Golan Heights Law

The Golan Heights Law (Hebrew: חוק רמת הגולן, romanized: Khok Ramat HaGolan) is the Israeli law which applies Israel's government and laws to the Golan Heights. It was ratified by the Knesset by a vote of 63–21, on December 14, 1981.[1] Although the law did not use the term, it was considered by the international community and some members of the Israeli opposition as an annexation of the territory and illegitimate.[2][3]

The law was passed half a year after the peace treaty with Egypt which included Israeli withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula.

In February 2018, the Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu stated that "the Golan Heights will remain Israel's forever",[4] after his political rival Yair Lapid called on the international community to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights two months earlier.[5] On March 25, 2019, the United States recognized the Golan Heights as sovereign Israeli territory[6] while the UN reaffirmed that the "..status of Golan has not changed".[7]

  1. ^ Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Golan Heights Law.
  2. ^ Rabinowitz, Dan (March 28, 2012). "17: Identity, the State and Borderline Disorder". In Thomas M. Wilson and Hastings Donnan (ed.). A Companion to Border Studies. John Wiley & Sons. pp. 307–308. ISBN 978-1-118-25525-4.
  3. ^ Yishai, Yael (1985). "Israeli Annexation of East Jerusalem and the Golan Heights: Factors and Processes". Middle Eastern Studies. 21 (1): 45–60. doi:10.1080/00263208508700613. ISSN 0026-3206. JSTOR 4283045.
  4. ^ Eichner, Itamar (February 16, 2018). "Netanyahu to UN chief: Golan Heights will remain Israel's forever". Ynetnews. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
  5. ^ Hoffman, Gil (December 6, 2017). "Lapid: World must recognize Israeli sovereignty over Golan, united Jerusalem as capital". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
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  7. ^ Cite error: The named reference :1 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).