Trump Wants U.S. to Recognize Israeli Sovereignty Over the Golan Heights

[DonViejo]

Source: The New York Times



By Eileen Sullivan and Edward Wong
March 21, 2019

WASHINGTON — President Trump said on Thursday that the United States should recognize Israel’s authority over the Golan Heights, one of the world’s most disputed territories, in a significant shift of decades-long American policy.

The president’s announcement, in a midday Twitter post, came after repeated pressure from Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel. Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and effectively annexed it in 1981, a move condemned by the United Nations.

Link to tweet

Mr. Netanyahu, who is facing a tough challenge in upcoming parliamentary elections, immediately praised Mr. Trump on Twitter for his decision.

Link to tweet

There have been recent signs that the Trump administration was moving in this direction. A recent State Department report used the phrase “Israeli-controlled” instead of “Israeli-occupied” to describe the territories of the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza.

Mr. Netanyahu is scheduled to visit Mr. Trump in Washington next week, and the new United States’ stance on the disputed land is expected to help the prime minister significantly.

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Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/21/us/politics/trump-golan-heights-israel.html

[Submariner]

1. The decision to seize the Golan Heights resulted in the attack on the USS Liberty

and the death of 34 Sailors. A deliberate attack to shut down U.S. intelligence gathering in the time surrounding the attack on the Heights.

[still_one]

4. It is convenient for some to forget that prior prior to the 67 war, the surrounding Arab countries

were planning to destroy Israel, and "push them into the sea"

The fact is Nasser made it clear that their goal was the eradication of Israel

At the same time Syria used the Golan Heights to shell Israeli farms and villages and they grew more frequent in a lead up to the 67 War

When Egypt began massing troops on the Israeli border, Syrian troops massing on the Golan Heights, and Nasser ordered the UN Emergency Forces stationed in the Sinai out, the course was set for war


"Many of the survivors of the Liberty remain bitter, and are convinced the attack was deliberate as they make clear on their web site. In 1991, columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak trumpeted their discovery of an American who said he had been in the Israeli war room when the decision was made to knowingly attack the American ship (Washington Post, November 6, 1991). In fact, that individual, Seth Mintz, wrote a letter to the Washington Post on November 9, 1991, in which he said he was misquoted by Evans and Novak and that the attack, was, in fact, a "case of mistaken identity." Moreover, the man who Mintz originally said had been with him, a Gen. Benni Matti, does not exist."

http://www.mitchellbard.com/articles/liberty.html

Regardless, people will believe what they want to believe, but in response to the OP, it wouldn't matter what trump did, with the Missile launches that were continuously occurring from Syria, there is no way that Israel would give up the Golan they acquired from the 67 war. without it being part of a comprehensive peace agreement with Syria, which currently doesn't look likely

[Cold War Spook]

6. Israeli intelligence was totally wrong about the USS Liberty.

They assumed that the linguists aboard the USS Liberty were Hebrew linguists. None were. All the linguists were Russian linguists. I was a Russian linguist with the Army Security Agency and had trained with some of the linguists aboard the USS Liberty. The US government covered it up because Israel was and still is our only ally in the Middle East. Because of Jerusalem and now the Golan Heights, Trump is showing that he does not want peace in that region.

[leftynyc]

7. Oh spare me this conspiracy theory bullshit

They seized the Heights after the farms and kibbutzim below them were attacked over and over and over again. So nice to see so many on the left consider al assad (that fucking butcher busy killing his own people right now) such an innocent kitten. Puke.

[Submariner]

13. I have no objection to Israel seizing the high ground, the Heights, it only makes sense

Just its tactics.

I don't believe in conspiracy theories, but I do believe the surviving sailors on the Liberty who were clearly visible as U.S Navy and targeted.

New revelations in attack on American spy ship from 2007

Bryce Lockwood, Marine staff sergeant, Russian-language expert, recipient of the Silver Star for heroism, ordained Baptist minister, is shouting into the phone.

"I'm angry! I'm seething with anger! Forty years, and I'm seething with anger!"

Lockwood was aboard the USS Liberty, a super-secret spy ship on station in the eastern Mediterranean, when four Israeli fighter jets flew out of the afternoon sun to strafe and bomb the virtually defenseless vessel on June 8, 1967, the fourth day of what would become known as the Six-Day War.

