Time for US to recognise Israeli sovereignty over Golan: Trump
washington — US President Donald Trump said on Thursday it was time to back Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, territory Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Middle East War.
“After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognise Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!” Trump said on Twitter.
The recognition of the disputed area would mark a major shift in US policy a week before Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrives in Washington to meet with Trump and address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Netanyahu has been pressing for the United States to recognise its claim to sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Israel occupied much of the Golan from Syria in a 1967 war and annexed it, a move not endorsed internationally. Netanyahu raised the possibility of US recognition in his first White House meeting with Trump in February 2017.
Pompeo visits Western Wall
US top diplomat Mike Pompeo became the first high-ranking American official to visit the Western Wall with an Israeli prime minister on Thursday, providing another boost to Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election campaign.
Two experienced former US diplomats could not recall such a senior US official visiting the site with an Israeli premier.
On Thursday afternoon, Netanyahu and Pompeo, along with US ambassador to Israel David Friedman, approached the wall together, placing a hand on it before depositing prayers on slips of paper, as is tradition.
Before the visit, the US secretary of state told journalists “the trip to the wall is something that I’ve been talking with PM Netanyahu about doing ... It’s our first chance to go there together.” —