Israel in the Golan Heights — a timeline
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Successive Israeli governments have called the Golan Heights an “integral part of Israel” since its forces seized the territory from Syria in the Six-Day War in 1967.
Numerous US resolutions have called on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights and there have been several attempts to convince Israel to pull back. As recently as 2010, Israel held secret talks with Syria under which it would have return to its 1967 border in exchange for a peace deal.
But Israel’s position has hardened since the Arab Spring revolts and the civil war in Syria that started in 2011.
On Thursday, Donald Trump said the US should recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, reversing half a century of US policy.
Israel seizes the Golan Heights
June 1967
Israel launches a pre-emptive strike against Syria, Egypt and Jordan. In the ensuing Six-Day War, Israeli forces capture the Golan Heights from Syria.
November 1967
A UN Security Council Resolution calls on Israel to withdraw from territory it gained in the Six-Day War, including the Golan Heights, in exchange for peace with its Arab neighbours.
October 1973
Egypt and Syria launch a war on two fronts on Yom Kippur — the holiest day of the year in Judaism. After a fierce battle with Syrian forces in which Israel suffers heavy losses, Israel holds on to the Golan Heights.
May 1974
Israel and Syria sign a disengagement agreement in which Israel partially withdraws from the Golan Heights, creating a demilitarised “buffer zone” between the two countries, patrolled by UN peacekeeping forces.
December 1981
Israel’s Knesset passes a law that effectively annexes the Golan Heights. The abrupt move, orchestrated by prime minister Menachem Begin, is condemned in a UN Security Council resolution.
Attempts at peace
October/November 1991
Direct talks begin between Israel and Syria after the Madrid peace conference. The US and Soviet Union co-sponsor the conference, the first time in decades that Israel had entered negotiated with delegations representing all of its Arab neighbours.
2000
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak and Syria’s president Hafez al-Assad fail to reach an agreement at US mediated talks in Geneva. Syria insists on a full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights, while Israel wants to use an earlier border between the two states as a reference point. The difference is small in terms of territory, but the 1967 line would give Syria direct access to the Sea of Galilee.
June 2007
Israel expresses desire for a peace agreement with Syria. The offer is reported to include a withdrawal from the Golan Heights in exchange for Syria severing links to Iran, Hizbollah and Hamas.
September 2007
Syria says its air defences fired on Israeli warplanes after they violated its airspace in the north of the country.
2008
Indirect talks between Israel and Syria, which take place through Turkish government intermediaries, are suspended after the resignation of Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert.
2010
Israel holds secret talks with Syria under which it would have pulled back to its 1967 border in exchange for a peace deal.
Fighting returns
May 2011
In the first outbreak of violence along the Israeli-Syrian border in almost 40 years, Israeli forces open fire on Syrian demonstrators who had crossed into the Golan Heights to stage a protest.
May 2013
Israel’s army chief says Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad (who succeeded his father as president in 2000) will suffer heavy consequences if he destabilises the Golan Heights. The comments came after a night that sees Israel fire into Syria following an attack on one of its military vehicles.
Israel’s army establishes a new territorial regional division to address the Syrian threat.
Netanyahu tightens Israel’s grip
April 2016
In remarks that coincide with Syria’s Independence day, Benjamin Netanyahu, Israel’s hawkish prime minister, says the Golan Heights will “forever remain in Israel’s hands.
Israel is officially neutral in Syria’s civil war but in a visit to the Golan Heights on April 11, Mr Netanyahu admits for the first time that Israel’s military had struck “dozens of times” inside Syria to prevent the shipment of Iranian weapons to Hizbollah.
Since then, Isael has attacked hundreds of Iranian targets, shot down an armed Iranian drone over the Golan and traded cross border artillery fire with Shia militia.
March 22 2019
US President Donald Trump says the US should fully recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, linking the territory to Israel’s security and regional stability. Such a move would reverse more than 50 years of US policy and is in contravention of the largely held international view that the Golan is occupied territory.
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