For Lockwood and many other survivors, the anger is mixed with incredulity: that Israel would attack an important ally, then attribute the attack to a case of mistaken identity by Israeli pilots who had confused the U.S. Navy's most distinctive ship with an Egyptian horse-cavalry transport that was half its size and had a dissimilar profile. And they're also incredulous that, for years, their own government would reject their calls for a thorough investigation.

"They tried to lie their way out of it!" Lockwood shouts. "I don't believe that for a minute! You just don't shoot at a ship at sea without identifying it, making sure of your target!"

Four decades later, many of the more than two dozen Liberty survivors located and interviewed by the Tribune cannot talk about the attack without shouting or weeping.

Their anger has been stoked by the declassification of government documents and the recollections of former military personnel, including some quoted in this article for the first time, which strengthen doubts about the U.S. National Security Agency's position that it never intercepted the communications of the attacking Israeli pilots -- communications, according to those who remember seeing them, that showed the Israelis knew they were attacking an American naval vessel.

The documents also suggest that the U.S. government, anxious to spare Israel's reputation and preserve its alliance with the U.S., closed the case with what even some of its participants now say was a hasty and seriously flawed investigation.

more here:

https://www.chicagotribune.com/chi-liberty_tuesoct02-story.html

[leftynyc]

15. That sailor can believe

whatever he pleases. I'm sure his anger keeps him warm at night. It was mistaken identity and you have no idea how thankful Israelis are for American support. They never would have harmed them on purpose.

[no_hypocrisy]

2. When the Palestinians and the United Nations first recognize the Annexation,

that's when this country should ALSO recognize it.

[still_one]

10. This has nothing to do with the Palestinians. Syria lost the Golan Heights, from which they were

launching missiles into Israel as a result of the 1967 war, which was when Syria, Egypt, and Jordan were massing troops along the Israeli border to destroy Israel, and resulted in Syria losing the the Golan Heights.

The occupied territories, and settlements are the grievance that the Palestinians have

The Golan Heights were lost by Syria's war against Israel

[no_hypocrisy]

16. Point taken.

Thank you.

[still_one]

17. I was just trying to say the Palestinians have a different situation, one which has to be addressed,

and it has gone on too long.

Unfortunately, none of that is likely to happen with the current occupant in the WH, and with Netanyahu as Prime Minister. We will see what happens in April, but I am not particularly optimistic.

The last real attempt for negotiations was with Bill Clinton, and when Bush took over, he set the whole process back decades, and unfortunately, President Obama wasn't able to make much progress in the first two years with the economy in almost total collapse, and all through his terms, the republicans did everything they could to sabotage everything he did.

That is why 2020 is so important, not only for the WH, but both houses of Congress, which we need to win in order to make any progress

[A Former Republican]

3. Just another reason for my user name

Trump is crazy

I was surfing the other day and I saw an hour-long YouTube video on how Trump is the new messiah. It was not poorly done by a crazy individual but a well produced with high production values by a religious group. They seem to want a war were the Arabs launch a missile which in error hits the Dome of the Rock (the Islamic shrine located on the Temple Mount in the Old City of Jerusalem.) This will enable them to rebuild Solomon's Temple. Wow it was scary. Unlike for Christians, the Messiah is not a religious leader, he is a political leader who is not a moral leader.

[Blue_Tires]

5. I'll just leave this here:

Link to tweet

[leftynyc]

8. But now donnie is looking for Jewish votes

and he'll keep looking until he's led away in handcuffs.

[still_one]

9. No doubt about it, he will try to use it as a wedge issue, but anyone who has any knowledge of the

history of the Golan Heights knows that Syria used it as their base to attack Israel, and as a result of the 1967 war Syria lost it then.

That they are trying to say this is news ignores the fact that Israel has governed the Golan Heights since 1967, and annexed it 38 years ago in 1981. It is not the "occupied territory", of the Palestinians, it is part of Israel by its victories over Syria after the Arab nations who jointly were massing troops along Israel to destroy Israel in 1967, the sic-day war, and lost.

They are trying to make news out of something that isn't news

[leftynyc]

11. They're trying but it wont work with those

he's trying to reach. The Jews know better. I'm finding it very interesting that donnie is not attending AIPAC this year. I'm told by one who is going that he's too hated there and is sending pence and pompeo instead.

[BumRushDaShow]

12. "Mr. Netanyahu, who is facing a tough challenge"

Um yeah. He's been indicted!

[ripcord]

14. I support this for one very obvious reason

The only thing Arabs have used the Golan for is to launch attacks on Israel, this truly is a national security issue.