BICOM

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stressed Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights in a special Cabinet meeting held in Ma’aleh Gamla in the region yesterday.

During the Cabinet meeting – the first ever held in the Heights – Mr Netanyahu referred to the Syrian civil war raging only a few miles away. He said: “Whatever happens on the other side of the border, the line is not going to change. The time has come after 50 years for the international community to acknowledge that the Golan Heights will permanently remain under Israeli sovereignty.”

“I decided to hold this meeting on the Golan Heights to send a clear message: The Golan Heights will always stay in Israeli hands, Israel will never leave the Golan Heights.”

Mr Netanyahu said he had reached this position because he did not believe Syria would ever return to being a unified, peaceful state. He noted that the Assad regime “has persecuted minorities, like the Christians, Druse and Kurds, who are fighting justifiably for their future and their security. And, on the other side, there are terrorist forces, especially Islamic State, Iran, Hezbollah and others, who want to impose radical Islam on Syria and the region, and from there to continue on to impose it throughout the world”

The Cabinet meeting took place as the international community met in Geneva to discuss the ongoing Syria conflict. Haaretz reports that according to officials in the Prime Minister’s office, Syrian President Bashar el-Assad has demanded that any Syrian peace deal must refer to the Golan Heights as “occupied territory” and call for their return to Syria.

The Jerusalem Post reports that Syrian Foreign Minister Faisal al-Miqdad responded to Mr Netanyahu’s remarks, saying: “We have never renounced the resistance and we are ready to recapture the Golan in all possible ways, including military ways”

Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War, repelling a Syrian invasion into northern Israel. Israel considers the Heights to be a part of the State and subject to Israeli law. In the past, Israeli Governments have negotiated with Syria over the return of the heights, coming close to a deal.

However, following the outbreak of the Syrian civil war, Israel has begun to see the Golan as a physical buffer against the chaos, with Israeli leaders noting that the region would be aflame like the rest of Syria. Last year, Education Minister Naftali Bennett noted that if Israel had given up control of the Golan, “ISIS would be swimming in the sea of Galilee”