With Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu standing by his side, President Trump on Monday signed a proclamation officially recognizing the contested Golan Heights region as part of Israel – marking another unprecedented move by Trump in strengthening U.S.-Israeli relations. “This was a long time in the making and it should have taken place many years ago,” Trump said before signing the proclamation. Trump’s proclamation came just days after he tweeted his support for recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. UN'S SCATHING REPORTS STOKE US CONCERNS ABOUT ANTI-ISRAEL BIAS Netanyahu, who has previously accused Iran of attempting to set up a terrorist network to target Israel from the Golan Heights, praised Trump for his proclamation – calling the move “historic” and “invaluable” to the defense of the Jewish state. “It was so important for me to come here and thank you,” Netanyahu said to Trump. “Israel has never had a better friend than you.” The Israeli leader added: “Israel has seized the high ground which has proved invaluable to our defense.” The Golan Heights is a large plateau that sits in a disputed area along the border with Syria. It has been occupied by Israel since it was seized from Syria in 1967. Israel contends the region is a critical buffer zone between the nation and the conflicts throughout the Middle East as Syria’s eight-year civil war has at times come close to the Golan boundary. While the U.S. has historically attempted to remain impartial in the conflict over the Golan Heights -- which Israel captured from Syria in 1967 during the Six-Day War -- the Trump administration already has strengthened ties to Israel on other fronts. In 2017, Trump broke with decades of U.S. policy on Jerusalem and recognized the city as Israel’s capital, while a recent State Department report human rights bucked tradition and used the phrase “Israeli-controlled,” rather than “Israeli-occupied,” to describe the Golan Heights, the West Bank and Gaza. NETANYAHU CUTS SHORT WASHINGTON TRIP, MOBILIZES MILITARY AFTER GAZA ROCKET ATTACK WOUNDS 7 While appearing aside Trump during the press conference on the proclamation, Netanyahu is cutting his trip to Washington short following an early-morning rocket attack from the Gaza Strip that slammed into a house in central Israel and wounded seven people. Netanyahu held emergency consultations with military officials back in Israel and canceled a planned address to the AIPAC pro-Israel lobby group and meetings with congressional leaders. The Israeli military announced earlier on Monday that it has started striking the Islamic militant group Hamas in Gaza after the rocket attack. “Israel will not tolerate this, I will not tolerate this,” the Israeli leader said. “Israel is responding forcefully to this wanton aggression.” The strike came at a sensitive time for both sides. Netanyahu, locked in a tight race for re-election, came under heavy criticism from his rivals Monday and faced tough pressure to strike back at Hamas. CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP Hamas, meanwhile, is facing perhaps its toughest test since seizing control of Gaza 12 years ago. An Israel-Egyptian blockade, imposed to weaken Hamas, combined with sanctions by the rival Palestinian Authority and mismanagement by the Hamas government have all fueled an economic crisis. Hamas has been leading weekly protests along the Israeli border for the past year in hopes of easing the blockade, but the demonstrations, in which some 190 people have been killed by Israeli fire, have done little to improve conditions. The Associated Press contributed to this report.<doc-sep>No country in the world recognizes Israel’s rule over the Golan Heights, occupied by Israel in 1967 and unilaterally annexed in 1981 – no country, that is, until now. Donald Trump signed a presidential proclamation on Monday formally recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, still considered Syrian territory under international law. Standing by President Trump’s side during an address by the two heads of state in Washington DC, the Israeli prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, reportedly called Trump’s decision “historic justice” and gifted the president a box of wine from the occupied territory. As they embraced, Israeli forces began an aerial bombardment of the besieged Gaza Strip after rockets launched from Gaza hit a house in a community north of Tel Aviv earlier that day. Trump’s announcement is unmistakably an election-time favor for Netanyahu. Saddled with multiple corruption charges, including one for bribery, Netanyahu and his Likud party have been flagging in the polls. Likud increasingly appears threatened by the center-right Blue and White party, jointly headed by the taciturn retired general Benny Gantz and former TV personality Yair Lapid. Netanyahu’s desperation can be measured by the extremity of his rhetoric. He and his surrogates have spent the