Israel took advantage of the international and regional circumstances to pass an Israeli law allowing the annexation of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights since 1967 to the State of Israel. After the tense summer of 1981 with Syria over the missile crisis that Syria had installed inside Lebanese territory in the Bekaa Valley, and with the escalation of tension to the point of confrontation, and in light of the labor crisis in Poland between the labor union movement and the Polish government, and the world’s preoccupation with this crisis, Israel issued the annexation decision on December 14, 1981. Israel had paved the way for this decision by encouraging Jewish groups to collect signatures from Israeli parliamentarians in June 1979, demanding that the Golan be an integral part of Israel. In July 1980, a law was issued allowing the Minister of the Interior to grant Israeli citizenship to residents of the territories occupied in 1967. In July 1981, Begin announced the program of his second government, confirming that Israel would not abandon the Golan and would not remove any settlement established in it. The government decides what is suitable for the application of Israeli law and rule and administration.
On the other hand, after Israeli Prime Minister Begin left the hospital due to some fractures he had suffered, some ministers called for an informal ministerial session at his home, surrounded by secrecy and attended by Deputy Prime Minister and Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Yitzhak Shamir, Defense, Ariel Sharon, and Justice, Moshe Nissim. Nissim announced that the Israeli government had decided to annex the Golan and that it had decided to do so at an unprecedented speed. He also announced that the government would present to the Knesset a bill called the “Law Applying Israeli Legislation to the Golan Heights.”
The United Nations Security Council then held an informal session at the request of Syria to discuss the latest developments in the current situation and hear the delegates of some countries on the crisis. The Syrian delegate, Diaallah Fatall, demanded that Israel be given a week to reconsider its decision before requesting punitive measures against it. Meanwhile, the Security Council postponed issuing any resolution on the problem, while the United Nations General Assembly convened and adopted a resolution condemning Israel for changing the physical character, population structure, foundational structure, and legal status of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights. The resolution stated that all measures taken are considered void and a violation of the Geneva Convention signed on August 12, 1949. The resolution also strongly condemned Israel’s attempts to forcibly impose Israeli citizenship on the Arab population.
The United Nations Security Council returned and issued Resolution 497 on December 17, 1981, declaring the annexation of the Golan Heights to Israel null and void. The resolution states:
The Security Council, reaffirming that the acquisition of territory by force is inadmissible under the Charter of the United Nations and principles of international law and explicit resolutions of the Security Council, decides:
First: The decisions taken by Israel regarding the occupied Syrian Golan are considered null and void, and as if they never existed.
Second: Israel, the occupying state, is requested to rescind its decision without delay.
Third: The continued validity of the Geneva Convention on the occupied Syrian territories of 1967.
Fourth: The Secretary-General of the United Nations is called upon to submit a report after two weeks on the developments in the region, and in the event of Israel not complying with United Nations resolutions, appropriate measures will be considered.
The United Nations General Assembly also returned and adopted a resolution demanding that Israel retract the law annexing the Golan Heights. The United States sided with Israel to prevent the issuance of a resolution imposing sanctions on Israel. An American official expressed the belief that Israel would exploit the current events in Poland to launch an invasion of southern Lebanon, and the United States confirmed this belief after the annexation of the Golan, indicating that their goal in this operation was to reach the Litani River.
In contrast, Israeli Defense Minister Sharon announced that the non-renewal of the strategic cooperation agreement by the United States would increase doubts about Washington’s international commitments. He also expressed his astonishment at Egypt and the United States being surprised by the annexation of the Golan, justifying this surprise by Israel informing Egypt in advance that it would not withdraw from the Golan due to its strategic importance.
The Israeli Defense Minister returned and announced on December 26, 1981, that the Golan was not a singular act, but there were other measures for other occupied areas that might follow. He added that Israel was forced to annex the Golan to resist American pressures aiming to impose an Israeli withdrawal from the Golan.
In the face of Israeli obstinacy and non-compliance with the resolutions of the International Security Council and the United States’ support for Israel, Damascus threatened to sign a strategic cooperation agreement with the Soviet Union to confront possible dangers. Syria also declared that it considered the decision to annex the Golan null and void, demanded that Israel abandon it, and emphasized the necessity for the United Nations Security Council to implement Resolution 497; otherwise, it should convene, as previously decided on January 5, 1982, to take necessary sanctions against Israel in accordance with Article 41 of the United Nations Charter, which includes:
- Not providing any military aid and suspending all military assistance.
- Cutting economic, financial, and trade relations.
- Refraining from providing any technical assistance or dealing with it in any form.
- Severing diplomatic relations.
At this time, the crisis continued, and the American support for Israel continued. Jane Kirkpatrick, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, informed the Syrian delegate (Fatah) that Washington would prevent the issuance of any resolution including sanctions against Israel under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, and if necessary, she would use the veto. Meanwhile, Clovis Maksoud, the representative of the Arab League at the United Nations, announced that Israel had begun transforming its military points in the Golan into so-called international borders.
Israeli intelligence anticipated further deterioration in security and military clashes between Syrians and Israelis in 1982. They also expected aggressive actions in response to the annexation of the Golan to Israel. The Israeli army remained on high alert to face emergency developments.
In light of these developments, considered provocative by the Syrian leadership and paving the way for a larger aggression in the region, Syrian Foreign Minister Abdel Halim Khaddam began a visit to Moscow for talks with officials in Moscow on the prevailing situation. He met with Andrei Gromyko, the Soviet Foreign Minister, and consulted on the development of the Friendship Treaty signed in October 1980. On the other hand, the United States used its veto power (veto) on an amended Arab draft resolution submitted to the United Nations Security Council calling for various sanctions against Israel for annexing the Syrian Golan. After these developments, the United Nations Security Council once again held a session on January 28, 1982, at the request of the Arab group, during which it discussed the procedural matters to transfer the Arab complaint from the Security Council to the General Assembly for consideration. Indeed, the General Assembly agreed for the first time since accepting Israel as a member in 1949, to consider Israel a non-peaceful state and its behavior contradicts the Charter of the United Nations and the resolutions of the General Assembly that accepted Israel as a member based on them.
Israel responded the next day, condemning what it described as an unfair, illogical, and unbalanced resolution. Israel viewed the call for its international isolation as part of the continuous effort by the Arabs to undermine its existence, considering the resolution as one of the anti-Israel resolutions previously voted on.
From the very beginning of Israel’s annexation of the Golan, it began employing various forms of pressure and terrorism to make Arab citizens accept Israeli identity and nationality. However, these individuals refused to submit to Israeli will, despite Israel’s continued control over the Golan.