UN urges for Israeli withdrawal from Syria’s Golan Heights
The UN General Assembly has adopted a resolution that Israel must withdraw from the Syrian Golan Heights, according to The New Arab and agencies on December 3rd.
The resolution was submitted by Egypt and passed with 123 votes in favour; both Israel and the US voted against the plan, while 41 states abstained.
In a press release following the vote, the UN stated, “By its terms, the Assembly declared that Israel’s 14 December 1981 decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan is null and void and called for its recission.”
Israel has occupied the Golan Heights since its capture during the 1967 Six-Day War, which also led to the capture of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula. In 1981, Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights, a move that the US recognises as legitimate.
Syria’s Foreign Ministry said: “The resolution reaffirms that territory cannot be acquired by force and calls for Israel’s withdrawal from the entire Syrian Golan, in line with the June 4, 1967 borders.” The ministry also emphasised “the illegality of Israeli settlements and other activities in the occupied Golan”.
An estimated 25,000 Israelis live in settlements in the occupied area, while Israel occupies two-thirds of the territory. The number is expected to grow as various settlement groups, such as the “Pioneers of Bashan“, have attempted to establish new settlements.
On November 27th, the Israeli military apprehended and returned 13 Israelis from the group, who had breached the Syrian border in two locations. The group calls for the return of Jewish settlers to the Biblical Bashan region, which is in today’s southern Syria.
In March, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced his nation’s intention to “indefinitely” occupy Syrian land, which some view as a legitimate part of Israel due to the “Greater Israel” project.
Under this plan, Israel would expand its borders beyond those established in 1967, with Israel fully seizing control of the Gaza Strip, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula, along with parts of Jordan and Syria.
Netanyahu declared that he was on a “historic and spiritual mission” to fulfil the Greater Israel territorial expansion in August, stating in an interview that the project will be pursued with “generations of Jews that dreamt of coming here and generations of Jews who will come after us.”
Although the expansion of Israeli settlements is considered illegal under international law, over 700,000 Israelis live in roughly 160 settlements across the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
The New Arab and agencies, Maghrebi.org
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