RAMAT TRUMP, Golan Heights: Israeli residents of “Trump Heights” are welcoming the election of their namesake, hoping Donald Trump’s return to the US presidency will breathe new life into this tiny, remote settlement in the central Golan Heights.
During his first term, Trump became the first and only foreign leader to recognize Israel’s control of the Golan, which it seized from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war. Israel thanked him by rebranding this outpost after him.
But a large-scale influx of new residents never materialized after that 2019 ceremony, and just a couple dozen families live in Trump Heights, or “Ramat Trump” in Hebrew. Job opportunities are limited, and Israel’s more than yearlong war against Hezbollah militants in nearby Lebanon has added to the sense of isolation.
Trump’s election has inspired hope in the community that it will attract more members and also more funding for security improvements.
“Maybe it can raise more awareness and maybe some support to help here and help our kids here,” said Yarden Freimann, Trump Heights’ community manager.
Ori Kallner, head of the Golan’s regional council, showed off dozens of plots of land, replete with new asphalt roads, lampposts and utility lines, that residents have prepared for future housing developments.
“President Trump’s return to the White House definitely puts the town in the headlines,” he said.
Hanging on while war rages nearby
Kallner stood next to a metal statue of an eagle and a menorah, symbolizing the United States and Israel, as Israeli warplanes flew overhead. Two explosions from rockets fired from Lebanon punched the hills nearby, and just across the border in Lebanon, plumes of smoke rose into the air from Israeli airstrikes.
An enormous sign with the settlement’s name in Hebrew and English gleamed in the sun, while two large sunbaked metal flags of Israel and the United States were faded almost beyond recognition.
Surrounded by ashen ruins of villages fled by Syrians in the 1967 war, the town is perched above the Hula Valley, where Israel has amassed tanks, artillery and troops for its fight in Lebanon. Most towns in the valley have been evacuated. Trump Heights sends its kids to a makeshift daycare in a nearby settlement after the government shuttered all schools in the region in the wake of the Oct. 1 invasion of Lebanon.
“We find ourselves hanging by our fingernails to be in our own community, not be evacuated, and on the other hand, we cannot work, we cannot send our kids to any kind of an education system,” said Freimann.
Trump Heights is only about 12 kilometers from Lebanon and Syria. Alerts for incoming fire gives residents about 30 seconds’ head start to get to a bomb shelter.
Trump broke with other leaders on the Golan Heights
Israel annexed the Golan, a strategic plateau overlooking northern Israel, in 1981 in a move that is not internationally recognized.
That changed in March 2019 when Trump, without notice, tweeted that the US would “fully recognize” Israel’s control of the territory. His announcement drew widespread condemnation from the international community, which considers the Golan to be occupied Syrian territory and Israel’s settlements to be illegal. The Biden administration left the decision intact, but the US remains the lone country to recognize the Israeli annexation.
Kallner said he hopes Trump will now persuade European countries to recognize Israeli sovereignty there.
According to Israeli figures, the Golan is home to about 50,000 people — roughly half of them Jewish Israelis and the other half Arab Druze, many of whom still consider themselves Syrians under occupation.
Israel has encouraged and promoted settlements in the Golan, and the Druze residents operate farms and a tourism and restaurant sector popular with Israelis. But the area has struggled to develop because of its remoteness, several hours from Israel’s economic center in Tel Aviv.
That economic hardship has only worsened during the war as the hospitality sector cratered. On July 28, a rocket killed 12 Druze children on a soccer field in the city of Majdal Shams, about 12 miles (20 kilometers) away. Israel invaded Lebanon months later.
In June 2019, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu led an inauguration ceremony for Trump Heights. The US ambassador at the time, David Friedman, noted that the ceremony came days after Trump’s birthday and said: “I can’t think of a more appropriate and a more beautiful birthday present.”
As president, Trump was close with Netanyahu
The Golan recognition was among a series of diplomatic gifts that Trump delivered to Israel during his first term. They included recognizing Jerusalem as Israel’s capital and moving the American embassy to the contested city, and a series of diplomatic agreements with Arab countries known as the Abraham Accords.
