Source: The New York Times

By ISABEL KERSHNER

JERUSALEM — Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel led a cabinet meeting in the Israeli-controlled portion of the Golan Heights on Sunday, calling on the world to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the conquered territory and vowing that Israel would never give it back to Syria.

Mr. Netanyahu made his remarks at what his office described as a “festive” meeting of the cabinet in one of the Jewish settlements on the strategic plateau that Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war. Israel later effectively annexed the Golan Heights in a move that was never internationally recognized.

Officially, the occasion for holding the first formal cabinet meeting in the territory was to mark a year since the formation of Mr. Netanyahu’s current right-leaning government. Yet the timing, according to experts, was more likely dictated by Israeli concerns arising from the recently resumed talks in Geneva over Syria’s future — or hopes that the talks might present an opportunity for Israel.

“The Golan Heights have been an integral part of the land of Israel since ancient times; the dozens of ancient synagogues in the area around us attest to that,” Mr. Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting. “And the Golan is an integral part of the state of Israel in the new era.”

Mr. Netanyahu said he had spoken with Secretary of State John Kerry on Saturday night and told him that Israel would not oppose a diplomatic settlement in Syria, on the condition that it not come at the expense of his country’s security.

“I told him that I doubt that Syria will ever return to what it was,” Mr. Netanyahu said, referring to the five-year civil war there. He added that any settlement should involve the removal of the forces of Iran, the Lebanese Hezbollah organization and the Islamic State from Syrian soil.

Mr. Netanyahu referred to the years between 1948 and 1967, when Syria held the territory and when much of northern Israel was subjected to sporadic shelling, as a “Syrian occupation.”

“The time has come for the international community to recognize reality, especially two basic facts,” he added. “One, whatever is beyond the border, the boundary itself will not change. Two, after 50 years, the time has come for the international community to finally recognize that the Golan Heights will remain under Israel’s sovereignty permanently.”

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