Israel aims to ‘double population’ in annexed Golan

Beirut: The Israeli government approved on Sunday a plan to increase the population of the annexed Golan Heights, while insisting it had no intention of confronting Syria after seizing a UN-monitored buffer zone.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had ordered troops to seize the demilitarized zone between Syria and Israel on the Golan Heights last week after radical militants, formerly associated with al Qaeda, swept president Bashar Assad out of power.

On Sunday, his office said the government approved a plan to double the population on the Israeli-held Golan Heights.

The government "unanimously approved" the 40 million shekel ($11 million) "plan for the demographic development of the Golan... in light of the war and the new front in Syria and the desire to double the population," Netanyahu's office said.

Israel has occupied most of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau, since 1967 and annexed that area in 1981, a move recognized only by the United States.

Netanyahu said that "the strengthening of the Golan is that of the State of Israel, and it is particularly important at this time. We will continue to establish ourselves there, develop it and settle there."

The occupied Golan is home to around 30,000 Israelis and about 23,000 Druze Arabs, whose presence predates the occupation and most of whom retain Syrian citizenship.

Saudi Arabia and Qatar swiftly denounced the Israeli move.

Riyadh's foreign ministry expressed "condemnation and denunciation" of the plan in a statement, calling it part of the "continued sabotage of opportunities to restore security and stability in Syria."

Doha said the Israeli declaration was a "new episode in a series of Israeli aggressions on Syrian territories and a blatant violation of international law."

Last week, Netanyahu declared that the annexed Golan would be Israeli "for eternity."

That followed an order he gave for troops to cross into the UN-patrolled buffer zone separating Israeli and Syrian forces since 1974. Troops have also operated in some areas outside the buffer zone "to maintain stability," according to the military.

Israel portrayed the move, which drew international condemnation, as a temporary and defensive measure after what Netanyahu's office called a "vacuum on Israel's border and in the buffer zone," following Assad's fall.

A UN official in New York confirmed to AFP that peacekeeping force UNDOF "has noted a number of daily instances of the IDF (Israeli army) operating to the east of the buffer zone."

Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz has ordered troops to "prepare to remain" in the buffer zone throughout the winter months.

In the aftermath of Assad's overthrow, Israel launched hundreds of strikes on Syria targeting strategic military sites and weapons, including chemical weapons.

On Sunday, the Israeli premier said his country had "no interest in confronting Syria. Israel's policy toward Syria will be determined by the evolving reality on the ground."

In a video statement following a phone call with US president-elect Donald Trump, Netanyahu said Syria had attacked Israel in the past and allowed others including Lebanese Hezbollah to do so from its territory.

"To ensure that what happened in the past does not happen again, we have taken a series of intensive actions in recent days," he said.

"Within a few days, we destroyed capabilities that the Assad regime had built over decades."

The Islamist militant leader whose group spearheaded the offensive that toppled Assad on Saturday accused Israel of "a new unjustified escalation in the region" by entering the buffer zone.

However, Abu Mohammed Al-Golani, who now goes by his real name Ahmed Al-Sharaa, said that "the general exhaustion in Syria after years of war and conflict does not allow us to enter new conflicts."

Washington in 2019 became the first and only country to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan, during Trump's first term.

Israel has previously announced plans to increase the number of settlers in the Golan, with the government of then-premier Naftali Bennett approving a $317 million, five-year program to double the settler population in December 2021.

At the time, the Israeli population in the occupied Golan Heights was around 25,000.