The U.N. is against it, the EU is against it, and the Arab League as well. The global community, as a virtually united front, condemned Trump's decision to recognize Israeli's sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Arkadiy Glushenkov will tell more about the reaction.
A rare situation in American politics. The president's decision wasn't supported even by the media that is loyal to him. Fox News featured a dry header. "Trump's Golan statement draws strong regional condemnation." Their colleagues from the New York Times put it in a much harsher manner. They called the president's move "a pointless provocation". In the view of the media's journalists, this act addresses Israeli interests rather than American ones. It's done to help the country's prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, get re-elected for a new term. The election will be in just two weeks.
Meanwhile, the price to pay is aggravation in the region. Turkey's minister of foreign affairs, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, has already alluded to it.
Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, Turkish MFA: "First, America moved its embassy to Jerusalem and now they have supported Israel in its illegitimate intention to officially proclaim the Golan Heights as theirs. We'll do everything we can to oppose this decision".
Trump's statement wasn't supported by his traditional allies: Great Britain, Spain, and the EU. They consider the Golan Heights to be a territory illegally occupied by Israel. A similar point of view was expressed by most of the Arabic countries: by Iraq, Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, Lebanon, as well as the Arab League. The Syrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs called Donald Trump's decision outrageous and stated that it demonstrates the highest level of derision toward international law. Palestine also supported Syria: they summon the U.N. to intervene.
Abdel Hafiz Nofal, Ambassador to Russia: "We don't understand why Donald Trump states that it's a part of Israel. It can't be in any way a peaceful situation, it can't be in any way a peaceful process. Even if Israel takes the Golan Heights and the part of Jerusalem, no one will sign a peace treaty with Israel. The U.N. should conduct one more meeting on the Golan Heights, and we think that all of the European countries, including Russia, are against Trump".
And the U.N., in their turn, determined that the organization's position on the Golan's status hasn't changed, while Donald Trump's statement contradicts the norms of international law. The official representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Maria Zakharova, emphasized the same.
Maria Zakharova, Russian MFA: "Unfortunately, it's another step towards the destruction of the foundation of international law for the settlement of the situation on the Middle East. Russia's position on this issue remains unchanged: the Golan Heights is Syrian territory. I'd like to draw your attention once again that if the American politicians in Washington love to refer to their allegiance to international law, in this particular case, they don't just contradict it, they outwardly violate it".
First, protests came as a confirmation of mass discontent. In New York, it's representatives of the Palestinian diaspora, who took it to the streets, while the Golan Heights saw a spontaneous rally of Druze, the local Arab population.
"It's just a performance before the Israeli election, which will be in a month. We don't care who'll win the election in Israel or in the USA, all we care about is the Golan Heights remaining in Syrian Arabian sovereignty".
Interestingly, even in Israel itself, Benjamin Netanyahu's position wasn't unanimously supported. Many didn't like that Trump and he are disrupting the fragile peace in the Middle East. The Israelis are wary that this decision will eventually hurt themselves.
Arkadiy Glushenkov, Evgeniya Zemtsova, Vesti.
