Syrian Foreign Ministry reminded the world Tuesday of the UN Security Council Resolution 497 dated 1981 which declared the Israeli annexation of the Golan Heights “null and void” and called on Israel to rescind the decision.
The reminder came a day after U.S. President Donald Trump said at a joint press conference with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House that he had “recognized Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.”
Syria has always urged the United Nations and world powers to end Israeli occupation of the Golan Heights.
The 497-resolution reaffirmed that the “acquisition of territory by force is inadmissible, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations, the principles of international law and relevant Security Council resolutions”.
Based on this the Security Council “decides that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect.”
It demanded “Israel, the occupying Power, should rescind forthwith its decision” and determined that “all the provisions of the Geneva Convention relative to the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, of 12 August 1949, continue to apply to the Syrian territory occupied by Israel since June 1967”.
The Council requested the Secretary-General to report to the Security Council on the implementation of the present resolution within two weeks and decides that, in the event of non-compliance by Israel, the Council would meet urgently, and not later than 5 January 1982, to consider taking appropriate measures in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.
