On Tuesday, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Syria communicated to the United Nations (UN) that Israel is pushing to consolidate its occupation of Golan Heights, by holding municipal elections in several regions in the occupied territory.
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The ministry specifically addressed the UN Security Council and secretary-general. "Syria calls on the UN Security Council to act urgently and safeguard international peace and security by condemning the Israeli aggression on Syrian citizens in the occupied Golan Heights.”
The ministry's letter also reiterated that "the occupied Golan Heights is an integral part of its soil, and it will work to return the terrain to the motherland sooner or later by all possible means. The government also fully supports the Syrian nation’s resistance in the face of the Israeli occupation, and rejects the illegal elections in the Heights.”
Druze Arab protesters living in the municipalities where Israel held elections gathered and organized a sit-in in rejection of the so-called “local councils,” and were the object of shots fired and released tear gas, SANA reported.
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu rebutted that Golan Heights “will forever remain under Israel’s sovereignty.”
In context, Israel came to occupy the region after the Six-Day War in 1967, in violation of the United Nations Resolution 242 which states that the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by way (...) withdrawal of Israel armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.”
Just as it did at the end of the 1960’s, Israel, today, lacks the international community’s support for its unilateral decision to occupy Golan Heights and thus continue to expand its national territory by force.