Gulf countries reject US recognition of Golan Heights as Israeli

US President Donald Trump’s decision to recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights united Washington’s Arab allies and their regional foe Iran in condemnation on Tuesday.

Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Qatar and Kuwait criticised Monday’s move to recognise Israel’s 1981 annexation and said the territory was occupied Arab land. Riyadh and Abu Dhabi said it was an impediment to peace.

Iran echoed the comments, describing Trump’s decision as unprecedented in this century.

“No one could imagine that a person in America comes and gives land of a nation to another occupying country, against international laws and conventions,” President Hassan Rouhani was quoted as saying by state news agency IRNA.

Trump, with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu looking over his shoulder during a visit to Washington, on Monday signed a proclamation officially granting US recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.

The European members of the United Nations Security Council – France, Britain, Germany, Belgium and Poland – said they did not recognise Israel’s sovereignty over the territories it has occupied since June 1967, including the Golan Heights.

“We raise our strong concerns about broader consequences of recognising illegal annexation and also about the broader regional consequences,” they said on Tuesday.

Israel captured the Golan Heights from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move the UN Security Council declared unlawful.

“It will have significant negative effects on the peace process in the Middle East and the security and stability of the region,” said a statement on Saudi state news agency SPA.

It described the declaration as a clear violation of the UN Charter and of international law.

Trump senior adviser and son-in-law Jared Kushner visited the Gulf Arab region last month to seek support for the economic portion of a long-awaited peace proposal for the Middle East. Gulf Arab states host US troops and are important for Washington’s regional defence policy.