Develop the Golan or Lose It

By Michael Oren

President Trump’s decision to lift U.S. sanctions on Syria and recognize the regime of Ahmed al-Sharaa (Abu Mohammad al-Julani) poses serious short- and long-term challenges to Israel. In the short term, it means that Washington is supporting a ruler who threatens the Druze who we are defending. In the long run, however, America’s embrace of Damascus could result in Israel forfeiting the Golan Heights.

The Golan has been in our hands for nearly sixty years. Menachem Begin annexed it in 1981, and President Trump recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Heights in 2019. The Golan is an indivisible part of the Land of Israel, rich in precious Jewish sites, including a third of all the ancient synagogues ever discovered. Despite all that, to date, there are little more than 25,000 Israeli citizens living there. The failure of successive Israeli governments to vastly increase that number—and truly make the Golan an inseparable part of Israel—has led to repeated pressure on Israel to exchange the area as part of a peace deal.

That danger faded after March 2011 with the outbreak of Syria’s civil war. The threat of that conflict spilling over into Israel, Jordan, and the Gulf made it clear that the Golan had to remain in Israel’s hands. That was the point I emphasized in my discussions at the White House and in my efforts—eventually successful—to achieve American recognition of our sovereignty.

But even then, I knew that someday the civil war would end and pressure on Israel to relinquish the Golan would resume. Accordingly, in the Knesset, I created the Lobby for the Development of the Golan. Its goal was to settle 10,000 Israelis on the Heights every year for ten years and provide them with infrastructure, transportation, and jobs.

Unfortunately, the initiative received little more than lip service from the government. Prime Minister Netanyahu declared the establishment of Trump Heights in 2019, but six years later, its population remains tiny. Prime Minister Bennett pledged to quadruple the Golan’s Israeli population in a decade, but his government didn’t last long enough to fulfill that pledge. Today, President Trump is talking about enlisting Syria in the Abraham Accords. That would certainly be a welcome development—but it will almost surely come at a price.

We know from history, beginning with the Negev settlements created before the UN Partition Resolution, that where Israelis settle, Israelis stay. Nobody knows if Syria will fall back into chaos or whether al-Sharaa will survive and seek to make peace. Either way, Israel must act now and decisively. While contemplating the various "day after" scenarios for Gaza, we must also implement the only responsible course of action: making the Golan permanently ours.