Yesterday President Trump declared that the Golan Heights are officially part of the State of Israel. This area of Syria was captured and occupied by Israel during the 1967 (Six Day) war.

President Trump said yesterday the following, “After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!” Furthermore he went on to say, “Today, aggressive action by Iran and terrorist groups in southern Syria, including Hezbollah, continue to make the Golan Heights a potential launching ground for attacks against Israel – very violent attacks. This should have been done numerous presidents ago.“

Per the Guardian, “By defying a 52-year-old unanimously adopted UN resolution on “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war”, Trump has also broken the postwar norm of refusing to recognise the forcible annexation of territory – which has underpinned western and international opposition to the Russian annexation of Crimea.”

I agree that upon the guarantee of peaceful relations between the State of Israel and Syria that the Golan Heights should be returned. But the reality of this happening is extremely low and if the heights were in Syrian hands all within range of military weapons would be threatened on a daily basis. That is something that would be intolerable for the people living in Israel. You have to remember that every other border, except the one with Egypt has come under threat from Hamas and other terrorist groups who want to wipe Israel off the map.

What President Trump has done is a problem for us here in the United States in the long run. For it runs against the modern concept that there is no longer a justifiable reason for forced annexation of any territory. Trump has made this declaration to bolster Prime Netanyahu reelection and this decision will further cause more problems between the Arab nations of the Middle East and us.

From Aljazeera , ““The liberation of the Golan by all available means and its return to the Syrian motherland is an inalienable right,” the statement added. “The decision … makes the United States the main enemy of the Arabs.”

Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu said it was impossible for Turkey to accept the US decision on the Golan Heights. 

He added that action would be taken against the US over the move, including at the United Nations. 

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres was “clear that the status of Golan has not changed,” UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric said on Monday. 

“The UN’s policy on Golan is reflected in the relevant resolutions of the Security Council and that policy has not changed,” Dujarric said.

A UN Security Council resolution adopted unanimously by the 15-member body in 1981 declared that Israel’s “decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect”. It also demanded Israel rescind its decision.

Qatar’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs also issued a statement rejecting the US move and saying the Golan Heights are occupied Arab land. 

The Arab League condemned the move saying that “Trump’s recognition does not change the area’s status.””

So as you can see from the above statements that Trump has stirred up a hornets nest of trouble. While the Arab nations have a point, they all fail to take into account that the security of Israel is paramount and until Syria is no longer the enemy of Israel the Golan Heights must remain in Israeli hands.

That is my opinion- Jumpin Jersey Mike