December 14, 1981
In a quickly organized and somewhat surprising move, the Knesset votes to annex the Golan Heights by a vote of 63-21. Prime Minister Menachem Begin, who was discharged from the hospital the day before after surgery to repair a broken hip, is brought to the vote in a wheelchair. The Labor Party organizes a boycott of the vote, mostly in response to its hastily arranged presentation and one-day debate, but eight members cross party lines and vote for the measure.
In defending his motivation for introducing the law on such short notice, Begin references recent remarks by Syrian President Hafez Assad that Syria will not recognize Israel for 100 years even if the PLO do so. Media reports also indicate that Begin wants to get back at the United States and reassert Israel’s independence after the recent U.S. sale of AWACS aircraft to Saudi Arabia (see https://israeled.org/ronald-reagan-arms-saudi-arabia/).
Israel gained control of the Golan Heights during the June 1967 war and held the territory after the October 1973 war. In May 1974, the Disengagement Agreement between Israel and Syria did not require Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.
The 1981 statute that formally annexes the Golan extends Israeli civilian law and administration to the residents there, replacing the military authority that had ruled the area since 1967.
International reaction, including that of the United States, is almost universal in condemnation of Israel. On December 20, Begin responds in a statement to the U.S. ambassador to Israel, Samuel W. Lewis: “Mr. Weinberger [U.S. defense secretary] — and later Mr. Haig [U.S. secretary of state] — said that the law contravenes Resolution 242. Whoever says that has either not read the resolution or has forgotten it or has not understood it. The essence of the resolution is negotiation to determine agreed and recognized borders. Syria has announced that it will not conduct negotiations with us, that it does not and will not recognize us — and thus removed from Resolution 242 its essence. How, therefore, could we contravene 242? As regards the future, please be kind enough to inform the secretary of state that the Golan Heights law will remain valid. There is no force on Earth that can bring about its rescission.”
