SAEDNEWS: Israeli settlers crossed the border fence in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights and began laying the groundwork for what they called a new settlement, according to Hebrew media reports.
The settlers, describing the move as a “return” to ancestral lands, named the planned outpost “Neve Habashan,” located on the Syrian side of the occupied Golan. They claimed the name refers to a biblical area east of the Jordan River that included parts of today’s Golan and southwestern Syria.
Hebrew outlet Walla said a group of settlers, including youth, participated in a cornerstone-laying ceremony. The family of Yehuda Dror Yahalom, an Israeli soldier killed in southern Lebanon, also erected a memorial for him and planted trees at the site.
A group calling itself “Halutzei Habashan”said, “Habashan is our ancestral heritage. We see empty lands of our homeland calling us to return and settle here. We call on the Israeli cabinet to remove the enemy from all of Habashan and allow us to settle here.”
According to their WhatsApp group messages, the settlers described the move as a spontaneous initiative and expressed hope the government would eventually support the plan.
The Israeli army later acknowledged that several vehicles carrying Israelis crossed the border into Syria and that troops escorted them back to occupied territory shortly afterward.
In February, about 20 Israelis crossed from occupied Palestine into Lebanon, claiming they were visiting the tomb of a fifth-century rabbi.
These incursions come amid Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s renewed rhetoric about a “Greater Israel” project that envisions occupying large parts of at least six Arab countries. Maps linked to the project extend Israeli claims to all of historic Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, more than 70 percent of Syria, half of Iraq, a third of Saudi Arabia, a quarter of Egypt, and part of Kuwait.
Arab intellectual Abdelwahab al-Messiri has written that Zionism, born in a Western imperialist context, has expansionism at its core. Early Zionist leader Theodor Herzl envisioned a Jewish state spanning from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Analysts note that Israel has avoided adopting a constitution since 1948, partly because fixing borders would limit expansionist ambitions. Former Knesset member and journalist Uri Avnery once remarked that if the chance arises, Israel’s territorial appetite could go beyond even the “Greater Israel” scheme.
Observers warn that the Zionist project’s maps and ambitions ultimately target all Arab lands, including states whose rulers have pursued normalization with Israel — a warning sign for those aligning with Tel Aviv regime.
