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The US published its annual human rights report on Wednesday, 13 March, where it no longer referred to the Golan Heights as “Israeli-controlled” but “Israeli-occupied.
The State Department, however, insists that the wording change doesn't necessarily translate into a policy change, according to a report in Al Jazeera.
Speaking to Al Jazeera, a senior US official said, “there's no change in our outlook or our policy vis-a-vis these territories and the need for a negotiated settlement there".
Israeli leaders have not yet addressed the change, reported Reuters.
A spokesperson for Palestine President Mahmoud Abbas spoke to Reuters, saying, “the new labels will not change the fact that this is occupied territory, in accordance with UN resolutions and international law”.
The change in terminology comes amidst pressure from Israel on the Trump administration to recognise its sovereign claim to the area, reported The Guardian.
Internationally, this step was not recognised and the Golan is regarded as occupied under a UN Security Council resolution passed in 1967 in the aftermath of the war.
On Monday, 11 March, Republican US Senator Lindsey Graham and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the Golan.
Graham pledged to lobby the US administration to recognise Israel sovereignty of the area, according to an AP News report.
Like the Golan, the West Bank and Gaza Strip were also occupied by Israel in the 1967 war but the US State Department report did not use the term “occupied” in relation to those territories.
The Guardian reported that despite Israeli forces left Gaza in 2005 but continue to maintain an air, land and sea blockade. The West Bank remains under Israeli military control.
Washington is set to present a peace plan for Israel and Palestine after Israel’s elections on 9 April said US officials according to Reuters.
Netanyahu will travel to Washington later in March to address the pro-Israel lobby American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).
(With inputs from The Guardian, Reuters and Al Jazeera)
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