He has vowed to bring peace to the tumultuous region during his second term, but has not said how.
Netanyahu enjoyed a close relationship with Trump during his first term but ran afoul of the former president when he congratulated Joe Biden on his 2020 victory. The Israeli prime minister announced Tuesday that he was one of the first foreign leaders to call the president-elect and congratulate him on his victory. An official in his office, speaking on condition of anonymity to discuss internal communications, said aides were upbeat and giddy.
“Congratulations on history’s greatest comeback!” the Israeli leader said in a statement. “Your historic return to the White House offers a new beginning for America and a powerful recommitment to the great alliance between Israel and America.”
At Trump Heights, Kallner was optimistic too: “The Golan community is strong and resilient, and people that want to come and live here are from the same material. I believe we will overcome these challenging times and won’t stop growing.”
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Residents of Israeli settlement ‘Trump Heights’ welcome Donald’s return to US presidency
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Residents of Israeli settlement ‘Trump Heights’ welcome Donald’s return to US presidency
- During his first term, Donald Trump became the first and only foreign leader to recognize Israel’s control of the Golan Heights
- Trump’s election has inspired hope in the community that it will attract more members and also more funding for security improvements
Turkish border region feels economic fallout from Iran
- Turkiye shares a 550-kilometer border with Iran, 300km of which flank Van province
- The city of Van has traditionally offered escape and relaxation for Iranian tourists
VAN, Turkiye: As vice president of the chamber of commerce in the eastern Turkish city of Van, Fevzi Celiktas’s job is to boost the local economy. But he has one major problem: his neighbors.
“We have some of the most feared countries in the world right on our doorstep: Iraq, Syria, and Iran,” he said.
“This greatly complicates our development.”
Celiktas is not indifferent to the fate of Iranians who cross to the Turkish side of the border after the ruthless repression of protests in January.
But the collapse of their economy and currency, which sparked the popular uprising, is being felt acutely in the province.
Turkiye shares a 550-kilometer border with Iran, 300km of which flank Van province, with the main pedestrian border crossing of Kapikoy just a 90-minute drive from the provincial capital, also called Van.
The latest crisis is another blow to the struggling economy in this region of 1.1 million people which lies at the eastern end of Anatolia.
Perched on the eastern shores of Lake Van and surrounded by snow-capped mountains, the city of Van has traditionally offered escape and relaxation for Iranian tourists.
Visitors come to shop, enjoy the local bars or take out boats on Turkiye’s largest lake, which is also the second-largest in the Middle East.
“Iranian tourists are our main clientele,” said Emre Deger, head of Van’s tourism professionals association, whose own hotel has seen occupancy rates decline year after year.
Even though winter is the low season, a third of its rooms are usually occupied, he explained.
“But currently, all the hotels are empty or at 10 percent of capacity at best,” he added.
‘For the Internet’
For eight to 10 days after the crackdown on Iranian protesters when there was an Internet blackout, the flow of visitors “completely dried up,” Deger said.
“Those who came were just here for the Internet,” he added.
Every morning when the Kapikoy crossing opens, a few dozen travelers arrive in the cold, wearily boarding buses or taxis headed for Van.
Apart from a handful of students and the odd few with long-term plans outside of Iran, not many are prepared to speak, quickly scurrying off to discreet hotels where they keep to themselves.
“Most even hesitate to go out to get food,” said Deger, who is waiting for March 21 when Iranians mark Nowruz, Persian New Year, to see if the tourists will return.
One Iranian woman in her 30s from the northwestern city of Tabriz said she understood the decline in visitors.
“There’s no middle class left in Iran. We’re all at the bottom, the very bottom,” she said, without giving her name.
“Everyone is poor.”
Back in Iran, she used to work in insurance, but now has a job at an elegant café in downtown Van.
“In the whole of January, I saw maybe two Iranians here,” she said.
‘Our money is worthless’
“Two years ago, when you came to Turkiye with 5 or 10 million rials ($4-$8), you were fine. Now you need at least 40 or 50 million rials. Hotels, food, everything has become more expensive for us.
