New Straits Times

AMERICA’S GOLAN MOVE UNACCEPTAB­LE

- S.M. MOHAMED IDRIS Chairman, Citizens Internatio­nal

THE United States’s recognitio­n of Golan Heights as Israeli territory amounts to gross violation of internatio­nal law and Citizens Internatio­nal strongly condemns this.

US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the Christian Broadcasti­ng Network: “I am confident that the Lord is at work here.”

It is this distorted interpreta­tion of Christian theology by the Zionists that is influencin­g US foreign policy and taking the world to the brink of war.

Many countries, including Russia, Germany, France and Turkey, have criticised US President Donald Trump’s decision. Turkish president Recep Tayyip ErdoOEgan’s had warned that Trump’s declaratio­n had started “new crisis and new tensions” in the region.

Trump’s decision is in gross violation of internatio­nal law, several United Nations Security Council Resolution­s, and the 50year-old US policy over Syrian territory Israel captured in 1967 and annexed in 1981. Trump’s expected next move is recognitio­n of the annexation of the West

Bank, which would place the final nail in the coffin of the “two-state solution” and the Oslo Accords.

Trump’s justificat­ion that it was for Israel’s security is untenable under internatio­nal law. If security, as a ground for acquiring another state’s territory, is accepted, it will open the door for territoria­l aggression.

The internatio­nal community must have the courage to confront the US on its violations of internatio­nal law to promote global peace and justice. Do not fear the US power which is declining.

Remember Ho Chi Minh’s Vietnam: the US troops had to run helter-skelter to their helicopter­s to escape from the National Liberation Front forces.

Iran today is a good example of a country that refuses to submit to US dictates and continues to grow in strength.

The Arab rulers of Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates should realise that their dependence on US power to protect their regimes will not save them. Citizens Internatio­nal urges:

Malaysian government to initiate action in the UN to refer to the Internatio­nal Court of Justice on the legality of US’s recognitio­n of Golan Heights as part of Israeli territory;

investigat­e whether the means used by Israel to maintain control over the Palestinia­n people amounts to apartheid, and if so, what steps should be taken to end the situation;

and others to demonstrat­e at US embassies against this violation of internatio­nal law;

GOVERNMENT­S, civil society organisati­ons and the private sector to support the boycott, divestment and sanctions launched 10 years ago by the Palestinia­n civil society; and,

Organisati­on of Islamic Cooperatio­n to raise the issue of Golan Heights with the UN.

 ?? PIC REUTERS ?? The lookout point facing the Sa’ar Falls in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday.
PIC REUTERS The lookout point facing the Sa’ar Falls in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights on Tuesday.
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