Truthdig
Top Seven Reasons Israel Must Give Back the Occupied Golan to Syria (Videos)
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/top_7_reasons_israel_must_give_back_the_
occupied_golan_to_syria_20160418/
Posted on Apr 18, 2016
By Juan Cole
This post originally ran on Truthdig contributor Juan Cole's
website(http://www.juancole.com/2016/04/top-7-reasons-israel-must-give-back-
the-occupied-golan-to-syria.html) .
The far right wing regime of Binyamin Netanyahu pulled the stunt of holding
its first cabinet meeting in the Occupied Golan Heights on Sunday, and
Netanyahu engaged in some grandstanding, declaring that Israel will never
relinquish(http://aawsat.com/home/article/618996/%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8
%A6%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%8
1%D9%8B%D8%A7-%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%8B%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%B6%D9%85-%D8%A7
%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9
%87%D9%88-%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%82%D8%B9-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%81%D9%8
B%D8%A7-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%8B%D8%A7 ) this patch of Syria.
Israeli propaganda maintains that Israel is vulnerable to shelling from the
Golan Heights. But Moshe Dayan admitted
that(http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/11/world/general-s-words-shed-a-new-ligh
t-on-the-golan.html )
"he regretted not having stuck to his initial opposition to storming the
Golan Heights. There really was no pressing reason to do so, he said,
because many of the firefights with the Syrians were deliberately provoked
by Israel, and the kibbutz residents who pressed the Government to take the
Golan Heights did so less for security than for the farmland."
Although the New York Times reported this story about Israeli provocations
and the actual reasons for the occupation in the late 1990s, it today goes
on repeating the old propaganda myths.
1. It is not illegal for Israel temporarily to occupy Syrian territory as a
result of a war, as it did in Golan in 1967. But it is illegal for it
permanently to annex the territory of a neighbor, according to the United
Nations charter (Article 2, paragraph 4): "All Members shall refrain in
their international relations from the threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any
other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.">
Permanent annexation is an injury to the territorial integrity of another
United Nations member, which is not allowed as of 1945.
2. The UN Charter was trying to ensure that the bad behavior of the Axis
powers was not repeated.
Mussolini(http://www.juancole.com/2015/08/palestine-overwhelmed-immigrants.h
tml ) occupied part of France in WW II and tried to annex it to Italy and
settle it. We want the world to grow up and stop behaving the way Mussolini
did. Israel as a country established by people who suffered from Axis war
crimes has a special duty to uphold the UN Charter in ending aggressive
warfare and annexation of neighbors' territory.
3. Israel is setting a bad example through this aggressive expansionism.
There isn't any difference between what Moshe Dayan described as having
happened in the Golan Heights in 1967 and Saddam Hussein's invasions and
attempted annexations of Iranian Khuzistan and then of Kuwait. In fact,
powerful Bush administration officials such as Paul Wolfowitz worried that
most of the case against the Saddam Hussein regime put forward as the basis
for an American attack on it could also have been made against Israel.
4. Israel's annexation detracts from the rule of law in a region that
desperately needs a rule of law. The international community, especially
the European Union, won't put up with this sort of thing forever, either.
There are already European government advisories to European companies not
to do business with the Israeli squatter firms in the Palestinian West
Bank(http://www.juancole.com/2013/12/european-boycott-colonies-palestinian.h
tml ) , since it could open them to being sued in European courts. The same
will be true of Golan.
5. The Israeli occupation of the Golan involves outright theft of
Druze-owned land by the Israeli government and the squatters it backs. This
illegality on the level of how families' property is usurped mirrors the
international illegality of the annexation of the whole territory.
6. Further, the international community has a vested interest in restoring
Syrian territorial integrity once the civil war is ended. While Syria may
move to a federal system, it is likely to be reconstituted as a united
state, and the legitimacy of that new government will depend on it pressing
its claim for all Syrian territory. Indeed, the al-Assad regime was
weakened in the first place in the eyes of Syrian by its weakness in the
face of Israeli aggression.
