EU rejects Israeli sovereignty over the Golan

Following the U.S. proclamation accepting Israeli sovereignty, Federica Mogherini says the E.U. position “has not changed.”

By World Israel News Staff

European Union foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini said Wednesday that the E.U. does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.

Her statement comes on the heels of Monday’s proclamation by U.S. President Donald Trump, recognizing Israeli sovereignty over the territory, captured by Israel in the 1967 war.

“The position of the European Union as regards the status of the Golan Heights has not changed,” said Mogherini’s statement.

“In line with the international law and U.N. Security Council resolutions 242 and 497, the European Union does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights,” she said.

Her statement followed Tuesday’s announcement by the U.N. ambassadors from the five E.U. members of the U.N. Security Council – France, Germany, Britain, Poland, and Belgium –  that they do not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan.

They said: “Annexation of territory by force is prohibited under international law,” and any unilateral border changes go against “the rules-based international order and the U.N. Charter.”

The statement concluded: “We raise our strong concerns about broader consequences of recognizing illegal annexation and also about the broader regional consequences.” Israel has countered that on the eve of the 1967 war, Arab armies were mobilizing their forces on Israel’s borders and that Israel’s capture of the territory was not an offensive action.

The E.U. delegation in Israel had reacted against the U.S. move already on Friday after Trump initially tweeted that time had come to recognize Israel’s sovereignty on the Heights, but prior to his signing of the proclamation at the White House.

In 1981, the Knesset passed a law which extended Israeli jurisdiction and administration to the Golan Heights. In the immediate aftermath, the U.N. Security Council passed resolution 497, which called the Israeli legislation “null and void and without international legal effect.”

Resolution 242, also referred to in Mogherini’s statement, was passed after the 1967 war. It calls for the “withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.” The phrase “from territories” was ultimately left vague enough to leave open the possibility that Israel would not be called upon to withdraw from all the territories which it captured.

Israel has already withdrawn from Sinai and the Gaza Strip.

Associated Press contributed to this report.

Golan Heights