General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsGolan Heights tweet will have global consequences
By Stacie Goddard March 23 at 5:00 AM
On Thursday, President Trump tweeted his intention to recognize Israels sovereignty over the Golan Heights, territory that Israel annexed from Syria in the wake of the 1967 war. For decades the United States, along with the entire international community, has refused to recognize Israels annexation, instead treating the Golan Heights as temporarily occupied territory.
While commentary has largely focused on the effects Trumps announcement will have in the Middle East, this shift in U.S. policy has global implications, as well. Trumps position on the Golan Heights is inconsistent with what scholars call the territorial integrity norm, the principle that denounces territorial conquest as a legitimate instrument of international politics. Trumps announcement is likely to weaken the norm of territorial integrity, and in the process, undercut the U.S. ability to deter and punish states that engage in territorial expansion.
The territorial integrity norm stipulates that states may not use force to alter interstate boundaries. Before 1945, forceful territorial conquest was largely seen as legitimate: After all, states depended on territory for their security and wealth, and thus seizing territory to augment natural resources, expand their population, or build more secure boundaries, was a tempting prospect.
By the 19th century, norms were changing. States in Latin America sought to order their relations around recognition of each others sovereign claims to territory. By 1945, the rabid expansion of Hitlers Germany and imperial Japan made clear to the United States and its Western allies the dangers of territorial conquest. As they built the postwar order, these states enshrined the territorial integrity norm in the U.N. Charter, mandating that all members must refrain in their international relations from the threat or use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state ...
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/03/23/trumps-golan-heights-tweet-will-have-global-consequences-territorial-expansion/?utm_term=.9c3208985804
EndGOPPropaganda
(1,117 posts)We need to get rightwing billionaires out of our politics.
struggle4progress
(118,379 posts)EndGOPPropaganda
(1,117 posts)Turbineguy
(37,375 posts)There's another one for the next President to fix.
dixiegrrrrl
(60,010 posts)Hitler's grab for Czechoslovakia and Poland was sorta legal?
former9thward
(32,097 posts)In June 1967. Israel fought back and took over the Golan which had been used to shell Israel settlements. Immediately after the war the Israeli cabinet voted to return the Golan to Syria in exchange for peace. Syria (and the other Arab states) replied with the Khartoum Resolution which rejected the deal and stated the Three No's: "no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it"
Yet Israel is painted by the usual suspects as the bad guy here. No they aren't. They are the only adult in the room.