Israel to name Golan settlement after Trump
Netanyahu said Tuesday he plans to name a new settlement in the occupied Golan.
JERUSALEM (AFP) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Tuesday he plans to name a new settlement in the occupied Golan after US President Donald Trump in appreciation of his recognition of Israel s claim of sovereignty there.
Netanyahu, who has been on a trip to the region with his family for the week-long Passover holiday, said in a video message that he would present a resolution to the government calling for a new settlement named after the US president.
"All Israelis were deeply moved when President Trump made his historic decision to recognise Israel s sovereignty over the Golan Heights," he said.
Trump again broke with longstanding international consensus on March 25 when he recognised Israel s claim of sovereignty over the part of the strategic plateau it seized from Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War.
The decision came only two weeks ahead of a tightly contested Israeli election, which saw Netanyahu win a fifth term in office.
Trump has shifted US policy sharply in Israel s favour since taking office, most notably by recognising the disputed city of Jerusalem as Israel s capital.
Israel annexed 1,200 square kilometres (460 square miles) of the Golan it seized in 1981, a move never recognised by the international community.
Around 18,000 Syrians from the Druze sect -- most of whom refuse to take Israeli citizenship -- remain in the occupied Golan.
Some 20,000 Israeli settlers have moved there, spread over 33 settlements.
