GCC regrets Trump call to recognise Israeli sovereignty over Golan Heights

Riyadh - Trump's statement undermines the chances of achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East, the GCC secretary general said.

The Gulf Cooperation Council, expressed regret on Friday at US President Donald Trump's call to recognise Israel's sovereignty over the Golan Heights territory captured from Syria in the 1967 war.
After 52 years it is time for the United States to fully recognise Israel's Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, Trump said in his tweet.
"Trump's statement will not change the reality which both the international community and UN adhere to, which is that the Arab Golan Heights is Syrian land occupied by Israel by military force on the 5th June, 1967," said Dr. Abdul Latif Al Zayani, the GCC Secretary-General, in a statement today. 
"The statement by the American president undermines the chances of achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the Middle East, which will not be possible without Israel's full withdrawal from Arab territories it occupied in 1967, including the Golan Heights, in accordance with United Nations Security Council resolutions.
He explained that United Nations Security Council Resolution 497, adopted unanimously on 17th December, 1981, declared that the Israeli Golan Heights Law, which effectively annexed the Golan Heights, is "null and void and without international legal effect" and further calls on Israel to rescind its action.
"Israel decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect," the resolution reads.
 

• MENA