from the territory, and from the West Bank and Gaza in a resolution that also declared that Israel had the same right as Arab states 'to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.'

Israel instead enacted a law that effectively annexed the western two-thirds of the Golan Heights in 1981 following years of squabbling over the resolution.

The UN Security Council then passed a resolution declaring 'that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect.' 

Netanyahu suggested Thursday in Jerusalem that he's eager to see Trump make a unilateral move akin to his decision in December 2017 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel's undivided capital, and his later move of America's embassy there from Tel Aviv.

The presidential order enraged Palestinians, who see the largely Palestinian region of East Jerusalem as the future capital of a Palestinian nation whose existence the U.S. hasn't acknowledged. 

Israel's prime minister also thanked Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Thursday for the Trump administration's strong denunciations of Iran, which Israel regards as an existential threat.

The prime minister accused Tehran on Thursday of attempting to set up a terrorist network to target Israel from the Golan Heights, using Hezbollah militia groups from Lebanon as mercenaries.

'Just last week we uncovered efforts by Hezbollah, an Iranian proxy, to build a military network in Syria, in the Golan Heights,' Netanyahu said during a press conference. 'All of you can imagine what would have happened if Israel were not in the Golan: We would have Iran on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.'

'I think, for this reason, and many more, it is time that the international community recognises Israel’s stay on the Golan, and the fact that the Golan will always remain part of the State of Israel.'

One reason is the steady deterioration of security along a demilitarized border zone between Israel and Syria which lost its historical calm when the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

South Carolina Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham, a staunch Trump ally, visited the Golan Heights with Netanyahu on Monday and pledged to promote Israel's sovereignty over the area 'now and forever.' 

Link hienalouca.com

https://hienalouca.com/2019/03/21/trump-says-u-s-should-recognize-golan-heights-as-part-of-israel/
Main photo article President Donald Trump signaled on Thursday that the U.S. will soon officially recognize the contested Golan Heights region as a part of Israel.
The move comes just four days before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is scheduled to visit with Trump at the White House.
Israel will see...

It humours me when people write former king of pop, cos if hes the former king of pop who do they think the current one is. Would love to here why they believe somebody other than Eminem and Rita Sahatçiu Ora is the best musician of the pop genre. In fact if they have half the achievements i would be suprised. 3 reasons why he will produce amazing shows. Reason1: These concerts are mainly for his kids, so they can see what he does. 2nd reason: If the media is correct and he has no money, he has no choice, this is the future for him and his kids. 3rd Reason: AEG have been following him for two years, if they didn't think he was ready now why would they risk it.

Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.

Dianne Reeves US News HienaLouca





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