Trump formally recognises Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights
Occupied territory was seized from Syria during 1967 Arab-Israeli war
Russel Murray
March 25, 2019
US President Donald Trump holds up his proclamation recognising Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu applauds.
US President Donald Trump on Monday signed a proclamation recognising Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights, breaking with long-standing US and international policy on the occupied territory.
Mr Trump signed the proclamation in the presence of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu after the two leaders held talks at the White House.
The move gives a boost to the re-election campaign of the Israeli prime minister, who had to cut short his visit to Washington amid an Israeli military build-up near Gaza in response to an apparent rocket strike that landed near Tel Aviv.
Before signing his proclamation on Monday, the US president said: "This was a long time in the making and should have taken place many decades ago."
Syria immediately slammed Mr Trump's action as a "blatant attack on its sovereignty and territorial integrity". It also runs counter to the position of the United Nations, which declared Israel's annexation of the Golan Heights in 1981 "null and void and without international legal effect" and called on Israel to withdraw from the area immediately.
The Security Council is expected to discuss the US move on Wednesday, when it decides on extending the mandate of the UN force deployed in the Golan as a buffer between Israel and Syria.
Mr Trump announced his intentions on the Golan in tweet on Thursday, describing the area as critical to Israel's security and regional stability.
His announcement was swiftly criticised by US allies. France reiterated that it did not recognise Israel's annexation of the Golan, pointing out that UN Security Council resolutions had recognised the annexation as illegal.
Germany expressly described the Golan Heights as Syrian territory and said its position was that "national borders should be changed only through peaceful means between all those involved".
European Council President Donald Tusk insisted the EU would not change its position on the Golan Heights saying: "The European Union does not recognise Israeli sovereignty over the Golan."
Arab League chief Ahmed Aboul Gheit, said the decision was "outside the international legitimacy" and that "no country, no matter how important it is, can make such a decision".
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey, a NATO ally, said Mr Trump's declaration had brought the region "to the brink of a new crisis and new tensions".
"We will never allow the legitimisation of the occupation of the Golan Heights," he said.
Mr Trump drew similar criticism when he acceded to another long-standing Israeli demand by recognising Jerusalem as Israel's capital and moving the US embassy there last year, which drew international condemnation and angered Palestinians and US allies in the Middle East who support the Palestinian aspiration for an independent state with East Jerusalem as its capital.
https://www.thenational.ae/world/me...raeli-sovereignty-over-golan-heights-1.841304
