The Golan Heights: Gateway to a new Middle East?
President Trump’s Israel policy brings radical change to long moribund situation…
Amidst the chaos and noise of Brexit Drama and Mueller nothing-burgers, eyes are distracted from major shifts being made in US – Israel policies.
President Trump won the Republican Nomination in 2016 free of Israeli money, but since his election his policies have been the most pro-Israel of any US President in decades.
As well as recognising Jerusalem as the Israeli capital in early December 2017, a move long written into US law but delayed by signing orders by successive prior Presidents, Israel’s self-determination continues to be supported by President Trump, and in late March 2019, President Trump has declared his support for Israel’s claim to the Golan Heights.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/8716492/donald-trump-declaration-occupied-golan-heights-israel-syria/
This changes US policy since the Six Day War, and is opposed by the United Nations and the EU, which have consistently voted against Israel for many years.
Israeli politics and the state of the Palestinian Peace process have been a constant sore point in the region since the founding of Israel, and especially in the aftermath of the 6 day war in 1967.
Israel responded to ever mounting provocation and military build up by trouncing the forces of Egypt, Syria and Iraq, in what is one of the most respected military campaigns in history, and when the dust settled, Israel was left in control of the territory it holds today.
In the years since, the world community has stubbornly refused to accept the reality on the ground: that Israel won the war and extended its territory, and the constantly vexed issue of Palestine has seen a grinding diplomatic stalemate.
This came to a head in 2008, when Israel offered the Palestinians literally everything they had ever asked for at the negotiating table. The “Two state” solution was laid out on a plate for the Palestinian leaders: they had but to reach out their hands to secure the future for their people they had been demanding for decades.
Their response was to immediately quit the negotiating table and launch an all out “Intafada” uprising against Israel.
Israel’s response was certainly extreme. To the watching cameras of the worlds media, it was Israel who was seen as aggressive and in the wrong. But while the response may well have been excessive, it was caused by the Palestinian leaders proving they had no interest in making a deal for the sake of their people.
The reason for this was the control of Palestine’s leaders by the extremists of Iranian backed Hamas, who demand nothing less than Israel’s extermination and for Jews to be “driven back into the sea”
The Obama years did nothing to address this, and the Peace process seemed hopelessly broken down: until President Trump came along. Suddenly, the stalemate is broken, and the message in late 2017 was clear “come back to the table”… with the unspoken inference “If you wont sit down for the two state solution, it WILL be the ONE state solution…”
The recent move to recognise Israeli control of the Golan Heights further reinforces this message.
The Golan Heights are an area to the East of Israel, and were formerly Syrian territory before the six-day War. As well as a key strategic position the heights are the source of the water that fills the sea of Galilee.
Recent events in Syria have seen the final defeat of ISIS as a Military force, and President Putin of Russia gave vital support to President Assad to avoid regime change being forced by Obama/UK backed jihadi mercenaries.
Now that war is won, it is time for peace, and President Trumps recognition that, after 50 years of clear control the Golan Heights are part of Israel sets out the boundaries that new peace must be built upon.
In the bad old days of Neo-Con dominance (thank God Clinton did not win!) forcing a war vs Russia over Syria was the Deep State plan to keep the region locked in Chaos.
Now we will see if a new way forward can be found. Russia has signed new treaties with Israel and recognises West Jerusalem as the Israeli capital, while maintaining support for East Jerusalem as the Palestinian capital and the “two state” solution.
These underlying shifts in position do create an opportunity for Russia to exert its influence to get the Palestinians back to the negotiating table, an effort that would be greatly aided if democratic regime change occurs in Iran and the stranglehold of Iranian money and Hamas extremism cand be broken: and with increasingly close relations with Israel, that may prove possible.
A moribund stalemate does nothing but enforce the misery. Over 50 years of failure to settle a peace deal has let everyone down: generations of suffering Palestinians, held hostage to Arab nations animosity towards Israel (and soreness at getting soundly beaten in 1967!), most of all.
President Trump believes in America First: NOT America First (For Israel) as some anti-semitic critics claim. But while he is against the blank cheque largesse of the past, and is changing that, he is also Israel’s friend, and continues to pro-actively move the situation forward, drawing on his great experience with “The Art of The Deal”.
It could well be that history will record the Trump Presidency as being the most incredible good fortune the Middle-East could have hoped for. For there to be a future of Peace, the first step is recognising and acting from the reality of how things actually are: and that is just what President Trump is putting into action.
The two-state solution is there for the taking: while the window is open. We will see how this develops in the months ahead…