Israeli occupation authorities on Sunday approved a $317 million plan to double the Zionist settlements in the Golan Heights, 40 years after it occupied the Syrian territory.
Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett’s cabinet voted in favor of the plan that aims to build 7,300 settler units in the region over a five-year period, during a meeting held in the occupied Golan.
It calls for NIS 1 billion to be spent on housing, infrastructure and other projects with the goal of attracting roughly 23,000 new Zionist settlers to the area, occupied during the 1967 Six-Day War.
“Our goal today is to double the population of the Golan Heights,” Bennett said ahead of the meeting, as quoted by Israeli media.
Around 25,000 Zionist settlers live in the Golan Heights, along with about 23,000 Druze, who remained on the land after its occupation.
Former US president Donald Trump granted American recognition to the so-called Israeli sovereignty over the Golan in 2019.
Source: Israeli media
