Bennett: The Golan’s Not For Turning

Prime Minister Bennett has announced, for those who in Washington needed reminding, that Israel will never relinquish the Golan Heights, which it annexed in 1981. In 2018, the Trump Administration recognized the Golan annexation; the Biden Administration has so far not challenged that recognition, but just to make sure, Bennett preemptively made clear that the Golan’s not for (re)turning. A report on his statement is here: “Bennett Says Israel Will Keep Golan as Assad’s Fortunes, US Views Shift,” Algemeiner, October 11, 2021:

Israel will keep the Golan Heights, which it captured from Syria in a 1967 war, even if international views on Damascus change, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said on Monday.

In 2019, then US President Donald Trump broke with other world powers by recognizing Israel as sovereign on the Golan Heights, which it annexed in 1981 in a move not recognized internationally.

Bennett’s remarks came as the current US administration hedges on the Golan’s legal status and some US-allied Arab states ease their shunning of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad over his handling of a decade-old civil war.

Addressing a conference about the Golan’s future, Bennett said the internal Syrian strife had “persuaded many in the world that perhaps it is preferable that this beautiful and strategic territory be in the State of Israel’s hands.”

“But even in a situation in which — as could happen — the world changes tack on Syria, or in relation to Assad, this has no bearing on the Golan Heights,” he told the forum hosted by the conservative Makor Rishon newspaper.

“The Golan Heights is Israeli, full stop.”

In his speech, Bennett pledged to double the size of the Israeli population on the Golan, which at around 20,000 is currently about equal to that of a Druze Arab community that often professes loyalty to Syria….

The Druze in the Golan were, during the first decades of Israeli rule, divided in their loyalties, but with the majority of Druze still expressing pro-Syrian sentiments. The older generation made public displays of loyalty to Syria, not necessarily out of deep conviction, but simply because, should they have expressed loyalty to Israel, and the Golan were ever to be returned to Syria, they would be severely punished by the Syrian state. But in recent decades, with Israel having formally annexed the Golan, in a move that was supported overwhelmingly by the Israeli people, the Druze are reassured that Israel means to stay. Having experienced both the harsh despotism of Syria and the benign rule of Israel, many Druze in the Golan now feel able to openly express their loyalty to the Jewish state.

The success of the Druze who are living in the Galilee as Israeli citizens has also influenced public opinion among the Druze on the Golan. The Druze in the Galilee have been a loyal minority, some volunteering to serve in the Israel Defense Forces, and many Druze also find employment in Israel’s Border Police.The Druze on the Golan have taken note.

The other reason for a great shift in the loyalties of the Druze in the Golan is that they have had a close-up view of  the catastrophic civil war in Syria, with ten years of uninterrupted atrocities, including chemical weapons attacks, by Assad’s forces. Even if Assad “wins” his civil war, six million Syrians have fled the country, another five million are internally displaced, and half a million Syrians have been killed, while much of the country’s infrastructure – that will require an estimated $350 billion to replace — lies in ruins. Why would they be loyal to a regime like that?

Syria is now  permanently fractured, with deep hatreds on both the government and opposition sides that will not disappear with the “victory” by Assad’s forces. Even if Assad’s Alawite minority, 12% of the population, manages to keep the country subdued, it is not now and likely will never be in a position to wrest the Golan from Israel, whose military is many times more powerful than that of Syria.

Asked in a February interview if Washington would continue to deem the area part of Israel, Secretary of State Antony Blinken signaled openness to an eventual policy review.

It is very disturbing that Blinken did not express continued American support for Israel’s annexation of the Golan, the annexation that the Trump administration had recognized, but instead “signaled openness to an eventual policy review,” which “review” could mean reneging on Trump’s recognition. Biden’s answer only encourages Syria to think it may yet get American support for a return of the Golan, and this naturally alarms Israelis. What Blinken ought to have said, forthrightly, is this:

“When Syria held the Golan from 1949 to 1967, it used that territory for only one purpose: to rain down death on the Jewish farmers plowing their fields far below. Israel took the Golan in what was undeniably a war of self-defense, the Six-Day War. After the war, It was clear to Israeli generals  that, as a military matter, Israel could never relinquish the Golan, whose retention was so vital to holding off potential invaders from the north, now including not just Syria but also its ally Iran, and putting a permanent end to the constant attacks, pre-1967,  from Syrian forces. If Israel was to have the “secure [i.e. defensible] and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force” to which it was entitled under U.N. Resolution 242, it would have to keep the Golan. This was not the opinion of Israeli military men alone. In 1967 the Joint Chiefs of Staff, at President Johnson’s direction, sent a delegation of our own military to Israel to study what territories, at a minimum,  Israel would have to retain. Their report concluded that the two most important areas for Israel to hold onto were the Golan Heights and the Jordan Valley. Israel annexed the Golan more than 40 years ago, and has made clear that it will never be relinquished. We respect and support that decision.

Yes, that’s what Blinken ought to have said. But he didn’t. He still has time.