WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump said on Thursday it’s time for the US to fully recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, overturning a long-standing US policy of regarding the region as an occupied territory.

“After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the state of Israel and regional stability,” President Trump tweeted.

Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in 1967 and effectively annexed it in 1981, ignoring a strong protest by the United Nations, which still sees it as an occupied land.

The announcement comes days before a White House meeting between Mr Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and weeks before an important parliamentary election in Israel.

Mr Netanyahu, who faces a strong opposition at home, recently stepped up efforts to gain international recognition for the Israeli annexation. The US media reported that Mr Netanyahu focused particularly on President Trump, urging him to grant official recognition during or before his White House visit.

Mr Netanyahu immediately welcomed the announcement, calling it a bold move that would strengthen Israel. “At a time when Iran seeks to use Syria as a platform to destroy Israel, President Trump boldly recognises Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Thank you President Trump,” he tweeted.

But Saeb Erekat, the secretary general of the Palestine Liberation Organisation, warned that the US decision would cause more instability and bloodshed in the Middle East.

“What shall tomorrow bring?” Mr. Erekat said in a tweet. “Certain destabilisation and bloodshed in our region.”

CNN noted that the announcement “hands Mr. Netanyahu a significant foreign policy victory, less than three weeks before Israelis head to the polls to decide whether he should remain in power.”

The New York Times said the decision “has profound consequences” for the Israeli-Palestinian peace plan being drafted by Mr Trump’s son- in-law and senior adviser, Jared Kushner, “since it will confront Arab leaders with the choice of acquiescing in Israel’s annexation of Arab land”.

Published in Dawn, March 22nd, 2019