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Netanyahu to meet Trump with Golan Heights recognition on tap
WASHINGTON, March 25, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu will meet with Donald Trump in Washington on Monday amid
expectations the US president will formally recognize the Jewish state’s
sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Trump broke with longstanding international consensus last week over the
status of the Golan Heights, which Israel seized from Syria in the 1967 Six
Day War, saying the US should recognize Israeli sovereignty over the
strategic plateau. Israel’s foreign minister said the US president will go
one step further on Monday when he welcomes a grateful Netanyahu — who is
looking for an electoral boost ahead of April 9 parliamentary polls — to the
White House.
“President Trump will sign tomorrow in the presence of PM Netanyahu an
order recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” Israel Katz
tweeted.
Netanyahu has long pushed for such recognition, and many analysts saw
Trump’s statement, which came in a tweet on Thursday, as a campaign gift.
Netanyahu is locked in a tough election fight with a centrist political
alliance headed by former military chief Benny Gantz and ex-finance minister
Yair Lapid.
New opinion polls last week showed Netanyahu losing ground to his electoral
rivals, and the Washington visit was seen as an opportunity to regain
momentum.
The prime minister has a “working meeting” at the White House on Monday and
a dinner on Tuesday.
– Trump’s latest pro-Israel move –
Netanyahu is also set to address the annual conference in Washington of the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) on Tuesday. Gantz speaks at
the high-profile event on Monday.
The Golan Heights decision is the latest major move in favor of Israel by
Trump, who in 2017 recognized the disputed city of Jerusalem as the country’s
capital.
Syria and other states in the region condemned Trump’s pledge, saying it
violates international law. France said the same.
Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981 in a move never recognized by the
international community.
Netanyahu phoned Trump to tell him he had made “history,” and called the
gesture a “Purim miracle,” a reference to the Jewish holiday that Israel was
celebrating that day.
Although Trump professed no knowledge of the Israeli politics in play,
Netanyahu’s relationship with the US president has long been a central
feature of his campaign.
Trump appears on giant campaign billboards in Israel shaking hands and
smiling with Netanyahu, and the premier has shared video of the US leader
calling him “strong” and a “winner.”
On the same day as Trump’s Golan Heights tweet, US Secretary of State Mike
Pompeo was in Jerusalem, where he joined Netanyahu in a visit to the historic
Western Wall, offering his host a prime pre-election photo opportunity.
It was the first time such a high-ranking American official had visited one
of the holiest sites in Judaism, located in mainly Palestinian east
Jerusalem, with an Israeli premier.
Trump relies on pro-Israel evangelical Christians as part of his electoral
base and has moved US policy firmly in Israel’s favor.
BSS/AFP/MSY/1133 hrs