Obama 'admin' rejects Netanyahu’s pledge to hold onto Golan forever. (ToI).
The United States on Monday
objected to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s assertion that the Golan
Heights will forever remain under Israeli control, reiterating that it
does not recognize the Jewish state’s claims to the strategic plateau.
US State Department spokesman John Kirby said
that the Obama administration does not consider the Golan Heights to be
part of Israel.
“The US position on the issue is unchanged,”
Kirby said at a daily media briefing at the State Department in
Washington. “This position was maintained by both Democratic and
Republican administrations. Those territories are not part of Israel and
the status of those territories should be determined through
negotiations.”
Israel captured the Golan from Syria in the
1967 war and effectively annexed it in 1981. The move was unanimously
rejected the same year by the UN Security Council.
Republican presidential candidate Ted Cruz on
Monday backed Netanyahu, saying it would be “foolhardy and dangerous”
for the world to press Israel to relinquish the territory amid the
ongoing Syrian civil war.
“The government of Israel reiterated the
reality that the Golan Heights are part of Israel’s sovereign territory.
Given the presence of hostile terrorist organizations ranging from ISIS
to Hezbollah on Israel’s northern border, it is foolhardy and dangerous
for elements in the international community to try to pressure Israel
to abandon the Golan to the chaos engulfing Syria. The path to peace
cannot involve Israel’s abdication of its own security,” Cruz said in a
statement. Read the full story here.
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