Israel Seeking US Recognition of Its Claim to Golan Heights — Trump Administration Report Softens Language on Israeli-Occupied Golan Heights

• Trump administration report softens language on Israeli-occupied Golan Heights
  by NAHAL TOOSI, https://www.politico.com/
  The State Department’s newest Human Rights Report describes the Golan Heights as “Israeli-controlled” instead of “Israeli-occupied,” a linguistic change sure to fuel criticism that the Trump administration is bucking global consensus on Israel’s reach.
  –
  The change comes as conservative U.S. lawmakers are pushing to have the Golan Heights recognized as part of Israel. If President Donald Trump goes along with that, it would be the latest of several pro-Israel moves on his part, including moving the U.S. Embassy to Jerusalem from Tel Aviv.
  –
  Michael Kozak, a top U.S. diplomat who briefed reporters Wednesday on the human rights report, said the new language did not reflect a change in U.S. policy toward the region. Rather, he said, it was about keeping the annual report more neutral.
  –
  “Occupied territory has a legal meaning to it,” he said, adding that the department is trying to stick with “just a geographic description.” He added the report avoided the word “occupied” because it is “not a human rights term and it was distracting.“
  –
  But the change comes a year after the Trump administration eliminated the report’s descriptions of the West Bank and Gaza — both territories claimed by Palestinians for a future state — as being “occupied” by Israel.
  –
  Since the 1967 Six Day War, Israel has controlled much of the strategic territory, which is claimed by Syria. The international community for the most part does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the land.
  –
  However, given the ongoing conflict in Syria, some hawkish Israel politicians — along with their allies in Washington — say it should keep the Golan Heights in perpetuity. The notion of ever handing over the area to the regime of Syrian dictator Bashar Assad is anathema, they say.
  –
  U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) recently said he would push Congress to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. “To give this up would be a strategic nightmare for the State of Israel. And who would you give it to?” Graham said.
  –
  The shifts in the U.S. approach to the region, which activists say has largely been to the detriment of Palestinians, come as the Trump administration prepares to release its proposal to resolve the decades-old Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
  –
  read more.

end