7. Israel's belligerent declarations that it will never return its
ill-gotten gains set the grounds for some future war. Syria won't be a
basket case forever, and Syrians are never going to accept the loss of the
Golan. There has been enough war in the Levant; we should see to it that
unnecessary casi belli or grounds for future wars are set aside and
resolved.
It would be legitimate for Israel to negotiate the return of the Golan
Heights to Syria as part of a peace process (which Prime Minister Ehud Barak
seemed willing to do only 15 years ago). But it is immoral, illegal, and
destructive for Tel Aviv to seek permanent annexation of territory won in
war. As I have pointed out, Iran really was brutally attacked by Iraq in
1980, and was subjected to an 8-year war, and yet Tehran did not seek to
retain or annex Iraqi
territory(http://www.juancole.com/2015/02/surprising-better-israel.html ;)
once the fighting ended in 1988. In this regard, the Islamic Republic is
more exemplary than the State of Israel.
--
Related videos added by Juan Cole:
1. New China TV: "Netanyahu: Golan Heights will remain Israel's 'forever'"
(https://youtu.be/zdn_D1CqOmk ;)
2. Press TV: "Syria vows to use 'any means necessary' to take back Golan
Heights" (https://youtu.be/jVoP2sllvvg ;)
<p>
'Days of Revolt': Chris Hedges and Josh Fox on Holding Onto Our Humanity
Amid Climate Change
A Look at the Presidential Candidates' Tax Returns
Twitter Followers of Each Presidential Candidate Have Vastly Different
Media Consumption Habits
Live Blog: Republicans and Democrats Battle for Dominance in New York
Primary
Truthdig: Drilling Beneath the Headlines
C 2016 Truthdig, LLC. All rights reserved.
Signup for Truthdig's newsletter
Facebook
Twitter
Google Follow
LinkedIn
Tumblr
RSS
Truthdig
Top Seven Reasons Israel Must Give Back the Occupied Golan to Syria (Videos)
http://www.truthdig.com/report/item/top_7_reasons_israel_must_give_back_the_
occupied_golan_to_syria_20160418/
FacebookTwitterMoreEmail
Posted on Apr 18, 2016
By Juan Cole
This post originally ran on Truthdig contributor Juan Cole's
website(http://www.juancole.com/2016/04/top-7-reasons-israel-must-give-back-
the-occupied-golan-to-syria.html) .
The far right wing regime of Binyamin Netanyahu pulled the stunt of holding
its first cabinet meeting in the Occupied Golan Heights on Sunday, and
Netanyahu engaged in some grandstanding, declaring that Israel will never
relinquish(http://aawsat.com/home/article/618996/%D8%A5%D8%B3%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8
%A6%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%AA%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D8%B9%D8%AA%D8%B1%D8%A7%D9%8
1%D9%8B%D8%A7-%D8%AF%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%8B%D8%A7-%D8%A8%D8%B6%D9%85-%D8%A7
%D9%84%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%86-%D9%88%D9%86%D8%AA%D9%86%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9
%87%D9%88-%D9%8A%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%82%D8%B9-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%B7%D9%81%D9%8
B%D8%A7-%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%B3%D9%8A%D9%8B%D8%A7 ) this patch of Syria.
Israeli propaganda maintains that Israel is vulnerable to shelling from the
Golan Heights. But Moshe Dayan admitted
that(http://www.nytimes.com/1997/05/11/world/general-s-words-shed-a-new-ligh
t-on-the-golan.html )
"he regretted not having stuck to his initial opposition to storming the
Golan Heights. There really was no pressing reason to do so, he said,
because many of the firefights with the Syrians were deliberately provoked
by Israel, and the kibbutz residents who pressed the Government to take the
Golan Heights did so less for security than for the farmland."
