by Jackson Richman and JNS
"Beginning with the U.S. Embassy consolidation move to Jerusalem, the White House has sought to refresh strategic thinking regarding the region's future," Washington-based geopolitical strategist and diplomacy consultant John Sitilides said.
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| The Golan Heights Photo: Eyal Margolin / JINI |
The
decision last week by the U.S. State Department to change its
designation of the Golan Heights from "Israeli-occupied" to
"Israeli-controlled" in its annual human rights report comes amid a push
for the United States to officially recognize Israeli sovereignty of
the Golan Heights, which it captured in the 1967 Six-Day War.
Additionally, the report's section on the
West Bank and Gaza did not label those areas as being "occupied" or
under "occupation."
The current U.S. policy on who controls the
West Bank and Gaza is that the final status is to be decided in peace
negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. But the description
changes from Israel occupying the aforementioned areas to controlling
them demonstrates a significant shift in semantics by U.S. officials.
However, Michael Kozak, head of the State
Department's Democracy, Human Rights and Labor Bureau, noted that the
language in the report does not reflect any policy changes.
"The policy on the status of the territories has not changed," he told reporters last week.
Nevertheless, the Middle East Forum's Gregg
Roman told JNS that "the U.S. omission of the term 'occupied' from both
the West Bank and Golan Heights reflects regional reality on the
ground. The U.S. recognizes Israel maintaining a hold on the Golan
Heights, and the argument over the West Bank should be treated as
disputed territories, not occupied."
B'nai B'rith International CEO Dan
Mariaschin echoed Roman's reaction, saying "the State Department's shift
in language is a welcome response to the current reality in the
region."
"The term 'occupation' has long been used
as a weapon against Israel in spite of the fact that Israel acquired
these lands in a defensive war, and has repeatedly offered its neighbors
peace and diplomacy," he told JNS.
"The simple reference to these lands by
their geographic names removes a biased political moniker that serves no
purpose other than to vilify Israel and prejudge the outcome of future
negotiations."
Endowment for Middle East Truth founder and
president Sarah Stern told JNS that the change "shows that the State
Department has crossed a Rubicon."
"It is extremely significant that the State
Department, for the first time, has dropped the term 'occupied' when
referring to the Golan Heights, the West Bank (i.e., Judea and Samaria),
and Gaza," she said.
"This seems to acknowledge that these lands
were acquired through wars of self-defense and not through some sort of
expansionist quest for territorial acquisition."
The softening of the language comes as the
Trump administration has taken a harder line against the Palestinians,
largely cutting off aid due to the Palestinian Authority's refusal to
negotiate with the United States, as well as its financial support for
terrorists and their families.
At the same time, the administration is
preparing to release its proposal to resolve the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict. Reports indicate that the Trump administration will likely
release its Mideast peace plan following Israel's elections on April 9.
'Continued obstinacy is not an option'
Washington-based geopolitical strategist
and diplomacy consultant John Sitilides told JNS that the designation
change reflects a bigger picture.
"The Trump administration has been clear in
its frustration with the Israeli-Palestinian diplomatic failures of
prior decades," he said. Beginning with the U.S. Embassy consolidation
move to Jerusalem, the White House has sought to refresh strategic
thinking regarding the region's future."
"Recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the
Golan Heights is a red line to not be crossed, a dangerous precedent in
resolving problems worldwide," he continued. "The new term
'Israeli-controlled' [works to] advance Israel's security interests and
warns Iran to pull back its cross-Syria ambitions, directly and through
its proxies."
Moreover, Sitilides said that "it also
reassures Moscow that Syria's borders will only be redrawn through a
grand framework. The new language regarding the West Bank and Gaza is a
warning shot to the Fatah leadership that continued obstinacy is not an
option. It also signals Palestinians that they must re-engage the
diplomatic process, or their future will be written for them by their
adversaries."
While the Zionist Organization of America
applauded the language changes instituted by the State Department, it
expressed disappointment over other areas of the report.
"The report repeatedly mentions allegations
from anti-Israel [George] Soros- and EU-funded NGOs," ZOA national
president Mort Klein told JNS.
"These NGOs are notorious for defending and
promoting terrorists, and inventing and propagating anti-Israel
falsehoods, and should never be relied on in an official U.S.
publication."
Examples of such NGOs include B'Tselem and
the New Israel Fund, which both have received funding from Soros' Open
Society Foundation.
"During the year Israeli forces killed
Palestinians in the West Bank who were attempting or allegedly
attempting to attack Israelis, according to B'Tselem and media reports,"
states the report.
"According to media reports and B'Tselem,
some of those killed did not pose a lethal threat to the Israeli
Security Forces (ISF) or civilians at the time they were killed."
Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations
Danny Danon has said that "B'Tselem has proven time and again that it
collaborates with Israel's enemies."
However, the report includes organizations such as Im Tirtzu that are ideologically opposite to groups such as B'Tselem.
Klein added that "the State Department
report also repeatedly uses the inaccurate term 'protestors' to downplay
the violent rioters and attempted mass infiltration of Israel from the
Gaza border."
"B'Tselem stated that 149 of the
Palestinian protesters who were killed did not take part in
hostilities," according to the report. "The government stated that many
of the victims were operatives of Hamas or encouraged by Hamas to
protest near the border."
Former Israeli Ambassador to the U.N. Dore
Gold told JNS that the description changes reflect that "recent events
have crystallized what the real alternatives are for the Golan Heights"
such as Iran and its proxies in Syria taking control of it.
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/2019/03/19/does-new-us-language-on-golan-west-bank-indicate-a-major-shift/
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