Türkei verurteilt israelischen Plan, die Bevölkerung der Golanhöhen zu verdoppeln | Syrien

Israel captured 2/3 of Golan Heights from Syria during the 1967 6-day war. Last week, it moved troops & armour into a supposedly demilitarised buffer zone beyond the land it already occupies.

Israel has said the new force positions are a “temporary measure”, but recent statements appear to undercut that assertion. Israel indicated troops would remain in their new positions through the winter, while on Sunday announced a plan to double Israeli settlement in the occupied Golan Heights.

Turkey condemned the move. “This decision is a new stage in Israel’s goal of expanding borders through occupation. A source of grave concern, taken together with Israel’s entry into separation areas, violation of the 1974 disengagement agreement, advances into adjacent areas & airstrikes in Syria”

Israel declared in 1981 it had annexed the territory. Most countries don’ t recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the land, though Trump admin recognised the annexation in 2019. About 50,000 people live in the occupied land, half of them Jews & half Druze, an Arabic-speaking ethno-religious minority.

A ceasefire in 1974 that ended the 1973 Yom Kippur war established the UN-patrolled buffer zone between Israel & Syria to keep the forces apart, an agreement Netanyahu claims collapsed with the fall of Assad.

Israel’s plan was also condemned by Germany, one of Israel’s closest allies, which called on Israel to “abandon” the plan. The German foreign ministry said it was “perfectly clear under international law this area controlled by Israel belongs to Syria & Israel is therefore an occupying power”.

As Islamist-led rebel forces swept Assad from power last week, Netanyahu ordered troops to seize the demilitarised zone on the Golan Heights. Israel has also launched hundreds of strikes on Syria targeting strategic military sites and weapons, including chemical weapons.

Egypt also expressed its categorical rejection of Israeli government’s decision to expand settlements in the occupied Golan Height, considering the move a flagrant violation of the sovereignty and integrity of Syria’s territories.

The Turkish accusation came as Israel continued to pound former regime military assets in Syria. Israel had hit missile warehouses and other former Syrian army sites along Syria’s coast in the “most violent strikes in the Syrian coast region since the beginning of the [Israeli] strikes in 2012”.

Abridged (shortened) article [https://bsky.app/profile/johnhatchard.bsky.social/post/3ldgx5sbj4q2b](https://bsky.app/profile/johnhatchard.bsky.social/post/3ldgx5sbj4q2b)

21st century colonialism should be condemned by the whole world.