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US decision to recognize Syria's Golan as Israeli territory 'illegal’ : Analyst

Friday, 22 March 2019 9:29 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 22 March 2019 10:16 AM ]

A file photo taken on October 6, 2017 shows the Israeli fence separating the Israeli-occupied sector of the Golan Heights and the Druze city of Majdal Shams (background) from Syria (R). (Photo by AFP)

US President Donald Trump’s plan to recognize Syria's occupied Golan Heights as Israeli territory is “illegal”, says an analyst, adding Washington seeks to give Tel Aviv a “license” to do whatever it wishes.

“This is illegal but legality and illegality means nothing to the United States and certainly nothing to Israel. What they are doing is they are giving Israel a license to do whatever it wants,” Paul Larudee, a member of the Free Palestine Movement, told Press TV Friday.

The United States, he said, is violating not only the Golan Heights but also it has thousands of troops in Syria right now without the permission of the sovereign government of Syria.

In a tweet on Thursday, Trump said after 52 years of the Israeli occupation of the Syrian territory, "it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance" to Tel Aviv.

Trump's tweet comes ahead of a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to Washington next week to meet with the US president and address the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Netanyahu has been pressing for Washington to recognize its claim to the occupied Golan Heights for years.

Earlier this month, the US State Department changed its usual description of the Golan Heights from "Israeli-occupied" to "Israeli-controlled" in an annual global human rights report.

Washington’s recognition of the Israeli-occupied area would mark a major shift in US policy. The United Nations emphasizes Syria's sovereignty over the territory.