GOLAN
HEIGHTS – GEOGRAPHY
News:
India supports UN
resolution calling upon Israel to withdraw from Golan Heights
What's
in the news?
●
India has voted in favour of a draft
resolution in the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) that expressed deep
concern over Israel not withdrawing from the Golan Heights.
Golan
Heights:
●
It refers to the border region captured from Syria by Israel during the
Six-Day Middle-East War of 1967.
●
This region includes the western
two-thirds of the geological Golan Heights and the Israeli-occupied part of
Mount Hermon.
Physiography:
●
It is bounded by the Jordan River and the Sea of Galilee on the west, Mount Hermon on
the north, the seasonal Wadi Al-Ruqqd on the east, and the Yarmk River on the
south.
International
Recognition:
●
The U.S. was the first country to
recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan, which the rest of the
international community regards as Israeli-occupied.
Demography:
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More than 40,000 people live on the
Israeli-occupied Golan, more than half of them Druze residents. The Druze are an Arab minority who
practice an offshoot of Islam.
●
After annexing the Golan, Israel gave the
Druze the option of citizenship, but most rejected it and still identify as
Syrian.
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About another 20,000 Israeli settlers also
live there.