Israel's occupation of the strategic plateau is considered illegal under international law.
Israel's government has agreed to double its population on the occupied Golan Heights while saying threats from Syria remain, despite the moderate tone of rebel leaders who ousted president Bashar al-Assad a week ago. "Strengthening the Golan is strengthening the State of Israel, and it is especially important at this time. We will continue to hold onto it, cause it to blossom and settle in it," Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said in a statement.
It said Netanyahu submitted the plan to the government "in light of the war and the new front facing Syria, and out of a desire to double the population of the Golan". About 31,000 Israelis have illegally settled there, said analyst Avraham Levine of the Alma Research and Education Center specialising in Israel's security challenges on its northern border. The Golan is home to 24,000 Druze, an Arab minority who practice an offshoot of Islam, Levine said.
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