Israel to expand Golan Heights settlements as Syria goes through political transition

Joshua Landis: They’re doing it because Syria is extraordinarily weak and this is a real moment of opportunity for Israel. Prime Minister [Benjamin] Netanyahu is, in a sense, a conquering hero in Israel. He’s rebuilt his popularity. He’s destroyed Hezbollah largely and cut off arms supply that used to go through Syria from Iran to Hezbollah. He’s flipped the country from being part of the Axis of Resistance to being a Sunni-dominated state that’s allied with Turkey.

So, in many ways, he’s flexing his muscle. And this is a moment when the government in Damascus is in chaos. He’s trying to consolidate his power. The new army has not taken control of the military sites and is not prepared to resist Israel’s expansion to the rest of the Golan Heights and to take Mount Hermon. Israel can do it with very little pushback.

Well, there are 21,000 Syrians, largely Druze Syrians from this religious minority, and there are 30,000 Israeli settlers. Before 1967 and the Israeli occupation, there were over 100,000 Syrians living there. They were expelled, and the Arab villages, over a hundred, were destroyed. And then the Israeli settlers began to move into the region.

It’s a high elevated plateau that separates Israel from Syria, and whoever holds it has a strategic advantage. Much of the headwaters to Lake Tiberias and the rivers, the Jordan River, come from the Golan Heights. And it’s good agricultural land, a lot of vineyards and it’s a beautiful place.

The British and the French negotiated this division in 1923, roughly. And it has been disputed ever since. And in the 1948 war, when Israel got its independence and Syria sided with the Palestinians, both armies clashed over that border.

And there was a demilitarized zone in ’67. There had been fighting just prior to the 1967 war. Both Israel and Syria had been fighting over this demilitarized zone. And Israel wanted the demilitarized zone for its own farmers, and in order to bring water from the Jordan River to Israel. And so, there was shooting from the Syrian side. And Israel returned fire. And this turned into the ’67 war when most of the Golan Heights was occupied by Israel.

Well, there are about 30,000 settlers. And to expand and double them, as Prime Minister Netanyahu has said he will do, would mean to increase them by 60%. And this is an effort to establish permanent Israeli control over this region.

Interestingly, in 1973, after the ’73 war, President [Richard] Nixon was hoping for a comprehensive peace. He criticized President [Lyndon] Johnson after the Six-Day War for allowing Israel to keep control of the West Bank, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula.

He thought this land-for-peace deal had complicated things for America in the Middle East because Israel very quickly got used to owning that land and moving settlers onto it. And and he wanted to reverse that after the ’73 war. But he failed, as we know, because of Watergate and many other reasons. But that has been an ongoing thorn in America’s side as this is trying to adjudicate these disputes which have caused much of the Arab world to have prolonged disputes with the United States.

You know, Israel is stating that it’s land-for-peace, that it’s temporary, and that it’s ensuring its borders. But that was the same thing that it did in 1967 when it took the West Bank and the Golan Heights and the Gaza Strip. And, you know, very quickly, one gets used to owning those territories. And whether Israel will withdraw from them is a big question.