By Selen Tonkus
ANKARA
Oil drilling in the occupied Golan Heights will begin soon as Israel sees the area as an integral part of its nation and Syria has no room to object, experts believe.
In September 2014, Afek Oil and Gas, a subsidiary of the U.S.-based Genie Energy, won the Israeli government's approval for oil drilling on 153 square miles of the Golan Heights.
The area, once Syrian territory, was occupied by Israel during the 1967 war and annexed in 1981.
Oil drilling will being in two weeks as necessary equipment has arrived at the Golan Heights, the official Syrian news agency reported on Jan. 1, 2015.
The move sparked criticism of Israel as the annexation of Golan Heights into Israeli territory is not internationally recognized.
UN Security Council Resolution 242, adopted following the 1967 war, establishes principles for setting Israeli borders and withdrawal from territories conquered in 1967, including the Golan Heights.
Most Israelis consider it their territory because it was annexed in 1981, said Professor Eyal Zisser, a Syria expert and Dean of the Tel Aviv University Faculty of Social Sciences, adding, "Only few remember that it was once Syrian."
The Syrian civil war also prevents Damascus from protesting and the international community is focusing on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, Zisser said.
Dr. Alon Liel, former director general of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Israeli charge d’affairs in Turkey, said it is not a big issue in Israel and was not widely covered by the press.
"From the little I saw, the considerations were mostly professional -- meaning what is the chance to find oil there," he added.
Commenting on the legal debate as the Golan Heights is occupied territory, Liel said: "I do not think there is any one in Israel who thinks at the moment that Israel will withdraw from the Golan Heights, at least as long as Assad is in power and Syria practically does not exist as a coherent country."
The Golan Heights, housing the Lake Tiberias, is also Israel's main water source.
Israel also discovered two natural gas fields near Haifa; the Tamar field which is an estimated 280 billion cubic meters, and the bigger Leviathan, an estimated 530 billion cubic meters. Tamar started production in March, while Leviathan is due to start operating in 2016 or 2017.
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