U.S. Isolated At U.N. Security Council Over Golan Decision
The United States was isolated at the United Nations Security Council on Wednesday over President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights as the other countries on the council opposed the move.
In a letter requesting Wednesday’s meeting, Syria described the U.S. decision as a “flagrant violation” of council resolutions, while ally North Korea issued a statement backing “the struggle of the Syrian government and people for taking back the occupied Golan Heights.”
Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move the 15-member U.N. Security Council declared “null and void and without international legal effect.”
British U.N. Ambassador Karen Pierce told the council that the U.S. decision was in contravention of that 1981 resolution, while Russia’s Deputy U.N. Ambassador Vladimir Safronkov said Washington had violated U.N. resolutions and warned it could fuel instability in the Middle East.
The European members of the council – France, Britain, Germany, Belgium and Poland – on Tuesday also raised concerns about “broader consequences of recognizing illegal annexation and also about the broader regional consequences.”
U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said earlier on Wednesday that Washington’s decision would help resolve the Israeli-Palestinian conflict by removing uncertainty.
