US President Donald Trump's decision to transfer his country's embassy to Israel from Tel Aviv to occupied Jerusalem has opened Israel's appetite for recognition of the annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan, in defiance to Iran Israel expects this to happen soon.
Israel's intelligence minister Israel Katz said the recognition of Israel's control of the occupied Golan Heights for 51 years "tops the agenda" now in Israeli diplomatic talks with the United States .
Katz, a member of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's small security cabinet, called the US recognition of the Golan annexation "a possible part of Trump's approach to countering what is seen as a regional expansion and aggression by Iran.
"This is the ideal time to take such a step. The most painful response that can be directed to the Iranians is to recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan by a presidential declaration, which is stipulated in the law," he said.
He also considered that this message to Tehran would be "you want to destroy the US ally Israel and provoke attacks against it?" Look, the opposite has happened.
The Israeli minister said that the issue raised by Netanyahu at his first meeting at the White House with Trump in February 2017 is currently under discussion at multiple levels within the administration and Congress , and I think there is a great opportunity and a great likelihood of this happening. "
When asked if such a decision could be made this year, he said: "Yes, in a few months it may increase or decrease slightly."
On the American side, a White House official said, "We agree with Israel on a large number of issues," but he declined to confirm any of Katz's details regarding the Golan.
Asked about Katz's remarks, a US embassy official said: "It is not our policy to discuss our diplomatic contacts."
Russian position
"The possibility of any tension between Russia - the Damascus ally - and Washington ," he said, describing the proposed US recognition of Israel 's sovereignty over the Golan as "part of a bigger mosaic of Syria .
He said Russia would respond to US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan by declaring that "they will not do the same, and that they do not have to support it."
"But in fact, from their point of view, if Israel gives something in the broader Syrian context, what harm does it do?" Assad's survival is more important to them, because Syria is too weak ... They want a new and comprehensive rearrangement.
Katz believes that "with the defeat of the armed opposition, the opportunity may now be available to Assad and Russia to remove the Iranians, and considered the Iranian presence in Syria is the main concern of the Netanyahu government."
"If Assad becomes an agent for Iran, he condemns himself sooner or later because Israel is moving against Iran in Syria … If he does not, We have no interest in intervening there. "
Katz believes that the US move on the Golan Heights could also push Palestinians to resume peace talks. The Palestinians have avoided Trump's administration since it announced in December that it would relocate its embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem.
"They have to hurry up and sit down with Israel, because where Israel says it is determined to be, it will be, and history will be in our favor," Katz said.
Source: Reuters, Aljazeera Arabic
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