Israel Advances New Golan Heights Settlement Named After Trump
`We will start today with practical steps to construct Ramat Trump` said Netanyahu as the $2.3 million project to develop the settlement got underway
Israel began preparing Sunday to construct a new settlement on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights named after U.S. President Donald Trump.
We will start today with practical steps to construct Ramat Trump in the Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at the start of the weekly meeting of his cabinet in Jerusalem.
Ramat Trump in Hebrew translates as Trump Heights in English.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the cabinet is set to approve an initial budget of 8 million Israeli shekels ($2.3 million) to develop the settlement. Some 120 families are to live there.
One year ago, Netanyahu`s then-cabinet approved a decision to name a new settlement on the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights after U.S. President Donald Trump, who in March 2019 recognized Israeli sovereignty over the strategic plateau overlooking Israel`s northern Sea of Galilee.
Israel seized the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, and annexed the territory in 1981. The move had not been recognized internationally.
Trump`s recognition of the area as Israeli came after he relocated the U.S. embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, sparking outrage in the Muslim world.
Photo: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu unveils the Ramat Trump sign in the Golan Heights, 16 June 2019. Source: Ammar Awad/Reuters.
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