Israel Hopes U.S. Will Recognise Golan Hold

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Thursday said Israel still hopes that the U.S. will recognise its claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Israel captured much of the Golan from Syria in a 1967 war and annexed it, in a move not endorsed internationally.

In May, a senior Israeli official said that U.S. recognition could be forthcoming within months. But in a Reuters interview during a visit to Israel this week, U.S. National Security Adviser John Bolton said “there’s no discussion of it, no decision within the U.S. government”.

Netanyahu was asked whether Israel, in light of Bolton’s remarks, had dropped expectations of U.S. recognition of Israel’s Golan claim.

He replied: “Would I give up on such a thing? No way.”

In the interview, Bolton said that while the United States understands Israel’s claim that it has annexed the Golan Heights, “there’s no change in the U.S. position for now”.

On Dec 6, 2017, President Trump formally recognised Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, reversing nearly seven decades of American foreign policy and setting in motion a plan to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to the fiercely contested Holy City.