past several weeks waging a hateful, vicious campaign, accusing the Arab political parties of supporting terrorism and explicitly warning that a Gantz and Lapid victory would lead to dead Israelis. Many in Israel, however, view Netanyahu, despite his flaws, as a talented statesman and skilled advocate for the country’s interests on the international stage, and Netanyahu has campaigned on achievements such as normalizing relations with the Gulf states and the US embassy’s move from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. The Golan Heights declaration – which initially took even the secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, who was in Israel at the time, by surprise – is likely meant to bolster this image. Trump’s recognition of the Golan Heights marks the total capture of US policymaking in the Middle East by pro-Israel right But Trump’s Golan Heights proclamation is not just a cynical political gambit. It is a dramatic change in US policy in the Middle East that could have serious consequences. Trump, unlike his predecessors, has never even pretended to abide by international norms and conventions. And yet the decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over territory that the international community nearly unanimously considers occupied, or at the very least disputed, is unprecedented. It gives a formal US stamp of approval to Israel’s violation of international law, and, in particular of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits an occupying power from transferring its civilians into occupied territory. Roughly 20,000 Israeli settlers live in the occupied Golan Heights today – now with the unambiguous backing of the US government. This potentially paves the way for Israel’s annexation, in part or whole, of the West Bank. It has long been a talking point on the Israeli hard right that, despite the international community’s protestations, there would be few consequences for extending Israeli sovereignty over the West Bank. Trump’s declaration, it seems, has not only proven them right, but given them an added boost: unlike during the Obama years, they can be confident that the global hegemon will take their side. If Netanyahu’s Likud wins enough seats on 9 April to form a government, it is very like that annexation, at the very least, will be on the table for discussion. The Likud’s central committee unanimously voted in 2017 in favor of annexing the West Bank. Naftali Bennett, co-chair of the New Right party, has proposed a plan to annex parts of Area C of the West Bank. And the other rightwing parties – the extremist Union of Parties of the Right and Moshe Feiglin’s Identity party, both of which would almost certainly sit in a future Likud government – have only more extreme proposals for dealing with “the Palestinian question”, including the forced transfer of Palestinians out of the West Bank and into Jordan. Trump’s recognition of the Golan Heights marks the total capture of US policymaking in the Middle East by pro-Israel right. US ambassador to Israel David Friedman is an opponent of the two-state solution who previously operated the charitable arm of a rightwing orthodox religious seminary in the West Bank settlement of Beit El. Jared Kusher’s family is so close Netanyahu that the prime minister once slept in Kushner’s childhood bedroom. Between the Trump administration’s personnel and rightward lurch in Israeli politics, the pieces that would make the current one-state reality permanent are rapidly falling into place. It is important to remember this in light of the glitz and pablum of the AIPAC policy conference taking place this week in Washington DC, where the PR hacks and policy flacks are working hard to launder Israel’s image, to obscure the fact that there is one sovereign state between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea that determines the lives of roughly 13 million people; that of those 13 million, only half – Israeli Jews – have full citizenship and social rights; and that the other half, the Palestinians, live under a range of discriminatory systems, from codified discrimination but legal citizenship within Israel, to residency without the right to vote in East Jerusalem, to military dictatorship in the West Bank. Donald Trump, his administration, the pro-Israel lobby, and Netanyahu all intend to keep it that way.