ISRAEL AT WAR - DAY 65

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Golan community named for US president to be called ‘Trump Heights’

Ministers to approve new town at next weekly meeting, to be held at planned site, along with a ceremony attended by US ambassador

Aerial view of small village of Kela Alon in the Golan Heights, near the site of a new community to be named after US President Donald Trump. (Golan Regional Council)
Aerial view of small village of Kela Alon in the Golan Heights, near the site of a new community to be named after US President Donald Trump. (Golan Regional Council)

A new community planned for the Golan Heights in honor of US President Donald Trump will be named Ramat Trump, literally translatable as “Trump Heights,” and will be approved at the next cabinet meeting on Sunday.

The cabinet secretary on Thursday sent to ministers details of the cabinet resolution for approving Ramat Trump, stating that the community will be located close to the existing village of Kela Alon and will be under the jurisdiction of the Golan Regional Council.

“In recognition of the work of the 45th President of the United States, President Donald Trump, on behalf of the State of Israel in a wide range of fields, and expressing gratitude for the American recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and the recognition of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights led by President Donald Trump, it was decided to initiate establishment of a new residential community on the Golan Heights called Ramat Trump,” the resolution read.

The cabinet meeting will be held Sunday at the site on the Golan rather than at the Prime Minister’s Office in Jerusalem, the usual location for the weekly meetings, the PMO said. US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman will attended a ceremony at the proposed site of Ramat Trump.

The resolution also calls on the Housing Ministry to begin preparing a plan for the community that is to be submitted for approval to the National Council for Planning and Building within 90 days.

In April, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said his new government would name a town in the Golan Heights after Trump in honor of the US president’s decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the northern territory.

US President Donald Trump (L) and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold up a Golan Heights proclamation outside the West Wing after a meeting at the White House on March 25, 2019, in Washington. (Brendan Smialowski/AFP)

Trump signed a proclamation on March 25 recognizing Israel’s hold on the plateau when Netanyahu visited the White House, in a move seen by some as timed to help the Israeli premier in his reelection bid.

It upended decades of US policy and drew some international condemnation, along with Israeli praise.

Israel captured the strategic plateau from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War and in 1981 effectively annexed the area, in a move never recognized by the rest of international community, which considers the Golan Heights to be occupied Syrian territory.

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