Reports are increasingly surfacing of a creeping but growing resurgence of Hamas activity in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon. Therefore, together with the initial Western insistence that any Palestinian state would have to be demilitarized seemingly having fallen from everyone’s radar, it seems to now behoove Israel to build on its recent military successes and create more defensible borders for itself than it now enjoys and also begin extended occupation-style stays in several unstable states.
On March 25, 2019, then – and soon to be – President Donald Trump sounded an important theme in support of Israel’s assertion of sovereignty over the Golan Heights:
The State of Israel took control of the Golan Heights in 1967 to safeguard its security from external threats. Today, aggressive acts by Iran and terror groups, including, Hezbollah, in southern Syria continue to make the Golan Heights a potential launching grounds for future attacks on Israel. Any possible future peace agreement in the region must account for Israel’s need to protect itself from Syria and other regional threats. Based these unique circumstances, it is therefore appropriate to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Israel has earned the right to defensible borders and non-threatening neighbors, having been forced over the years to defend itself in wars of survival with its predatory neighbors precisely because of its defensive inadequacies. In a very real sense Israel has more than paid its dues.
A hue and cry will of course ensue from much of the Arab world about the new Jewish land grab. But the protesters will largely be the same crowd that tried to take advantage of Israel’s border weaknesses. So, they can hardly be heard to complain at this point.
