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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MARCH 22, 2019
US abruptly endorses Israel’s Golan sovereignty
By MATTHEW LEE and
DEB RIECHMANN
Associated Press
JERUSALEM — Presi-
dent Donald Trump abruptly
declared Thursday the U.S.
will recognize Israel’s sov-
ereignty over the disputed
Golan Heights, a major shift
in American policy that
gives Israeli Prime Minis-
ter Benjamin Netanyahu
a political boost a month
before what is expected to
be a close election.
The administration has
been considering recog-
nizing Israel’s sovereignty
over the strategic high-
lands, which Israel captured
from Syria in 1967, for
some time and Netanyahu
had pressed the matter with
visiting Secretary of State
Mike Pompeo just a day
earlier.
U.S. and Israeli offi cials
said Wednesday they had
not expected a decision until
next week, when Netanyahu
is to visit the U.S.
But in a tweet that
appeared to catch many by
surprise, Trump said the
time had come for the United
States to take the step, which
Netanyahu warmly wel-
comed as a “miracle” on the
Jewish holiday of Purim.
“After 52 years it is
time for the United States
to fully recognize Israel’s
Sovereignty over the Golan
Heights, which is of critical
strategic and security impor-
tance to the State of Israel
and Regional Stability!”
Trump tweeted.
The U.S. will be the fi rst
country to recognize Israeli
sovereignty over the Golan,
which the rest of the inter-
national community regards
Amir Cohen
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, left, shakes hands with
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
as disputed territory occu-
pied by Israel whose sta-
tus should be determined
by negotiations between
Israel and Syria. Attempts
to bring Israel and Syria to
the table have failed. It was
not immediately clear how a
U.N. peacekeeping force in
the Golan might be affected
by the U.S. move. That
force’s mandate expires at
the end of June.
There had been signals a
decision was coming. Last
week, in its annual human
rights report, the State
Department dropped the
phrase “Israeli-occupied”
from the Golan Heights
section, instead calling it
“Israeli-controlled.”
Pompeo had brushed
questions about the change
aside, insisting even ear-
lier Thursday that there was
no change in policy. How-
ever, in comments to report-
ers ahead of a Purim dinner
with Netanyahu and his wife
at their Jerusalem home,
Pompeo hailed the shift.
“Tonight,
President
Trump made the deci-
sion to recognize that that
hard-fought real estate, that
important place, is proper
to be a sovereign part of the
state of Israel,” he said.
Netanyahu,
who
is
embroiled in a fi erce re-elec-
tion campaign ahead of
April 9 voting, smiled
broadly while delivering his
own remarks.
“We have the miracle of
Purim,” he said. “Thank you
President Trump.”
Netanyahu has for weeks
been stepping up longstand-
ing Israeli requests for the
U.S. and others to recognize
Israel’s sovereignty over the
Golan. He has bolstered Isra-
el’s traditional argument that
the area has for all practi-
cal purposes been fully inte-
grated into Israel by accus-
ing Iran of trying to infi ltrate
terrorists from Syria into the
plateau.
“At a time when Iran
seeks to use Syria as a plat-
form to destroy Israel, Pres-
ident Trump boldly recog-
nizes Israeli sovereignty
over the Golan Heights,”
Netanyahu tweeted.
WORLD IN BRIEF
Associated Press
US forces say 2 American
soldiers killed in
Afghanistan
KABUL, Afghanistan — Two Ameri-
can service members were killed during
a combat operation in Afghanistan today,
the U.S. and NATO forces said, providing
no other details.
The fatalities, which bring to four
the number of U.S. soldiers killed so far
this year in Afghanistan and 13 last year,
underscore the difficulties in bringing
peace to the war-wrecked country even as
Washington has stepped up efforts to find
a way to end the 17-year war, America’s
longest.
An Afghan lawmaker from Kunduz
province said there was heavy fighting
overnight in the Kunduz neighborhood
of Taluka, where jet fighters roared over-
head and bombings could be heard.
There are about 14,000 U.S. forces
in Afghanistan, supporting embattled
Afghan forces as they struggle on two
fronts — facing a resurgent Taliban who
now hold sway over almost half the coun-
try and also the Islamic State affiliate,
which has sought to expand its footprint
in Afghanistan even as its self-proclaimed
“caliphate” has crumbled in Syria and
Iraq.
Need for aid grows after
Cyclone Idai destruction
BEIRA, Mozambique — As floodwa-
ters began to recede in parts of Mozam-
bique today, fears rose that the death toll
could soar beyond 1,000 as bodies are
revealed.
Thousands of people were making
a grim voyage toward the city of Beira,
which although 90 percent destroyed has
become a center for frantic rescue efforts
throughout the region.
Some walked along roads carved away
by the raging waters a week ago. Oth-
ers, hundreds of them, were ferried in an
extraordinary makeshift effort by local
fishermen who plucked stranded people
from small islands. Helicopters set off
into the rain for another day of efforts to
find people clinging to rooftops and trees.
For those who reach Beira with their
few remaining possessions, life is grim.
Waterborne diseases are a growing con-
cern as water and sanitation systems were
largely destroyed.
Florida man pleads guilty to
mailing bombs to Trump foes
NEW YORK — A Florida man pleaded
guilty Thursday to sending pipe bombs to
CNN and prominent critics of President
Donald Trump in a wave of attacks that
harmed no one but spread fear of political
violence across the U.S. for days leading up
to last fall’s midterm elections.
Cesar Sayoc, 57, shackled at the ankles,
briefl y sobbed as he entered the plea before
a New York federal judge.
He could get life in prison at sentencing
Sept. 12 on 65 counts, including 16 counts
of using a weapon of mass destruction and
mailing explosives with intent to kill. In
exchange for his guilty plea, prosecutors
dropped a charge that carried a mandatory
life sentence.
Sayoc sent 16 rudimentary bombs —
none of which detonated — to targets includ-
ing Hillary Clinton, former Vice President
Joe Biden, several members of Congress,
former President Barack Obama and actor
Robert De Niro. Devices were also mailed
to CNN offi ces in New York and Atlanta.
Mississippi governor signs
‘heartbeat’ abortion law
JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi Gov.
Phil Bryant on Thursday signed one of the
strictest abortion laws in the nation — a
measure that bans most abortions once a
fetal heartbeat can be detected, about six
weeks into pregnancy.
Bryant’s action came despite a federal
judge’s ruling last year that struck down
a less-restrictive law limiting abortions in
the state. The New York-based Center for
Reproductive Rights called the new mea-
sure “cruel and clearly unconstitutional”
and said it would sue Mississippi to try to
block the law from taking effect on July 1.
Mississippi is one of several states
that have considered bills this year to ban
abortions once a fetal heartbeat is found.
Abortion opponents are emboldened by
new conservatives on the Supreme Court
and are seeking cases to challenge Roe v.
Wade, the court’s 1973 ruling that legal-
ized abortion nationwide.
A federal judge in 2018 struck down a
Mississippi law that would ban most abor-
tions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, saying
it is unconstitutional. The ruling came in
a lawsuit fi led by the only remaining abor-
tion clinic in Mississippi.
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