UN General Assembly Overwhelmingly Votes in Favor of the Syrians’ Permanent Sovereignty over Occupied Golan’s Natural Resources

NEW YORK- The UN General Assembly overwhelmingly adopted a resolution on the permanent sovereignty of the Syrians over the occupied Syrian Golan natural resources.

The resolution was adopted based on the recommendations of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) as 159 states voted in favor of the resolution and only 7 states voted against it while 13 states abstained from voting, according to SANA.

Through its resolution, the General Assembly reaffirmed the inalienable rights of the Syrians in the occupied Syrian Golan to sovereign over their natural resources including the land, water and energy resources.

 The resolution demands that Israeli occupation authorities stop exploiting, damaging, depleting and endangering natural resources in the occupied Syrian Golan.

It also calls upon UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres to submit a report during the next session on the implementation of the resolution including issues related to the accumulating impact of exploiting, damaging and depleting natural resources in the occupied Syrian Golan by occupation authorities and their repercussions on achieving the goals of sustainable development.

In turn, the delegation of the Syrian Arab Republic to the UN underlined the necessity of that the report of the UN Secretary-General should include an accurate legal description based on the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly, particularly the resolution No. 497 on the practices of the Israeli occupation authorities in the occupied Syrian Golan.

Members of the delegation affirmed that the description shouldn’t only review some practices of the Israeli occupation authorities which violate the international law, but it should also adopt a clear stance that denounces these practices or defines the stance of the UN towards them.

They particularly indicated to one of the most dangerous of those practices which is holding the so-called “local council’ elections” for the first time by the occupation authorities in the villages of the occupied Syrian Golan.

They asserted that those elections represent a blatant violation of the Security Council’s resolution No. 497 for the year 1981 which affirms that decision of the occupation authorities to impose their laws and jurisdiction and administration over the occupied Syrian Golan as null and void and without international legal effect.