Letter submitted on Tuesday calls for an emergency session at UNSC following President Trump’s recognition of Golan Heights as Israeli; EU: The position of the European Union as regards the status of the Golan Heights has not changed.
Syria called on the United Nations Security Council to hold an emergency session following the Trump Administration’s historical recognition of the Golan Heights. A letter was submitted on Tuesday calling on the council to intervene and meet in order to “discuss the situation in the occupied Syrian Golan and the recent flagrant violation of the relevant Security Council’s resolution by a permanent member-state”- the United States.
President Trump’s decision and declaration resulted in global condemnation, with Arab states and European leadership rejecting his executive order. Iran took the opportunity to call for “regional alliances”, claiming on Tuesday, “The excessive demands of the Zionist regime and the wrong decisions of Washington necessitate closer cooperation among regional countries.” Hezbollah head Hassan Nasrallah called on Palestinians and Arab states alike to “resist” the Israeli occupations of the Golan, West Bank and Gaza. Lebanon’s foreign minister claimed President Trump has no right to declare the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, reporting, “The Golan Heights is Syrian Arab land and no decision can change this. No country can revisit history by transferring ownership of land from one country to another.” And Arab League Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit also released a formal condemnation on behalf of its 22 member states.
The EU reported that its stance on the Golan Heights has not changed, Foreign Affairs Chief Federica Mogherini releasing the statement, “The position of the European Union as regards the status of the Golan Heights has not changed.”
As with all grievances and emergency councils called against Israel, the UN is expected to meet on the Trump Administration’s declaration in the coming days.
In January of this year, the United States for the first time opposed a resolution at the United Nations General Assembly calling on Israel to return the Golan Heights to Syria. Of the 9 resolutions passed against the State of Israel that month, only the United States and Israel voted against the resolution on “occupied Syrian Golan” with 151 votes in favor and 14 abstentions. This year, a bill was submitted by US Republican Congressmen Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas, Senator Ted Cruz of Texas and Wisconsin Representative Mike Gallagher to the US Senate and House of Representatives calling on the United States to officially recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli territory in February. President Trump on Monday signed an executive order officially proclaiming the United States’ recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.
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