‘West seeks to hide Israeli occupation’

Syria says anti-Damascus Western powers and their regional allies are seeking to replace the Arab-Israeli conflict with an Islamic-Islamic one in an attempt to cover up Israel’s occupation of other territories.

During a speech at the UN Security Council, Syrian Ambassador to the UN Bashar al-Ja’afari said the Israeli regime has been occupying lands in Palestine, Syria and Lebanon, while no internal effort has been made to end the occupation, Syria’s official news agency SANA reported on Thursday.

“The overwhelming enthusiasm of some to adopt resolutions under the Chapter VII disappears when it comes to Israel,” Ja’afari stated.

Western powers and their regional allies including Israel, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and Qatar are partners in supporting anti-Syria militant groups, including al-Qaeda-linked terrorists, to destabilize Syria and overthrow the government of President Bashar al-Assad.

The Syrian envoy further highlighted the Tel Aviv regime’s illegal settlement activities in the occupied Palestinian territories, saying that the international community has failed to give a firm response to the Israeli occupation.

The Tel Aviv regime introduced nuclear weapons to the Middle East, while sanctions are imposed on other countries which possess peaceful nuclear energy programs under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT) and in cooperation with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), the Syrian ambassador said.

Ja’afari also censured the nearly 45-year-old occupation of Syria’s Golan Heights by the Israeli regime, saying that Tel Aviv offers logistic aid to the armed terrorist groups in the occupied Syrian land.

The Israeli regime seized the Syrian territory on the strategically important Golan Heights in the 1967 war. Tel Aviv annexed the territory on December 14, 1981 — a move which was never recognized by the international community and was a violation of international law.

Israel is also massively expanding the construction of its illegal settlements in the occupied West Bank.