The Trump administration has released a controversial new US government map of Israel that shows the Golan Heights in Syria as being part of Israel, much to the outrage of many online.
Special envoy to the Middle East, Jason Greenblatt, shared the updated map on Twitter on Tuesday. Israel occupied the Syrian region in the 1967 Six Day War and later annexed it in 1981 in a move that was not recognized by the international community or the UN Security Council.
President Donald Trump announced he was recognizing the Golan Heights as being part of Israel late last month, in the run up to Israel’s election in April.
Also on rt.com Trump signs declaration recognizing Israel's sovereignty over disputed Golan HeightsGreenblatt tweeted that Trump had “instructed all agencies to take action to implement his decision. It’s a large process to update everything.”
The controversial move was met with criticism from the international community, which does not recognize Israel’s claim to the region, while Israel President Benjamin Netanyahu and others hailed the decision.
The updated map still refers to the West Bank as being “Israeli occupied with current status subject to the Israeli-Palestinian Interim Agreement; permanent status to be determined through future negotiations,” despite Netanyahu’s recent promise to impose Israeli sovereignty across West Bank settlements.
About 40,000 people live in the Golan, half are Druze and Alawites, and half are Jewish settlers.
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