TEL AVIV (Sputnik) – Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu thanked the United States on Sunday for voting against the UN resolution condemning Israel for occupying the Golan Heights area located at the Israeli-Syrian border.
« On Thursday, US Ambassador to Israel David Friedman informed me on the US decision to vote against the regular resolution slamming us for our presence in the Golan Heights. And this really happened… I would like to thank [US] President [Donald Trump] and [US] Ambassador [to the United Nations, Nikki] Haley for this important and fair decision that fully complies with my policy. Israel will forever remain in the Golan Heights. The Golan Heights will forever remain in our hands, » Netanyahu said during his weekly cabinet meeting.
Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War between Israel and the neighbouring states of Egypt, Jordan and Syria. The United Nations did not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the region and brokered a Syrian-Israeli armistice in 1974, urging Israel to leave parts of the Golan Heights.
In 1981, Israel adopted a law extending its jurisdiction over the territory, de-facto annexing the Golan Heights after managing the territory through a military administration for over a decade. This move has not been internationally recognized.