<doc-sep>The international community has voiced collective outrage over US President Donald Trump's decision to sign a proclamation affirming US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights on Monday. The Tuesday reactions came from all corners of the world, uniting US adversaries and allies alike. In New York, European members of the United Nations Security Council — Belgium, Britain, France, Germany and Poland — rebuked Trump's decision, saying that they did not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, which it has occupied since the 1967 Six-Day War, and annexed in 1981. The Golan Heights were seized from Syria during the Six-Day War, effectively annexed in 1981 Read more: Opinion: Trump's Golan initiative is ignorant and dangerous The group said, "We raise our strong concerns about the broader consequences of recognizing illegal annexation and also about broader regional consequences." The group's statement also said, "Annexation of territory by force is prohibited under international law," adding that unilateral changes to borders violate "the rules-based international order and the UN Charter." Russia, China, Indonesia and South Africa also criticized the US decision during the Security Council meeting. US ambassador defends decision Acting US Ambassador to the UN Jonathan Cohen defended the decision as part of an effort to stand up to Syrian President Bashar Assad. Cohen told the Council, "To allow the Golan Heights to be controlled by the likes of the Syrian and Iranian regimes would turn a blind eye to the atrocities of the Assad regime and the malign and destabilizing presence of Iran in the region." Israel accuses the Iranian-backed Lebanese Hezbollah of using the Golan, which Israel took from Syria, as a staging area for attacks on its citizens. Israeli military outposts seen from Lebanon The UN Security Council has previously passed three resolutions calling for Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights. The Council is scheduled to further discuss the decision when it convenes to address the future of the UNDOF, the UN peacekeeping force in Golan on Wednesday. Read more: Golan Heights: Why it matters to US, Israel and Syria 'The world is witnessing a black day' The Arab world and Iran also blasted the decision, labeling it a breach of international law and a detriment to peace in the region. At a meeting of the Organization of Islamic Co-operation, all 57 members joined to state that the Golan "is Arab and occupied land." Iraqi Foreign Minister Mohamed Alhakim, echoing the Security Council, said, "Golan is occupied Syrian land and its sovereignty must fully return to Syria." Even US allies aligned against Iran and Assad criticized the move, with Saudi Arabia saying, "It will have significant negative effects on the peace process in the Middle East and the security and stability of the region." Lebanese President Michel Aoun, who was in Russia Tuesday, tweeted, "The world is witnessing a black day." 'Blatant aggression' The Syrian Foreign Ministry, for its part, called the US decision a "blatant aggression," illustrating Trump's "contempt for international legitimacy," and proving him "the main enemy" of Arab people. Large protests were also held across Syria on Tuesday. Syrian ally and US nemesis Iran joined the chorus of critics. President Hassan Rouhani told state broadcaster IRNA, "No one could imagine that a person in America would come along and give the land of a nation to another occupying country, in violation of international laws and conventions." Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, an Assad ally, also slammed the decision, saying it was evidence of Washington's "disdain and disregard" for Muslims, Arabs and the rule of law. Nasrallah said that Arab "silence" on Trump's controversial 2017 decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel had led to Monday's declaration. Nasrallah warned that Golan might not be the last such territory unilaterally recognized as Israel's. He said that the West Bank, which Israel also took during the Six-Day War, could be next. The Golan Heights at night Read more: Trump's Golan recognition: A dangerous precedent? Watch video 05:29 Israel Iran Confrontation Is the West Bank next? Those warnings rang loud in the US as well, when US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman addressed the pro-Israel AIPAC convention in Washington DC, on Tuesday. Though Friedman, who is part of the US team working on a new Middle East peace plan, gave no details of the plan, he told the audience that the Trump administration understands Israel's need to have "overriding security control" over the West Bank. Friedman used biblical terms to describe the situation, saying, "Can we leave this to an administration that may not understand the need for Israel to maintain overriding security control of Judea and Samaria and a permanent defense position in the Jordan Valley?" Palestinians, seeking statehood in the West Bank and Gaza with East Jerusalem as their capital, have consistently demanded Israel withdraw from the area and have rejected Trump's previous initiatives out of hand. Unlike previous US presidents, Trump has not favored Palestinian statehood, showing a clear preference for an expanded Israel instead. js/jm (AP, Reuters) Each evening at 1830 UTC, DW's editors send out a selection of the day's hard news and quality feature journalism. You can sign up to receive it directly here.