Trump officially recognises Israeli sovereignty of Golan Heights

US President Donald Trump officially recognized Israel’s sovereignty of the Golan Heights in Washington yesterday. The document reverses more than a half-century of US policy as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the White House. Trump had previewed the move in a tweet last week, in which he said the US would take the step after 52 years of Israeli occupation of the strategic highlands on the border with Syria.

Israel captured the region from Syria in 1967 but its sovereignty over the territory is not recognized by the international community. Reaction across the Middle East widely denounced Trump’s decision, with the Syrian government calling Washington’s recognition of Israeli claims over the territory an attack on its sovereignty.

“In a blatant attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Syria, the president of the US has recognized the annexation of the Syrian Golan,” a foreign ministry source said, according to state news agency SANA. “Trump does not have the right and the legal authority to legitimize the occupation,” the unnamed source said.

The President of the Arab Parliament, Dr. Mishaal bin Fahm Al-Salami, categorically rejected Trump’s decision, condemning it and saying it was “null and void” with “no legal effect,” according to Saudi Press Agency. Trump’s statement “will not change the reality that (...) the Arab Golan Heights is Syrian land occupied by Israel by military force in 1967,” said Abdul Latif Al Zayani, the GCC secretary-general.