Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu paid a visit to the Golan Heights Oct. 8 to dedicate the Ein Keshatot National Heritage Site. It was a chance for him to repeat his supposed position on the Golan Heights. After all, Israel is on the verge of an election year. “Israel’s presence on the Golan Heights assures our security,” Netanyahu declared. “Israel’s presence there is a fact that the international community must recognize. As long as it is dependent on me, the Golan Heights will remain under Israeli sovereignty. Otherwise we will get Iran and Hezbollah on the banks of the Kinneret [Sea of Galilee].”

Not everyone was happy about these remarks. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov made it clear Oct. 10 that any change in status of the Golan Heights without prior approval from the UN Security Council would be considered a violation of existing agreements. Even the Trump administration was less than thrilled to show its support for Netanyahu’s statement. The State Department even rushed to announce that US policy regarding the Golan Heights had not changed.

In contrast to the Israeli right’s claim that the West Bank is not occupied but disputed territory, since only Britain and Pakistan have recognized Jordanian sovereignty, Israel recognizes that the Golan Heights were subject to Syrian sovereignty until the 1967 Six-Day War. When a 1981 parliamentary blitz led to Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights — taking advantage of the situation in which Israel's withdrawal from the Sinai Peninsula had yet to be completed, and the belief that Egypt would have to accept the process — the very Knesset members who submitted the law made it perfectly clear that it would not be used to prevent negotiations with Syria over the region’s future.

The Golan Heights are not on anyone’s agenda right now. No one is demanding that we return them to the Syrians at this stage. Nevertheless, nor would anyone in the world be prepared to recognize Israel’s annexation of the territory, either before or after Netanyahu’s remarks. As far as Jerusalem is concerned, the Golan Heights are a bargaining chip, which could help Israel to reach an agreement with Syria, Iran and Hezbollah, when the timing is right. Efforts to move masses of Israeli citizens to the Golan Heights have failed, so that there are now more non-Israelis than Israelis there. Demilitarization would be an Israeli condition, but if the Syrians agreed to this, it is reasonable to assume that Israel would be ready to withdraw. Even if the parties continued to dispute Syria’s demand to reach the waterline of the Sea of Galilee, this could be resolved by a series of access agreements.