Q: The area known as ‘Golan Heights’ sometimes appears in the news in the context of the events related to
a) Central Asia
b) Middle East
c) South-East Asia
d) Central Africa
The correct answer is Option 2.
Golan Heights
- It is a hilly, 1,200 sq-km rocky plateau in south-western Syria in the Middle East region overlooking Lebanon, Syria, and the Jordan Valley. Hence, Option 2 is correct.
- It was Syrian territory until 1967 when Israel occupied it in the closing stages of the Six-Day War.
- During the fighting, the majority of the local Syrian Arabs evacuated the area. An armistice line was drawn, the area came under Israeli military administration, and Israel started settling the Golan Heights rather quickly.
- During 1973 Arab-Israeli or Middle East War, Syria attempted to reclaim the Golan Heights, and as a result, both nations negotiated an armistice in 1974. Since a UN observer force has been stationed on the ceasefire line.
- Although the US Trump Administration did so unilaterally in March 2019, Israel unilaterally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981. This action was not recognised internationally, and UN Security Council Resolutions declared Israeli sovereignty over the region to be null and void pending negotiations with Syria.
- There are Jewish communities, Druze (Arabs who follow an Islamic branch and many of them identify as Syrian), and a small number of Alawites (a branch of Shiite Islam, Syrian President Bashar Assad and key figures in his regime are Alawites).
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