What is the U.S. position on the Golan?
So can Congress be used to pressure the Trump administration to
recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan? That depends on whether
the administration is willing to listen on the issue.
By Gil Hoffman
Yesh Atid leader Yair Lapid wrapped up a week-long visit to the US
Thursday in which he met with some 20 senators and congressmen on one
key issue.
With Lapid, one might expect that they were discussing matters of
religion and state or that perhaps he was trying to influence the
long-awaited Israel-Palestinian diplomatic plan that US President Donald
Trump’s administration has been working on.
But instead, Lapid’s visit focused on securing bipartisan American
support for US recognition of Israeli control over the Golan Heights.
One step that would prove the trip successful would be if some kind of
lobby for that cause is created in Congress.
The cynics would say that Lapid latched onto the issue, because he is
trying to portray himself as Israel’s shadow foreign minister and the
main alternative to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Perhaps his
campaign strategists took a poll and found that keeping the Golan is the
ultimate consensus issue in Israel and told Lapid to focus on it.
But even if the cynics are correct, Lapid would be unwise to take a
leading role on an issue in which he did not believe he could achieve
relatively immediate success. The legislators he met in Washington
included key figures like House minority leader Nancy Pelosi, South
Carolina senator Lindsey Graham, Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren,
Arkansas Senator Tom Cotton, Florida Congressman Ted Deutch and
Illinois Congressman Peter Roskam.
He spoke to them about the strategic value of the Golan for Israel’s
security as well as its historic value to the Jewish people. He said
that this is the time to take such a step, while there is a historic
window of opportunity due to the changes in Syria and the entire region.
So can Congress be used to pressure the Trump administration to
recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan? That depends on whether
the administration is willing to listen on the issue.
There are members of Knesset who insist they have been told repeatedly
by the White House that now is not the right time to pressure for
recognizing sovereignty on the Golan. They said the White House wants
there to be a peace process with the Palestinians, and after the US
Embassy moved to Jerusalem, top Trump administration officials believe
that they did enough for now and that asking for more is ungrateful.
Those MKs would also say that asking for sovereignty on the Golan would
be putting the cart before the horse, because it remains relatively
unpopulated. Israel keeps what it develops, so it would need to work
hard to develop the Golan for it to remain an inseparable part of
Israel.
US Ambassador David Friedman was quoted by Channel 1 two weeks ago
saying in private conversations that Israel must be careful not to be
seen as ungrateful and to understand that America has global interests
that have nothing to do with Israel. The US Embassy denied that Friedman
said that.
Others, including Lapid, have said that the White House has not
expressed any opposition to highlighting the issue. The administration
itself has been careful about it when speaking on record.
“As regards US policy on the Golan Heights, we have no announcements to
make at this time,” a senior administration official said. “We
routinely meet with a range of Israeli officials on a range of issues.”
Perhaps the best way to interpret what the Trump administration believes
about the Golan is to listen to Netanyahu. While he has brought up the
issue with European leaders, he is currently focusing on getting Iran
out of Syria.
So for now, the Trump administration’s stance on the Golan remains
unclear, but perhaps in the future, the issue of the Golan could rise to
new heights.
https://www.geezgo.com/sps/28543
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