Netanyahu to name new Golan settlement after Trump
Occupied Jerusalem (QNN)- Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Tuesday he wants to name a new settlement in the occupied Golan Heights after President Donald Trump out of gratitude for Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied territory.
Netanyahu, who has been on a trip to the occupied region with his family for the week-long Passover holiday, said in a video message that he would present a resolution to the government calling for a new settlement named after the US president.
“All Israelis were deeply moved when President Trump made his historic decision to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” he said.
In March, Trump met with Netanyahu in Washington to sign a presidential proclamation officially recognizing the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, formalizing a move announced a week earlier on Twitter and breaking with longstanding international consensus.
The decision was deemed a priceless gift from Trump to Netanyahu, as it came only two weeks ahead of a tightly contested Israeli election, which saw Netanyahu win a fifth term in office.
Israel occupied the mountain plateau 1967 and annexed it in 1981, a move unrecognized by most of the international community. An estimated 20,000 Israeli settlers live in Golan Heights settlements, which most of the international community considers illegal. While around 18,000 Syrians from the Druze sect — most of whom refuse to take Israeli citizenship — remain in the occupied Golan.
