I'd saved this big expose from "The Intercept" last week. Flush with Omidyar's Ebay money one would think this alternative media shored up by so called "adversarial journalists" would have been able to get a jump on my one person penny ante blog. But, no. Much of the same information in the intercept article was covered in a pretty well read post done here in July 2016. *Israel: Annexing More of Syria's Golan Territory For a "Safe Zone"- History Repeats
Followed up with additional information in later posts like this one in 2016 also: While the Cat's Away? Israel Plots Largest Settlement In SYRIAN Occupied Golan
Penny ante blog(ger) from 2016:
According to Labwani, the proposed safe zone, approved by the Israelis, is supposed to run 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep into Syrian territory and approximately 20 kilometers (12.4 miles) along the border, starting just south of Hadar (a pro-government Druze village) to southern Quneitra, spanning over 17 villages, with a population of around 15,000 people.
Moti Kahana is the Israeli-American founder of the US-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) Amaliah advocating for the safe zone. Kahana, who works closely with Labwani, said the Israeli government has given him the green light to operate within the designated safe zone.
NO GOOD ORGANIZATION- They should be shunned- By everyone. Everywhere.
“We started working already,” Kahana told Al-Monitor from his office in New York. “So in the next few weeks, we will be bringing supplies into the safe zone of Syria.” He went on, “The Israeli government will allow us to bring humanitarian supplies to the Syrian people,” adding that Israel is “willing to allow an American NGO — which is us — to expand and bring in supplies.”
Kahana explained that the first stage is to bring in medicine and equipment, the second stage is to open schools and focus on education, and the third stage is to help create and equip a local police force.
For Israel, a safe zone in the area would be hugely advantageous. By creating a buffer where the Syrian air force cannot fly close to the border and Hezbollah cannot launch attacks on the occupied Golan, Israel is cementing its grip on territory its leaders claim belongs to them and should be internationally recognized as such.
I followed up shortly after with reports that Israel was demolishing homes in occupied Golan
“This will be the largest expansion of an illegal Israeli settlement in the Occupied Syrian Golan since the 1980s,” a letter from Al-Marsad to the Delegation of the European Union to Israel reads.
The Intercept learned the outlines of the safe-zone expansion plan through a months long investigation
The safe zone appears intended to keep the Syrian army and its Iranian and Lebanese allies as far away from Israel’s border as possible, as well as solidify Israel’s control over the occupied Golan Heights
Over the last two years, Israel started building out the first phase of a safe zone in southern Syria. The project enabled the Israeli army, through humanitarian organizations and military personnel, to gain access to opposition-held areas in return for supplying aid, medical treatment inside Israel, and basic goods.According to sources, the second phase, which is currently underway, includes, among other things, the establishment of a 40-kilometer, Israeli-monitored buffer beyond the Golan Heights, a Syrian border police force armed and trained by Israel, and greater involvement in civil administration in opposition-controlled areas in two southern provinces. The expansion of the project also involves military aid to a wider array of opposition factions in both Quneitra and Daraa. The wider buffer zone also sees partnerships being built up with Syrian opposition leaders, civil society leaders, NGOs, and health officials on the ground to work on joint educational, health, and agricultural projects.
Amaliah, an Israeli NGO founded by Israeli-American businessman Moti Kahana, has been involved in Quneitra, in the nominal United Nations buffer zone between the Israeli-occupied Golan and Syrian-controlled territory, since 2016. The group is now working with local partners in Daraa, looking to expand its safe-zone mission further into Syria
Undoubtedly Omidyar's article was better read then all mine. Money certainly gets one more promotion. But does it result in better journalism?