Although the New York Times reported this story about Israeli provocations
and the actual reasons for the occupation in the late 1990s, it today goes
on repeating the old propaganda myths.
1. It is not illegal for Israel temporarily to occupy Syrian territory as a
result of a war, as it did in Golan in 1967. But it is illegal for it
permanently to annex the territory of a neighbor, according to the United
Nations charter (Article 2, paragraph 4): "All Members shall refrain in
their international relations from the threat or use of force against the
territorial integrity or political independence of any state, or in any
other manner inconsistent with the Purposes of the United Nations.">
Permanent annexation is an injury to the territorial integrity of another
United Nations member, which is not allowed as of 1945.
2. The UN Charter was trying to ensure that the bad behavior of the Axis
powers was not repeated.
Mussolini(http://www.juancole.com/2015/08/palestine-overwhelmed-immigrants.h
tml ) occupied part of France in WW II and tried to annex it to Italy and
settle it. We want the world to grow up and stop behaving the way Mussolini
did. Israel as a country established by people who suffered from Axis war
crimes has a special duty to uphold the UN Charter in ending aggressive
warfare and annexation of neighbors' territory.
3. Israel is setting a bad example through this aggressive expansionism.
There isn't any difference between what Moshe Dayan described as having
happened in the Golan Heights in 1967 and Saddam Hussein's invasions and
attempted annexations of Iranian Khuzistan and then of Kuwait. In fact,
powerful Bush administration officials such as Paul Wolfowitz worried that
most of the case against the Saddam Hussein regime put forward as the basis
for an American attack on it could also have been made against Israel.
4. Israel's annexation detracts from the rule of law in a region that
desperately needs a rule of law. The international community, especially
the European Union, won't put up with this sort of thing forever, either.
There are already European government advisories to European companies not
to do business with the Israeli squatter firms in the Palestinian West
Bank(http://www.juancole.com/2013/12/european-boycott-colonies-palestinian.h
tml ) , since it could open them to being sued in European courts. The same
will be true of Golan.
5. The Israeli occupation of the Golan involves outright theft of
Druze-owned land by the Israeli government and the squatters it backs. This
illegality on the level of how families' property is usurped mirrors the
international illegality of the annexation of the whole territory.
6. Further, the international community has a vested interest in restoring
Syrian territorial integrity once the civil war is ended. While Syria may
move to a federal system, it is likely to be reconstituted as a united
state, and the legitimacy of that new government will depend on it pressing
its claim for all Syrian territory. Indeed, the al-Assad regime was
weakened in the first place in the eyes of Syrian by its weakness in the
face of Israeli aggression.
7. Israel's belligerent declarations that it will never return its
ill-gotten gains set the grounds for some future war. Syria won't be a
basket case forever, and Syrians are never going to accept the loss of the
Golan. There has been enough war in the Levant; we should see to it that
unnecessary casi belli or grounds for future wars are set aside and
resolved.
It would be legitimate for Israel to negotiate the return of the Golan
Heights to Syria as part of a peace process (which Prime Minister Ehud Barak
seemed willing to do only 15 years ago). But it is immoral, illegal, and
destructive for Tel Aviv to seek permanent annexation of territory won in
war. As I have pointed out, Iran really was brutally attacked by Iraq in
1980, and was subjected to an 8-year war, and yet Tehran did not seek to
retain or annex Iraqi
territory(http://www.juancole.com/2015/02/surprising-better-israel.html ;)
once the fighting ended in 1988. In this regard, the Islamic Republic is
more exemplary than the State of Israel.
--
Related videos added by Juan Cole:
1. New China TV: "Netanyahu: Golan Heights will remain Israel's 'forever'"
(https://youtu.be/zdn_D1CqOmk ;)
2. Press TV: "Syria vows to use 'any means necessary' to take back Golan
Heights" (https://youtu.be/jVoP2sllvvg ;)
<p>
