The Occupied Syrian Golan: From Military Occupation to Political Commodification by Netanyahu

The occupied Syrian Golan Heights remains one of the most enduring unresolved issues in the Arab–Zionist conflict—not merely as occupied territory, but as a litmus test for the credibility of international law and the principle of sovereignty. Since 1967, the Golan has been transformed into a strategic, security, and economic asset for Israel, while being politically frozen under U.S. protection and Arab fragmentation.

1. The Golan: Syrian Territory Under History and International Law

Prior to the June 1967 Six-Day War, the Golan Heights were an integral part of the Syrian Arab Republic, administered militarily and civilly from Damascus and populated by dozens of Syrian villages. During the war, Israel occupied most of the plateau, forcibly displacing its inhabitants.

In 1981, the Israeli Knesset passed the Golan Heights Law, imposing Israeli law and administration on the occupied territory in a unilateral act of annexation. The UN Security Council responded unanimously with Resolution 497, declaring the annexation “null and void and without international legal effect,” reaffirming that the Golan remains Syrian territory under occupation. However, the absence of enforcement mechanisms allowed Israel to consolidate occupation as a fait accompli.

2. Netanyahu: Institutionalizing Occupation as ‘Sovereignty’

For Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the Golan Heights are not merely a buffer zone but a core pillar of Israel’s security doctrine and a nationalist political symbol. Throughout 2024–2025, Netanyahu repeatedly asserted that the Golan “will always remain part of Israel,” framing permanent control as a security necessity.

Just days ago, in mid-December 2025, Netanyahu once again publicly reaffirmed that the Golan Heights are part of Israel—reiterating a long-standing position rather than announcing a new legal reality. These statements aim to normalize annexation politically, despite its continued illegality under international law.

3. Trump’s 18 December 2025 Decision: ‘Granting Rights of Sovereignty’

On 18 December 2025, U.S. President Donald Trump announced that he had signed a decision granting Israel what he described as “rights of sovereignty” over the Syrian Golan Heights. Speaking from the White House, Trump stated that he made the decision after realizing the strategic importance of the territory.

While politically significant, this move does not alter the international legal status of the Golan. Under UN resolutions and international consensus, the territory remains occupied Syrian land. The recognition reflects U.S. unilateralism rather than any lawful change in sovereignty.

4. Trump and the ‘Trillions of Dollars’ Remark

In widely circulated remarks, Trump later admitted that when he initially recognized Israeli control over the Golan, he believed it to be a minor issue—only to discover afterward that the territory was “worth trillions of dollars.” The statement exposed the transactional mindset behind the decision, highlighting interests tied to water resources, agriculture, strategic elevation, and potential natural wealth.

These remarks underscored that the recognition was driven by geopolitical and economic calculations, not legal or ethical considerations.

5. Syria After the War: A Vacuum Exploited

Although the Golan was occupied in 1967, Syria’s prolonged war after 2011 significantly weakened the state’s ability to impose deterrence in the south. Israel exploited this condition to expand control beyond the 1974 Disengagement Line, occupy demilitarized zones, and conduct hundreds of air operations under the pretext of countering Iranian and allied forces.

Claims that the Golan was lost due to Syria’s internal collapse are misleading; the occupation predates the war by decades. Nevertheless, the conflict provided Israel with unprecedented freedom to entrench its hold.

6. Who Lives in the Golan Today?

Approximately 50,000 people currently live in the occupied Golan Heights. They include: • Israeli Jewish settlers residing in illegal settlements • Syrian Arab Druze communities, many of whom continue to reject Israeli citizenship and maintain their Syrian identity

Israel pursues gradual “Israelization” through education, infrastructure, and economic integration, but societal and political resistance persists.

7. Strategic and Security Significance: Syria, Lebanon, and Palestine

From Israel’s perspective, the Golan provides: • Military oversight of southern Syria • Strategic depth against Syria and Lebanon • A forward pressure point against the Axis of Resistance

From the resistance viewpoint, the Golan functions as an advanced platform for threatening Syrian and Lebanese territory and as a cornerstone of Israel’s doctrine of domination rather than deterrence.

8. The Golan and Arab Normalization: From Silence to Complicity

The Arab silence following U.S. recognition of Israeli control over the Golan in 2019, and its renewal in 2025, cannot be separated from the broader regional shift represented by Arab normalization agreements, particularly the Abraham Accords.

Before normalization, the Golan was at least nominally referenced in Arab League statements. After normalization, it became a politically inconvenient issue. Any serious demand for its return would require confrontation with Israel and the United States—something normalization-oriented regimes are no longer willing to pursue.

More dangerously, normalization has contributed to normalizing the occupation itself, recasting Israel as a legitimate regional “security partner” with alleged rights in the Golan to counter Iran and resistance forces. Thus, the Golan has shifted from occupied Syrian land to an Israeli security asset tacitly accepted by parts of the Arab political order.

From the Axis of Resistance perspective, Israeli entrenchment in the Golan cannot be separated from normalization, which stripped occupation of its political cost and rendered international law selectively irrelevant.

9. Why the UN Has Failed to Restore the Territory

Despite clear UN resolutions, no Israeli withdrawal has occurred due to: 1. The U.S. veto, which blocks enforcement in the Security Council 2. Arab political fragmentation and the shift from confrontation to normalization 3. Syria’s exhaustion after years of war, limiting diplomatic leverage

10. Conclusion: The Golan Is an Open Struggle, Not a Closed File

The occupied Syrian Golan is not a settled issue. Under international law, it remains Syrian territory, regardless of U.S. declarations in 2019 or 18 December 2025, or Netanyahu’s repeated assertions days ago.

Trump’s admission of the Golan’s “trillion-dollar value” exposes the essence of the issue: organized land and resource appropriation under the logic of power. For the Axis of Resistance, the Golan will remain a central front in the struggle for sovereignty and liberation—not a forgotten line in UN archives.