Saudi Arabia has joined the chorus of nations rejecting US President Donald Trump’s decision to unilaterally recognize the Golan Heights as Israeli, rather than Syrian, territory, calling it a violation of international law.
Calling on “all parties” to respect the United Nations charter, international law, and several UN resolutions calling for Israel to withdraw from the territories it occupied in 1967, Saudi Parliament Speaker Mishaal bin Fahm al-Salami flatly opposed Trump’s resolution, reaffirming Riyadh’s “principled position” that the Golan Heights is Syrian land.
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While the relationship between Saudi Arabia and Israel has warmed in recent years, the Saudis might have noticed the withering international disapproval that met Trump’s declaration of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan. International law recognizes Syria as the rightful owner of the land, and multiple UN resolutions have called for Israel to return the territory they’ve occupied for over half a century, but with oil recently discovered in the Golan, it is unlikely that Israel – or the US interests that have staked their claim to that oil – will be leaving anytime soon.
Syria has denounced Trump’s statement as a “flagrant attack” on its sovereignty, as well as a “slap in the face” to the international community that upholds the legal recognition of the Golan as Syrian land.
Israel annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, leading the UN to officially nullify the move – a decision the US had respected, along with the rest of the world, until Monday.
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