Plan relates to Israeli side of Golan, captured in 1967 war

Cabinet approves $11 million plan to double population of Golan Heights

Money to go toward education, renewable energy, establishment of a student village, and a plan for absorbing new residents in Israel’s northern region

View of the Druze town of Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, northern Israel,  February 11, 2021. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)
View of the Druze town of Majdal Shams, Golan Heights, northern Israel, February 11, 2021. (Moshe Shai/FLASH90)

The cabinet gave unanimous approval Sunday to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s NIS 40 million ($11 million) plan to double the population in the Golan Heights.

Around 50,000 people live on the Israeli-controlled side of the heights, evenly split between Jews and Druze.

The money will go toward education, renewable energy, the establishment of a student village, and a plan for absorbing new residents, said the Prime Minister’s Office.

“Strengthening the Golan Heights is strengthening the State of Israel,” Netanyahu was quoted in the statement as saying, “and it is especially important at this time. We will continue to hold on to it, make it flourish and settle it.”

The plan only pertains to the Israel-held part of the Golan.

Israel conquered the territory from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War — fought against several Arab countries that were planning an invasion — annexed it in 1981. Most of the world does not recognize the move, though the US granted its recognition in 2019.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu (center), Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich (left) and Cabinet Secretary Yossi Fuchs at a cabinet meeting in Jerusalem, November 1, 2024. (Amos Ben Gershom/GPO)

Saudi Arabia slammed the new plan Sunday as “sabotage” against Syria.

In a statement, Riyadh’s foreign ministry expressed “condemnation and denunciation” of the plan, which it called part of a “continued sabotage of opportunities to restore security and stability in Syria” after Islamist-led rebels overthrew president Bashar al-Assad earlier this month.

Qatar asserted that the Israeli declaration was a “new episode in a series of Israeli aggressions on Syrian territories and a blatant violation of international law.”

The United Arab Emirates claimed the effort “threatens further escalation and tensions in the region.”

“This decision is a deliberate effort to expand the occupation and is in violation and contravention of international law,” the UAE foreign ministry said.

Last week, Israel launched a major operation to destroy the Syrian military’s strategic military capabilities, including chemical weapons sites, missiles, air defenses, air force and navy targets, in a bid to prevent them from falling into the hands of hostile elements who could use them against the Jewish state or hand them to Hezbollah in Lebanon.

Israel also entered a United Nations-patrolled buffer zone along the border just hours after the rebels, led by an al-Qaeda-linked jihadist group, took Damascus. While the move has drawn some international condemnation, Israel has defended it as necessary to prevent hostile elements from utilizing the current vacuum of power. It has said it will not become involved in the internal conflict in Syria and that its seizure of the demilitarized zone established in 1974 was a defensive move and a temporary one until it can guarantee security along the frontier.

Defense Minister Israel Katz said Friday that he had ordered the military to prepare to stay atop the Syrian side of Mount Hermon during the coming winter months as Israel aims to prevent the border region from falling into the wrong hands.

Jacob Magid and agencies contributed to this report.

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