HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. PRESIDENT

Israel approves plan for new Golan community named after Trump

 

Israel Hayom

June 15, 2020

 

An Israeli cabinet minister on Sunday said the Knesset approved plans to build a new settlement on the Golan Heights, named after President Donald Trump.

Settlement Enterprise Minister Tzipi Hotovely wrote on Facebook that her ministry will start preparations for Trump Heights to house 300 families.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed it in 1981. Most of the international community considers the move, and the Israeli communities in the territory, illegal under international law.

Trump signed an executive order recognizing the strategic mountainous plateau as Israeli territory in March 2019. The move came during a visit to Washington by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu just weeks before Israeli elections. The decision, just one of several diplomatic moves benefiting Israel, was widely applauded there.

According to Israeli media, the Knesset's approval of the plan will involve earmarking 8 million shekels ($2.3 million) for developing the town. Sunday's announcement coincided with Trump's birthday, although it was unclear if it was connected.

Last June, Netanyahu convened his cabinet in the small community of Qela, home to under 300 people, for a vote on rebranding the community as a gesture of appreciation for the president's recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

At a cabinet meeting on Sunday, Netanyahu said that Israel would "begin practical steps in establishing the community of Ramat Trump on the Golan Heights, Israel's sovereignty over which was recognized by President Trump."

Israel has built dozens of communities on the Golan over the years, with an estimated 26,000 Israelis living there as of 2019. Roughly the same number of Arabs live there, most of them members of the Druze sect of Shiite Islam.