<doc-sep>On 24 March, Israel's Minister of Foreign Affairs Yisrael Katz said that Donald Trump would sign a decree recognising Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights on Monday. US President Donald Trump has signed a proclamation on Monday recognising Israel's sovereignty over the disputed Golan Heights during a meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. The signing ceremony took place after Trump issued joint remarks with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House. Washington's move was made in spite of Arab League Secretary-General Aboul Gheit's last week announcement that the bloc fully supported Syrian sovereignty over the Golan Heights. READ MORE: Netanyahu to Benefit From Trump's Golans Move, Not Clear How Much – Scholar This comes after last week Trump said in a statement that it was time for the United States to fully recognise Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, overturning over 50 years of US policy toward the region, which supported UN Security Council Resolution 497 which unanimously recognised that the territory belonged to Syria. Trump's remarks were condemned by a number of countries, including Iran, Turkey, Syria and Russia. Prior to the US president's statement, US Senator Lindsey Graham told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu that he would push the United States to formally recognise Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which were seized from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War. READ MORE: Trump’s Golan Move Could ‘Lead to NATO’s Collapse' in the Long Run, PhD Claims The Golan Heights, considered by Syria and much of the international community to be a part of its territory, was occupied by Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War. It was not until 1981 that Tel Aviv passed legislation formally annexing the area. The United Nations has not recognised the annexation. Moreover, in 2018, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution urging Israel to immediately withdraw its forces from the Golan Heights after the country organised local elections on 30 October.<doc-sep>
President Trump Donald TrumpTrump lashes out after grand jury seated for New York criminal probe Schumer tees up vote on Jan. 6 commission bill Senators struggle to save Jan. 6 commission MORE on Monday signed a proclamation officially granting U.S. recognition of Israel’s claim over the Golan Heights, reversing decades of American policy regarding the disputed territory between Israel and Syria. Standing side-by-side with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, Trump said he was taking the “historic action” because Iran and terrorist groups “continue to make the Golan Heights a potential launching ground for attacks against Israel.” ADVERTISEMENT “This was a long time in the making. Should have taken place decades ago,” Trump told reporters as he signed the proclamation in the Diplomatic Reception Room. Trump cited a Monday rocket strike Israel said was launched by Palestinian militant group Hamas that injured seven near Tel Aviv as the type of incident he wants to prevent, saying “we do not want to see another attack like the one suffered this morning.” The announcement offers a major boost to Netanyahu, who is facing reelection in two weeks in a race in which he has been shadowed by a slew of corruption indictments. Netanyahu, who wore a white shirt and red tie that matched Trump’s, played up his closeness with the U.S. president as an important asset for Israel. “Israel has never had a better friend than you,” Netanyahu told Trump. While the Israeli leader cut short his trip to Washington in response to the rocket attack, he told the president “it was so important for me to come here to the White House and thank you.” Netanyahu had been scheduled to address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s annual convention on Tuesday and join Trump for dinner at the White House. Before Trump signed the proclamation, Netanyahu said the Israel Defense Forces had begun “responding forcefully” to the Hamas rocket attack and added he wanted to return home to “lead the people of Israel and the soldiers of Israel.” Israel seized the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War against its Arab neighbors and officially annexed the territory in 1981. The U.S. and other nations, however, did not formally recognize that claim, saying the land’s status should be settled in negotiations. Syria’s foreign ministry condemned Trump’s decision, saying in a statement to news outlets that “Trump’s recognition is a blatant attack on Syria’s sovereignty and its territorial integrity.” The Golan proclamation was the latest in a series of policy moves Trump has made that earned praise from the Israeli government, including moving the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem and pulling out of the Obama-era Iran nuclear agreement. Trump telegraphed his decision last Thursday, tweeting that “it is time” for the U.S. to recognize Israeli control of the Golan Heights.