One day, British Prime Minister Churchill, a notorious hater of Russia and anything Russian, called Poland "the hyena of Europe" given its leadership’s passion for seizing weakened states’ territories throughout its entire history. Amid present-day developments in the Middle East, the Briton’s definition is more accurate than ever to Israel.
The Jewish state decided to take advantage of utter demoralization in the government army and ensuing chaos after the coup in Syria to "strengthen national security", as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu put it. To this end, he moved Israeli troops from the Syrian Golan Heights occupied in 1967, through the buffer (demarcation) zone controlled by the UN Interim Force, took control of the five heights left by the Syrian army, and entered the territory of Quneitra Governorate in the south. His advanced tank units have been seen 21 kilometers away from Damascus.
A little earlier, representatives of the Israeli government reported that after the resignation of the Syrian authorities, Tel Aviv deems as invalid the 1974 agreement, under which UN forces could be stationed in the buffer zone on the Golan Heights. This is the explanation Israel chose at the end of the day.
"We all understand the great importance of our presence there on the Golan Heights, and not on the foothills of the Golan. Israeli control of the high ground ensures our security and sovereignty," Benjamin Netanyahu said during his visit to the place on December 9, 2024. Thus, the head of the Israeli government proclaimed that newly occupied territories would be soon recognized as part of the Jewish state.
Israel’s parliament (Knesset) passed the law on the Golan Heights ack in 1981, which essentially implied their annexation. At the same time, the UN Security Council unanimously adopted resolution 497, condemning Israel's actions and declaring Knesset performance and decisions "invalid and having no international legal force." The UN Security Council confirmed that the Golan remained an occupied territory.
In 2019, Trump-led America became the only country to recognize the Golan Heights as Israel’s sovereign territory. Today, State Department spokesman Matthew Miller said he considers this step by the Israelis quite justified and aimed to strengthen security of the Jewish state. The nearest future will undoubtedly see Tel Aviv decide to annex the five remaining Golan Heights and come up with an official announcement to that effect. And Washington will traditionally approve of what its Middle Eastern ally is doing.
Israeli politicians, most particularly Benjamin Netanyahu, are hatching the idea of annexing the Palestinian West Bank. The area is divided into three zones: A, B and C. Under the existing plan of 2019, it is planned to annex Zone C, which comprises 60 percent of West Bank territories and all the illegal Israeli settlements. Up to 300,000 Palestinians live here, while the number of Arabs in other zones is about 2.8 million.
The Israeli government has set its mind on annexing the entire territory of Palestine but has yet to ensure sufficient support with a number of local parties and social entities. During Trump's first term in office, the United States for the first time openly supported the idea, and his administration even took an active part in drawing up relevant plans. One may safely assume that in the next four years the US President-elect will be supportive of all the Israeli "initiatives" to seize new territories.
The same fate awaits the Palestinian Gaza Strip, no doubt about it. Our portal did previously dwell on the issue in one of the pieces published. The problem of a practical solution will take real shape after cleansing of the entire sector from Palestinian militants. The Israelis are already busy demolishing buildings in the northern and central parts of the area cleared, which indicates their intent to make the territory of Gaza part of Israel, too.
The Jewish State has spent an unprecedented number of forces and means to "eliminate the threat" from the Palestinian Islamic resistance movement (HAMAS) so it will not agree to either freeze the conflict while preserving any form of Palestinian governance there, nor give up on anything that serves its dire need for expansion. Besides, the seizure of new lands, coupled with the defeat of HAMAS and Lebanon’s Hezbollah armed formations, as well as the latest military actions by the Israeli army in Syria, will let the Netanyahu government and him personally drop charges fraught with a criminal prosecution.
The current or future leadership of the Jewish state will hardly heed to the imminent condemnation by other countries about operations in Gaza, Lebanon, or Syria. No one would make Tel Aviv comply with yet another UN Security Council resolutions. It was the case before and will be the case today.
Behold the West’s beloved rules-based order in all its glory, though this time, the mission of laying down those rules is up to Israel.
