evidence: The Golan Heights is a territory in Israel’s northeast corner, on the Syrian border. It’s rural, mountainous and mostly empty. Fewer than 50,000 people live there — less than 1 percent of Israel’s population of 8.7 million. Half of the Golan’s residents are Jewish Israelis who live mostly in small agricultural communities. The other half are from a religious group called the Druze, who are mostly citizens of Syria. [...] Good question! The Golan wasn’t always controlled by Israel. Until 1967, it was part of Syria, but Israel took control of the area that year in the Six-Day War. Israelis began moving there almost immediately, and Israel fully annexed the Golan in 1981, treating it like any other part of the country. It offered the Syrian Druze residents citizenship, but most of them have declined. [...] Kind of. Israel thinks so, but no other country has recognized its sovereignty over the heights — including the U.S. The international community sees the Golan as Syrian territory occupied by Israel in a war — a view shared by every president before Trump.