Israel Plans to Send 250,000 Settlers to Occupied Golan Heights

The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA) announced that the plan will be implemented over the next 30 years, coinciding with the 100th anniversary of the establishment of Israel.

According to the IBA, the Israeli plan, announced a week after the US administration's recognition of Israel's sovereignty over the occupied territory, includes the construction of two new Jewish-only settlements in Golan along with thousands of housing units, and the launch of many transport and tourism projects.

US President Donald Trump's decision to recognize Israel's annexation of the Syrian Golan Heights has been met with condemnation by the international community, with the UN and even Washington's Persian Gulf and European allies slamming the move. The document has been widely regarded as a way of propelling Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's re-election bid ahead of the April parliamentary vote.

Israel occupied the Golan Heights during the 1967 Arab-Israeli War. It continues to occupy roughly two-thirds of the wider Golan Heights region as a direct result of the conflict. In 1981, Israel formally annexed the territory in a move unanimously rejected at the time by the UN Security Council.

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