DAMASCUS, Oct. 11 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian Foreign Ministry on Monday condemned the comments of Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, who announced a plan to increase the number of Israeli settlers in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, according to the state news agency SANA.
The ministry said Bennett's announcement is "unable to change the eternal fact that Golan was and still remains an Arab and Syrian land."
It noted that all measures adopted by the Israeli occupation are "null and void and have no legal effect," stressing the Syrian army is "determined to liberate the Golan Heights from the Israeli occupation and foil the Israeli plots."
Earlier in the day, Bennett said "the Golan Heights is a strategic goal," adding "the goal of the Israeli government is to double the communities in the Golan Heights and establish two new settlements."
Israel captured the Golan Heights, along with the West Bank and Gaza Strip, in the 1967 war. In 1981, Israel annexed the territory in a move never recognized by most of the international community. Enditem
