The “demographic development” plan aimed at increasing the number of settlers only applies to the Golan Heights region which Israel seized during the Six-Day War in 1967 and then annexed in 1981, and not to the territory conquered since the ouster of al-Assad.
The Israeli Knesset has approved plans to increase the number of settlers in the Golan Heights, territory captured from Syria in 1967.
The announcement comes after the spectacular fall of President Bashar al-Assad last week, with Netanyahu saying a “new front” had opened in Syria, near the Israeli border.
The “demographic development” plan aimed at increasing the number of settlers only applies to the Golan Heights region which Israel seized during the Six-Day War in 1967 and then annexed in 1981, and not to the territory conquered since the ouster of al-Assad.
Netanyahu welcomed the plan with funding of 40 million shekels (10 million euros) with the aim of doubling the settler population in the territory.
Currently, an estimated 31,000 Israelis live in settlements considered illegal under international law in the Golan Heights.
Israeli settlers live alongside around 20,000 Syrians, mostly Druze Arabs, who did not flee the region when it fell to Israel.
But in a televised speech Sunday evening, Netanyahu said Israel was not seeking conflict with Syria.
“We have no interest in confronting Syria. We will determine Israel’s policy towards Syria based on the emerging reality on the ground,” he said.
“I remind you that for decades, Syria was an active enemy state of Israel. It has attacked us again and again, it has allowed others to attack us from its territory, it has allowed Iran to arm Hezbollah through its territory. »
Since rebel groups led by Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS) invaded Damascus last Sunday and ended al-Assad’s 24-year rule, Israel has carried out hundreds of airstrikes across Syria, claims he said, to destroy the weapons depots to prevent them. falling into the hands of terrorists.
The strikes were criticized by Syria’s de facto leader and head of HTS, Ahmed al-Sharaa, who said they had “crossed red lines” and risked escalating tensions across the Middle East.
Criticisms of Gulf countries
The Israeli proposal to increase the number of settlers in the Golan Heights has been criticized by both Saudi Arabia and Qatar.
In a statement, the Saudi Foreign Ministry called the proposal an attempt to “sabotage Syria’s security and stability opportunities.”
The Qatari Foreign Ministry called the plan “a new episode in a series of Israeli aggressions on Syrian territories and a flagrant violation of international law.”
Separately, a delegation from Doha is currently in Damascus ahead of Tuesday’s reopening of the Qatari embassy in Syria, closed since 2011 in response to al-Assad’s brutal crackdown on anti-government protesters.
Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary David Lammy said the British government was in “diplomatic contact” with rebel group HTS.
Lammy noted that HTS remains a proscribed terrorist organization but that the UK “can have diplomatic contacts and so we have diplomatic contacts”.
When HTS was established in 2011, it was a direct affiliate of Al Qaeda and a senior official from the so-called Islamic State was involved in its founding.
HTS later severed ties with both groups.
Lammy’s announcement comes a day after Secretary of State Antony Blinken told a news conference in Jordan that Washington had had “direct contact” with the HTS rebels and outlined principles of continued support of the United States to the political transition in Syria.
