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Arthur M. Horwitz
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Photo by David Shay/Wikipedia Commons
essay
Protective Shield
Israel’s claim to the Golan is just.
I
srael captured most of the
believed Israel is merely
Israel marks land mines it placed on the Golan
Golan Heights from neigh-
the caretaker of the Golan mountainside to deter attacks emanating from Syria
boring Syria in the Six-Day
— and that the expanse
as well as to identify Syrian land mines dating to when
War of 1967 and vows never to
ultimately is subject to
Syria controlled the strategic and contentious ridge.
return the rugged land.
negotiation. But with
It never should.
whom would Israel nego-
The militarily strategic
tiate: Bashar Assad, the
1973, Israel and Syria agreed to a ceasefire,
highlands help Israel secure
tyrannical president who
leaving
the Jewish state in control of the
Robert Sklar gassed his own people during Syria’s
its north from Iran-backed
vast
majority
of the Golan. Both an Israeli
Contributing
Hezbollah Shiite terrorists as
still raging, five-year civil war?
military
command
and a U.N. peacekeep-
Editor
well as from Sunni jihadists
The Golan ranges from Lebanon
ing
force
have
maintained
a presence
associated with the Islamic
eastward to Syria and Jordan, all
there.
State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
Arab nations. The first two are sworn
In 1981, Israel, citing security, unilater-
and the Al Qaida-linked Al Nusra Front.
enemies of Israel; the third has a peace
ally
extended civilian law to its area of
At an April 17
treaty only as durable as King Abdullah II.
the
Golan,
in effect annexing the area.
cabinet meeting held
About 21,000 Israeli Jews live in the
The
international
community still eyes
on the rocky, fertile
Golan. It’s also home on the Israeli side to
that
area
as
Israeli-occupied
Syrian ter-
ridge, Prime Minister
about 22,000 Druze, most fiercely loyal
ritory.
Benjamin Netanyahu
to Syria. Israel continues to invest in the
The Arab League branded Netanyahu’s
declared Israel would
Golan, reinforcing its commitment there.
Golan
Heights declaration “a new escala-
never “come down from
tion.
”
Syria
vows to retake the Golan by
the Golan Heights” given
any
means.
In reality, Netanyahu seems to
the volatile makeup of
want
to
leverage
Syria’s strife and woo the
Benjamin
the Middle East. Amid
world
toward
recognizing
Israel’s right-
Netanyahu
the possibilities radiating
ful
sovereignty
over
the
Golan’s
so-called
from the Oslo Accords
“Israeli-occupied”
area.
in the 1990s was the Golan’s return as part
of land-for-peace offers; today, times are
PRESSING ON
radically different.
The
day before that first-ever cabinet
Southern Syria and the Syrian capital
meeting
in the Golan, Netanyahu called
of Damascus are in view from the Golan,
U.S.
Secretary
of State John Kerry to
allowing Israel to track Syrian move-
oppose
any
diplomatic
effort seeking
ments, notably collaborative efforts with
return
of
the
Golan
as
part
of ending the
Hezbollah, a missile-armed proxy of the
Syrian
civil
war.
Netanyahu
told Kerry the
Assad regime. ISIS, murderously claiming
Golan
had
become
“an
integral
part of the
swaths of Iraq and Syria, also is a regional
State
of
Israel
in
the
new
era.
”
danger as it battles Syrian government
Articulating why the Heights are in
forces. Imagine ISIS staging along the
good
hands, Netanyahu, according to the
THE HISTORY
shores of Israel’s Sea of Galilee.
Washington
Post, said atop the landscape
In the Golan during the Great Revolt of
known
for
wine,
goat cheese, a ski hill,
AMERICA’S TAKE
66-70 C.E., Jewish rebels held off Roman
black
basalt
and
sweeping
vistas:
The U.S. doesn’t consider the Golan part of soldiers until a crushing Roman surge.
“For
the
19
years
that
the
Golan was
Israel and calls Israel’s ironclad grip on the The modern-day Golani Brigade, aris-
under
Syrian
occupation,
it
served
as a
mountain range a breach of international
ing in the Golan during the 1948 War for
place
for
bunkers,
barbed
wires,
mines
law. President Barack Obama reaffirmed
Independence, has stood strong in all of
and aggression — it was used for war. In
the U.S. position the day after Netanyahu
Israel’s wars.
the 49 years that the Golan is under Israeli
declared the Golan would always stay part
During the Six-Day War, Israel’s pre-
control, it was used for agriculture, tour-
of Israel.
emptive strike against Syria and Egypt
ism, economic initiatives, building — it
Through Democratic and Republican
thwarted an impending Arab attack. In
was used for peace.”
administrations, the White House has
1974, following the Yom Kippur War of
Would Israel be
expected to negotiate
with Bashar Assad,
the tyrannical Syrian
president who gassed
his own people?
*
CORRECTIONS
• In the story “Called to Serve” (May 12,
page 24), the mother of Shimmy Cohen is
actually Kayla Littman of Oak Park, who
also wanted the chance to kvell about her
son who is serving as a Lone Soldier. “I’m
6 May 19 • 2016
so proud of the man he has become over
the past few years,” she said. “I know how
important Israel is to him and respect his
decision to serve in the IDF. I couldn’t be
more proud.”
Shaindle Braunstein, who was quoted in
the story, is Shimmy’s stepmother.
• In “Beth Shalom Hosts Rabbi And
Comic” (May 12, page 26), the price for
Rabbi Bob Alper’s Lunch & Learn at 12:30
p.m. Thursday, June 9, is $22, not $28.
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