Title: A resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Policy area: International Affairs

Summary:
Expresses the sense that the United States should recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, given the importance of the area to Israel's national security, particularly for defending against attacks from Syria and Lebanon.

[Congressional Bills 115th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. Res. 732 Introduced in Senate (IS)]

<DOC>






115th CONGRESS
  2d Session
S. RES. 732

   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should 
         recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.


_______________________________________________________________________


                   IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

                           December 17, 2018

     Mr. Cruz (for himself and Mr. Cotton) submitted the following 
  resolution; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations

_______________________________________________________________________

                               RESOLUTION


 
   Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States should 
         recognize Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Whereas, until 1967, Syria controlled the Golan Heights and used the 
        topographical advantage it provided to attack Israeli troops and 
        civilians;
Whereas, in June 1967, Syria intensified its attacks against Israel from the 
        Golan Heights, and Israel captured the Golan Heights in a defensive war;
Whereas, in October 1973, the Golan Heights provided Israel with critical 
        strategic depth to repel a surprise attack by Syrian forces;
Whereas, on September 1, 1975, President Gerald Ford provided a diplomatic 
        assurance to Israel that ``the U.S. will support the position that an 
        overall settlement with Syria in the framework of a peace agreement must 
        assure Israel's security from attack from the Golan Heights'' and that 
        ``the U.S. has not developed a final position on the borders. Should it 
        do so it will give great weight to Israel's position that any peace 
        agreement with Syria must be predicated on Israel remaining on the Golan 
        Heights'';
Whereas, in October 1991, Secretary of State James Baker provided a diplomatic 
        assurance to Israel that ``the United States continues to stand behind 
        the assurance given by President Ford to Prime Minister Rabin on 
        September 1, 1975'';
Whereas, in 1981, Israel applied its ``law, jurisdiction, and administration'' 
        over the Golan Heights and has controlled the Golan Heights for 51 
        years;
Whereas, since 2011, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad has killed hundreds of 
        thousands of Syrian civilians, including with weapons of mass 
        destruction, and has pursued an ethnic cleansing campaign against Syrian 
        Sunnis;
Whereas Iran has used the war in Syria to establish a military presence in the 
        Levant, including thousands of Iranian troops and proxies, and now seeks 
        to create territorial corridors that solidify its control, expand its 
        activities, establish a permanent military presence, and provide arms to 
        its terrorist proxies;
Whereas Iran is the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism and the leaders 
        of Iran regularly threaten to wipe out Israel;
Whereas Iran and its proxies have repeatedly attacked Israel from inside Syria, 
        including in February 2018 when Iranian forces infiltrated Israel with a 
        drone and in May 2018 when Iranian forces shelled the Golan Heights;
Whereas, in December 2014, Congress unanimously resolved that the United States 
        supported the sovereign right of the Government of Israel to defend its 
        territory and its citizens from attacks against Israel by Hamas, a 
        terrorist group supported by Iran; and
Whereas Israel's control over the Golan Heights provides a defensible border, 
        deters attacks from hostile forces, facilitates intelligence gathering, 
        and allows Israel to detect threats to its national security: Now, 
        therefore, be it
    Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that--
            (1) the United States supports the sovereign right of the 
        Government of Israel to defend its territory and its citizens 
        from attacks against Israel, including by Iran or its proxies;
            (2) Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights is critical 
        to Israel's national security;
            (3) Israel's security from attack from Syria and Lebanon 
        cannot be assured without Israeli sovereignty over the Golan 
        Heights;
            (4) it is in the United States national security interest 
        to ensure Israel's security;
            (5) it is in the United States national security interest 
        to ensure that the Assad regime faces diplomatic and 
        geopolitical consequences for the killing of civilians, the 
        ethnic cleansing of Syrian Sunnis, and the use of weapons of 
        mass destruction, including by ensuring that Israel retains 
        control of the Golan Heights; and
            (6) the United States should recognize Israel's sovereignty 
        over the Golan Heights.
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