Israel extends its law to the Golan Heights
The move was organized with all the boldness, secrecy and speed of an Israeli commando raid—and it had the same kind of impact. Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin, still recovering from a three-week-old hip fracture, suddenly emerged from his hospital bed early last week to appear in a wheelchair in the Knesset. There he brusquely announced that his government would make into law what Israel has long accomplished in fact: the takeover of the strategic Golan Heights, 444 sq. mi. of rocky terrain captured from Syria during the Six-Day War of 1967. Said Begin: "We are talking about our very lives and our future, and the welfare of this nation."
After more than six hours of raucous debate, Begin got what he wanted. By a 63-to-21 vote, the Knesset agreed to extend "the law, jurisdiction and administration of the state" to the heights area, which has been treated for 14 years by Israel as occupied foreign territory under military rule. Israel's move fell short of outright annexation, but only in the narrowest legal sense.
Begin's initiative prompted immediate criticism from astonished governments abroad. French Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson declared himself "dumbfounded" and charged that the move violated the 1907 Hague Convention that demands respect for local law in occupied territories—an implicit affirmation that sovereignty cannot be transferred in such cases "except in the event of insurmountable difficulties." In his strongest foreign policy statement to date, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called the move "a blow to the peace efforts" in the Middle East.
Perhaps the angriest reaction came from Israel's main ally, the U.S. At week's end, the State Department declared that in retribution it was suspending the U.S.-Israeli agreement on strategic cooperation signed in Washington just three weeks previously. Technical talks scheduled for January to spell out practical details of the agreement will not take place.
Israel's unilateral action, Washington charged, was contrary to United Nations Resolution 242—calling for Israel to return captured territory in exchange for peace and secure and recognized borders—"on which the Camp David accords and all Middle East peace negotiations have been based."
Begin, however, had anticipated the American reaction in his pugnacious Knesset speech: "We consciously decided not to ask [the U.S.], since we had no doubt that our American friends would tell us no, and with all due respect, we could not take this no into account."
The immediate effect of Begin's action was to throw new sparks at the Middle East powder keg. So far as the Syrian government was concerned, Begin's action added a permanent dimension to the humiliation of losing the heights in the first place. Syria responded by declaring that Israel's move amounted to an "act of war." As if to give real meaning to that charge, Begin sent additional Israeli tanks rumbling into the heights area, which is separated from the Syrians by a neutral zone occupied by a 1,250-man United Nations peace-keeping force.