Foreign Ministry in Letter to UN Secretary General: Israel’s Decision to Impose Its Laws on Syrian Golan Null and Void

In a letter sent to the UN Secretary General, the Syrian Foreign and Expatriates Ministry affirmed that Israel’s decision to impose its laws, authority and administration is null and void and devoid of any legitimacy as per the UN Security Council resolution no. 497 of 1981.

The letter, which details Syria’s stance regarding the UN General Assembly decision no. 66-19 on the Syrian Golan, said that the aforementioned decision stipulates that Israel cease changing the constructional characteristics, demographic composition, institutional structure and legal status of the occupied Syrian Golan, and to specifically stop constructing settlements.

The letter also voiced Syria’s stern condemnation of the Israeli government’s decision in June 2011 to build an isolating wall east of the occupied town in Majdal Shams and its decision to increase settlement in the occupied Syrian Golan, saying that these practices show Israel’s true intentions which reject peace.

The Foreign Ministry denounced all the Israeli practices which violate the UN General Assembly decisions that stress that the Arab populace of Golan are sovereign over their natural resources, calling on UN member countries to reject the import of natural products seized from the occupied lands or the ones manufactured in it.

It also denounced the Israeli occupation authorities’ refusal to allow Syrian farmers to transport their apple crops from Golan to Syria in March 2012, which is a clear evasion of the agreement made by the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), calling on the UN Secretary General to step in to ensure that Israel respects the agreement and refrain from repeating this unjustified action.

Syria reiterated its calls to the UN Secretary General and, Human Rights High Commissioner and the President of the ICRC to pressure Israel to refrain from preventing Syrians in the occupied Golan to visit their homeland Syria through Quneitra crossing point, with the latest such incident being when Israeli occupation authorities prevented a delegation of Golan elders from crossing the borders to participate in the funeral of Ahmad al-Hejri in Sweida city.

It also called upon the aforementioned international institutions to work to provide more humane health conditions for Syrian detainees in Israeli prisons, primarily detainee Majed al-Shaer.