What led Moshe Dayan to seize the Golan Heights?

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cr: Ram Lahover/GPO

Published: 3 June 2017

Last updated: 4 March 2024

The Golan Heights was under Israeli military administration from 1967 to 1981. In 1981, Israel passed the Golan Heights Law which applied Israeli ‘laws, jurisdiction and administration’ to the Golan Heights. Although the law in effect annexed the territory to Israel, it did not explicitly annex it. UNSC Resolution 497 declared the law null and void.

Did Israel seize the Golan Heights from Syria because of a photograph? – Noa Shpigel – Haaretz 02.06.17
Intelligence operatives and historians debate what led Moshe Dayan to change his mind about attacking Syria.

And see: The forgotten Syrian secrets of the Golan heights – Moshe Gilad – Haaretz 31.05.17
From old minefields to pools for Syrian officers, the vestiges of the former sovereigns of the Israeli-controlled Golan Heights are everywhere, if you know where to look. When Israel occupied the Golan Heights in 1967 there some 150,000 Syrians living in 273 communities there.