The US President, Donald Trump, declared via Twitter on Thursday, 21 March 2019, his support of the recognition of the sovereignty of the Israeli Occupation over Golan, which has been under occupation since 1967.

We, in the Syrian Women’s Political Movement (SWPM), condemn and denounce this step by the US President and we consider it a violation of UN resolutions including UNSCR 497 (1981), which in its first article 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;” and demands in the second article of the same resolution “that Israel, the occupying Power, should rescind forthwith its decision.”

The Golan Heights has been and continues to be Syrian territories occupied by Israeli forces. The Syrian people reaffirm their demand and right to retake every piece of occupied Syrian territories, the most important of which is Golan, through all the legitimate means and in accordance with international law. Accordingly, we call on the UN and the Security Council to take a position in line with their resolutions and put an end to these violations, as well as other violations, that the Israeli occupation commits against Syrians and other peoples of the region.

We, in SWPM, believe that the position of the US President, as well as previous positions of the US administration with regards to the Israeli occupation, is yet a further step that aims at undermining the peace process in the Middle East and threaten global peace and security by pursuing policies that make the region a place of permanent conflict. We believe that sustainable peace cannot be achieved without returning land to its legitimate owners, i.e. the Syrian people. The first step in that endeavor shall be by implementing the relevant UN resolutions.

We reject the blatant bias by the US administration towards the Israeli occupation at the expense of the rights of the Syrian people and other peoples of the region. This is seen as an act of encouragement to continue practices that breach international laws and resolutions. We, in SWPM, warn against such practices that the Assad regime will use to justify continued Iranian presence in Syria under the pretext of combating the Israeli occupation. This is not in the best interest of the Syrian people and we see it as contradicting the US strategy that aims to deter and curtail the Iranian presence in the region.

May our detainees and the forcibly disappeared be free; our fallen heroes rest in peace;

And may our great people emerge victorious.

General Secretariat of the Syrian Women Political Movement

March 23, 2019