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Source: http://jcpa.org/testimony-recognizing-israeli-sovereignty-on-the-golan-heights/
Recognizing Israeli Sovereignty on the Golan Heights
(Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) Dore Gold - Testimony before the U.S. House of Representatives Subcommittee on National Security, July 17, 2018. U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights would constitute the fulfillment of a series of previous diplomatic assurances given to Israel by past administrations regarding the international status of Israel's position on that strategic plateau. Israel captured the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six-Day War, after years during which the Syrian armed forces positioned there bombarded Israel's farms and towns, situated roughly 1,700 feet below, with artillery fire. The Syrians also sought to divert the headwaters of the Jordan River that flowed through the Golan Heights. President Gerald Ford wrote to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin on September 1, 1975, that with respect to the Syrian front: "The US...will give great weight to Israel's position that any peace agreement be predicated on Israel's remaining on the Golan Heights." In the context of preparations for the 1991 Madrid Peace Conference, Secretary of State James Baker wrote a new letter of assurances to Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, which included a clause reconfirming President Ford's 1975 written commitment to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin. During the Clinton administration, Secretary of State Warren Christopher wrote a letter of assurances to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on September 19, 1996, committing the U.S. to the Ford Letter. While Syrian ground forces were severely degraded in the recent civil war, the eventual recovery of the Syrian army must be anticipated. Massive Russian arms transfers to the Syrian armed forces will likely provide the basis for the renewal of Syrian military power. A new focus of concern involves the role of Iran in converting Syria into a satellite state that will host Iranian forces and Shiite proxy militias, some of which have been integrated into the Syrian army in its campaign to take control of south Syria. Amb. Dore Gold, former director general of the Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israeli ambassador to the UN, is president of the Jerusalem Center.