They prevented us from farming. They prevented us from moving,” said Abdel Raouf Issa, a resident of Maariyah. “We call on the United Nations to remove the occupation as soon

Israel approved a more than $11 million plan on Sunday to double its population in the annexed Golan Heights, where some 31,000 Israeli settlers already live alongside roughly 24,000 Druze.

The Israeli government decided on Sunday to double its population on the occupied Golan Heights while saying threats from Syria remained despite the moderate tone of rebel leaders who ousted President Bashar al-Assad.

People walk past a sign in the Druze village of Majdal Shams, located near the “Alpha Line” that separates the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights from Syria, Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2024. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix) People attend a rally celebrating the fall of Syrian President Bashar Assad’s government,

Israel announced plans to double its population in the occupied Golan Heights, earning international condemnation.

Israel's "demographic development" plan to increase settler numbers only applies to the area of the Golan Heights that Israel seized during the Six Day War in 1967 and later annexed in 1981 and not to territory taken since al-Assad's ouster.

The Golan Heights is recognized by the international community — except the US and Israel — as Israeli-occupied territory captured from Syria during the 1967 war. The World’s Host Marco Werman speaks with Joshua Landis,

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that he will double the Israeli population of the Golan Heights following the fall of Syria's Bashar Al-Assad. The Israeli government approved the plan Sunday.

More than four decades later, the entire international community - bar the US and Israel - considers the Golan Heights to be Syrian territory under Israeli occupation. In 2019, the US recognised the Golan Heights as Israeli sovereign territory during Donald Trump’s first term – becoming the only state to do so.

Following the collapse of Bashar al-Assad's government, Israeli troops moved into the demilitarised zone inside Syria created after the 1973 Arab-Israeli war, including the Syrian side of the strategic Mount Hermon that overlooks Damascus, where it took over an abandoned Syrian military post.