This annexation is only recognized by one other country — the United States , and is not recognized by the United Nations. As Israel has effective control of the area, and tourists will need to use Israeli currency and obtain Israeli visas to visit, we treat it as part of Israel here. This page does not represent a political endorsement of the claims of either side of the dispute. The remainder is under Syrian control. Israel began building settlements in the area, and granted the Syrian Druze inhabitants permanent residency status.
In , Israel annexed the Golan Heights. Unlike the West Bank , the part of the Golan Heights controlled by Israel is considered part of the country by most Israelis and by the Israeli government. Security is on par with Israel proper, and you won't find roadblocks. In Israel, it is generally understood that the Golan Heights will not be returned to Syria.
The Israeli viewpoint is that this would not be feasible due to economical and political reasons, and for reasons of security which they believe have only strengthened since the Syrian civil war started. There are no negotiations between Israel and Syria and this is not likely to change any time soon. This line is patrolled by a United Nations peacekeeping force. No one is allowed to cross the border without special permission, and the border crossing is under the control of Israel and Syria.
The Golan Heights mostly consists of a flat plateau made out of volcanic basalt. Near the Israel-Syria line of control on the Israeli side is a chain of extinct volcanoes which protrude above the plateau. A number of streams cut through the plateau, forming deep valleys and occasional waterfalls, and eventually end up in the Jordan River or the Sea of Galilee.
With the countless Eucalyptus trees growing here and due to the wide plains, it reminds one of New South Wales , Australia. Due to the flatness of the plateau unlike Israel's mostly hilly or coastal landscapes , the dark basalt and fertile volcanic soil, and the year-round streams, the Golan Heights looks and feels different from the rest of Israel, so it is a popular destination for Israeli tourists. The Hermon mountain differs from the rest of the Golan, as well as from any other place in Israel.
The highest point in the Israeli-controlled part of the Hermon is 2, m above sea level, nearly twice as high as the next-highest place in Israel Mount Meron in the Upper Galilee. As a result, the Hermon gets far more snowfall than anywhere else in Israel, and it is the site of Israel's only ski resort in the winter months. Israel wishes to retain control of Galilee and says the border is located a few hundred metres to the east of the shore.
A deal with Syria would also involve the dismantling of Jewish settlements in the territory. Public opinion in Israel has generally not favoured withdrawal, saying the Heights are too strategically important to be returned. Indirect talks between Israel and Syria resumed in , through Turkish government intermediaries, but were suspended following the resignation of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert over a corruption inquiry.
The Israeli government under Binyamin Netanyahu elected in February indicated that it was determined to take a tougher line over the Golan, and in June Syria said there was no partner for talks on the Israeli side.
The US administration of President Barack Obama declared the restarting of talks between Israel and Syria to be one of its main foreign policy goals, but the advent of civil war in Syria in put paid to any progress.
Syrian fighting reached the Golan ceasefire lines in , but the resurgent Syrian government felt confident enough to reopen its Golan border crossing to UN observers in October Guardian - Heights' long wait.
Christian Science Monitor guide. Strategic importance. Image source, Getty Images. While still under Syrian control, the Golan Heights were used to bombard Israeli territory below. Stumbling blocks. Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in The result, the Oslo I Accord, is each side's recognition of the other.
The agreement leads many to hope that an end to the Israel-Palestine conflict is not far off, but peace initiatives suffer a major setback when Rabin is assassinated two years later. A right-wing Jewish fanatic shoots and kills Rabin on November 4, , while he is leaving a peace rally in Tel Aviv. Rabin's assassination throws the spotlight on Israel's internal social strife. The divide is growing between centrist and extremist, secular and religious.
The photo shows Israel's then-acting prime minister, Shimon Peres, next to the empty chair of his murdered colleague. Nazi Germany's mass murder of Jews weighs on German-Israeli relations to this day. It is a tremendous emotional challenge for both sides, especially for Holocaust survivors and their descendants, but also a step towards closer relations after unforgettable crimes.
In , amid the violence and terror of the Second Intifada, Israel starts building a kilometer-long mile-long barrier of barbed wire, concrete wall and guard towers between itself and Palestinian areas of the West Bank. It suppresses the violence but does not solve the larger political conflict. The wall grows in length over the years and is projected to reach around kilometers.
Germany's current foreign minister, Heiko Maas, steps decisively into an ever closer German-Israeli relationship. His first trip abroad as the country's top diplomat is to Israel in March At the Yad Vashem Holocaust memorial and museum in Jerusalem, he lays a wreath in memory of Holocaust victims. The Golan is a hilly, 1,square-kilometer square-mile plateau overlooking Lebanon, Syria and the Jordan Valley.
The Golan is only 60 km 40 miles from Damascus and provides Israel with a strong defensive-offensive position and vantage point to observe military movements across the border. On the other hand, Syrian control over the Golan would provide it with strategic heights overlooking Israel.
The security dimension has been heightened by the civil war in Syria, which has seen Iran and its Lebanese Shiite ally Hezbollah entrench themselves on Israel's doorstep through their support of the Assad regime. Israel says Iran and Hezbollah pose a threat and the Golan provides a security barrier. Another key issue is water resources in an arid region. There is more than a security and water-resource dimension to President Donald Trump's announcement that the US should recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan.
It would also set a precedent that territory can be captured in war in violation of international law. Russia, for example, will take note of the inconsistency after five years of Western condemnation following its annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in UN Security Council Resolutions and , both supported by the United States, provide the legal basis stating that Israeli unilateral annexation of Syrian territory is in violation of international law.
Read more: 70 years old now — an Israeli story. Hezbollah, or Party of God, was conceived by Muslim clerics in the s in response to the Israeli invasion of South Lebanon in The Shiite group has a political and military wing.
Hezbollah emerged in the s as an amalgamation of Shiite militias and played a major role in the Lebanese civil war. It used guerrilla warfare to drive Israeli forces out of South Lebanon — Israel withdrew in Israel and Hezbollah fought another war in Its defense of Lebanon against Israel had won it cross-sectarian support and acceptance in Lebanese society.
Since its creation, Hezbollah has received military, financial and political support from Iran and Syria. Today, Hezbollah's military wing is more powerful than Lebanon's own army and has become a major regional paramilitary force. Hezbollah turned its focus to politics following the end of Lebanon's civil war.
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