Al-Marsad – Arab Human Rights Centre in Golan Heights (“Al-Marsad”) is extremely concerned by reports of a new Israeli government plan to transfer illegal settlers into the occupied Syrian Golan. This reported plan, which comes just one week after the United States (“U.S.”) acknowledged Israel’s claimed “sovereignty” over the occupied Golan, conflicts directly with international law. This move is Israel’s latest attempt to advance its systemic discriminatory policies and render native Syrians in the occupied Golan irrelevant.

On Monday, it was reported that the Israeli Ministry of Construction and Housing has developed a plan to transfer 250,000 illegal settlers into the occupied Golan by 2048. The plan includes building 30,000 new housing units, creating 45,000 new jobs, and constructing two new cities. Today, the occupied Golan is home to 34 illegal settlements and at least 167 illegal settlement businesses. These illegal settlements and their residents have replaced 340 Syrian villages and around 130,000 Syrian civilians in the occupied Golan.

This reported plan is the latest illustration of Israel’s reckless hostility towards international law. Israel has proven that it has no willingness to fulfill its obligations under the Fourth Geneva Convention Relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, which unambiguously outlaws population transfers into occupied territory. Israel’s illegal settlement activities and attempts to alter the status of the occupied Golan have been rejected and condemned numerous times by United Nations bodies, including the Security Council; however, Israel continues to try to change the status of the occupied Golan through expanding illegal settlements. Israel, now with U.S. support, has increased its efforts in this regard since the Syrian conflict began to take advantage of the chaotic situation in Syria proper.

The reported plan threatens to further cement Israel’s systematic discrimination against the 27,000 Syrians that still live in the occupied Golan and render their existence moot. Israel is expanding its strategy to eliminate the Syrian population in the occupied Golan. This egregiously violates international law and truly shocks the conscious. Al-Marsad emphatically rejects the reported plan and calls on the international community to protect the native Syrians of the occupied Golan as Israel continues to try to purge their existence.