“Our money is worthless now.”
The monthly salary she earned in Iran would barely last three days in Van today, she added.
“Our customers used to fill entire suitcases with clothes (to take home). But it’s very quiet now,” said Emre Teker in his clothing store.
Celiktas also blamed US and European sanctions for crippling Iran’s economy — and Van’s.
“The Van bypass still isn’t finished after 18 years of construction,” he said. “It’s become a joke, sometimes written on the back of trucks: ‘May our love be like the Van bypass and never end’.”
If a country faces trade restrictions for decades, it inevitably has consequences, he said.
“In a neighborhood, if your neighbor bothers you, you can move. But you can’t do that with countries: you can’t replace Iran with Germany, Italy, France, or Russia,” he said.
“So you have to reach some sort of agreement.”
“We have some of the most feared countries in the world right on our doorstep: Iraq, Syria, and Iran,” he said.
“This greatly complicates our development.”
Celiktas is not indifferent to the fate of Iranians who cross to the Turkish side of the border after the ruthless repression of protests in January.
But the collapse of their economy and currency, which sparked the popular uprising, is being felt acutely in the province.
Turkiye shares a 550-kilometer border with Iran, 300km of which flank Van province, with the main pedestrian border crossing of Kapikoy just a 90-minute drive from the provincial capital, also called Van.
The latest crisis is another blow to the struggling economy in this region of 1.1 million people which lies at the eastern end of Anatolia.
Perched on the eastern shores of Lake Van and surrounded by snow-capped mountains, the city of Van has traditionally offered escape and relaxation for Iranian tourists.
Visitors come to shop, enjoy the local bars or take out boats on Turkiye’s largest lake, which is also the second-largest in the Middle East.
“Iranian tourists are our main clientele,” said Emre Deger, head of Van’s tourism professionals association, whose own hotel has seen occupancy rates decline year after year.
Even though winter is the low season, a third of its rooms are usually occupied, he explained.
“But currently, all the hotels are empty or at 10 percent of capacity at best,” he added.
‘For the Internet’
For eight to 10 days after the crackdown on Iranian protesters when there was an Internet blackout, the flow of visitors “completely dried up,” Deger said.
“Those who came were just here for the Internet,” he added.
Every morning when the Kapikoy crossing opens, a few dozen travelers arrive in the cold, wearily boarding buses or taxis headed for Van.
Apart from a handful of students and the odd few with long-term plans outside of Iran, not many are prepared to speak, quickly scurrying off to discreet hotels where they keep to themselves.
“Most even hesitate to go out to get food,” said Deger, who is waiting for March 21 when Iranians mark Nowruz, Persian New Year, to see if the tourists will return.
One Iranian woman in her 30s from the northwestern city of Tabriz said she understood the decline in visitors.
“There’s no middle class left in Iran. We’re all at the bottom, the very bottom,” she said, without giving her name.
“Everyone is poor.”
Back in Iran, she used to work in insurance, but now has a job at an elegant café in downtown Van.
“In the whole of January, I saw maybe two Iranians here,” she said.
‘Our money is worthless’
“Two years ago, when you came to Turkiye with 5 or 10 million rials ($4-$8), you were fine. Now you need at least 40 or 50 million rials. Hotels, food, everything has become more expensive for us.
“Our money is worthless now.”
The monthly salary she earned in Iran would barely last three days in Van today, she added.
“Our customers used to fill entire suitcases with clothes (to take home). But it’s very quiet now,” said Emre Teker in his clothing store.
Celiktas also blamed US and European sanctions for crippling Iran’s economy — and Van’s.
“The Van bypass still isn’t finished after 18 years of construction,” he said. “It’s become a joke, sometimes written on the back of trucks: ‘May our love be like the Van bypass and never end’.”
If a country faces trade restrictions for decades, it inevitably has consequences, he said.
“In a neighborhood, if your neighbor bothers you, you can move. But you can’t do that with countries: you can’t replace Iran with Germany, Italy, France, or Russia,” he said.
“So you have to reach some sort of agreement.”
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