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00:00The Israeli government is calling it a demographic development of the Golan Heights, more bluntly,
00:06a plan to double the Israeli population in the annexed region on the border between Israel
00:11and Syria.
00:13Considered part of Syrian territory, Israel has occupied most of this strategic plateau
00:17for almost 60 years.
00:20There are more than 30,000 Israeli settlers living here in settlements that are illegal
00:24under international law.
00:26They just outnumber the Druze population, a minority Arab community who mostly identify
00:31as Syrian.
00:33Saudi Arabia has called Israel's new plan part of a continued sabotage of opportunities
00:39to restore security and stability in Syria.
00:42But Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is likely to have the support of the incoming
00:46US administration.
00:48During Donald Trump's first term in office, the US officially recognised the Golan Heights
00:53as part of Israeli territory, the only country to do so.
00:57The settlement plan is the latest in a series of moves Israel has made since the fall of
01:02Bashar al-Assad.
01:04It's already seized the demilitarised buffer zone to the east of the Golan Heights and
01:09has launched hundreds of airstrikes onto Syrian territory.
01:13Netanyahu insists Israel has no interest in conflict with Syria, but only in protecting
01:18itself.
01:20I remind you that for decades, Syria was an active enemy state against Israel.
01:26It attacked us repeatedly and allowed others to attack us from its territory.
01:30To ensure that will not happen again, we have taken a series of intensive actions in recent
01:35days to thwart potential threats from Syria.
01:39Those actions include destroying military sites built by the Assad regime and disrupting
01:44the Syrian supply routes used to transfer arms from Iran to Hezbollah.