On November 29, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution calling on Israel to liberate the occupied Golan Heights. 91 countries voted in favour of the document, including Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Kyrgyzstan and Turkmenistan, as well as Russia, Brazil, India, and China. Eight countries opposed it, including the US, UK and Canada. Another 62 countries abstained.
The co-authors of the resolution were Egypt, Jordan, Iraq, the UAE, Syria and other countries.
The document consists of eight items, the first of which is a statement that Israel has still not complied with UN Security Council Resolution 497 of 1981, which requires the country to repeal the law establishing Israeli jurisdiction over the Golan Heights.
Meanwhile, the resolution demands "that Israel withdraw from all occupied Syrian Golan to the line that existed on June 4, 1967, in compliance with the relevant Security Council resolutions." The resolution also states that “the continued occupation of the Syrian Golan and its de facto annexation are a stumbling block to achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the region.”
Israel's permanent representative to the UN, Gilad Erdan, after the adoption of the resolution, said that his country does not consider it possible for itself to fulfill the requirements of this document. “We fundamentally disagree with its wording and are not going to implement this resolution in principle. It became another confirmation that the UN is currently incapable of making any adequate decisions related to Israel,” Kommersant quotes him as saying.
The Golan Heights were part of Syrian territory until 1967, when they were captured by Israel during the Six-Day War and later incorporated into the Jewish state. In 1981, the Israeli parliament passed a law that unilaterally declared the sovereignty of the Jewish state over this territory. UN Security Council Resolution 497 of December 17, 1981 declared the annexation invalid.
During the Arab-Israeli War in 1973, Syria attempted to recapture the Golan Heights but was defeated. A neutral demilitarized zone controlled by UN forces was created between Israeli and Syrian troops.
Syria still considers the Golan Heights as its territory, and their return is the most important condition for signing a peace agreement with Israel.
