The European Union has not changed its position regarding the Golan Heights and does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied territory.
In line with the international law and UN Security Council resolutions 242 and 497, the European Union does not recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights.
US President Donald Trump signed an executive order formally recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights after his meeting with Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
The US move, which is widely regarded as beneficial not only for Israel but personally for Netanyahu, has already been condemned by Russia, Syria, Iran, Turkey and most other countries in the world.
US major allies, such as France, Germany and the United Kingdom, have similarly refused to back the USA U-turn on the Golan, which runs against the UN Security Council resolutions.
The Golan Heights, a strategically important area due to its water and oil resources among other reasons, has been mostly under Israel’s control since the country seized the area during the 1967 Six-Day War.
When Israel adopted a law that effectively annexed the Syrian Golan Heights back in 1981, the United Nations unanimously declared that it was “null and void” and without international legal effect.
In 2018, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution urging Israel to immediately withdraw its military forces from the area after the country organized local elections in the region on October 30, 2018
Sputnik / ABC Flash Point News 2019.
