Druze in Golan rap Trump's Israeli ‘sovereignty’ comment

Hundreds of Druze demonstrators have gathered in the Golan Heights to protest against US President Donald Trump’s widely-condemned assertion that Washington should recognize the Israeli-occupied part of the Syrian heights as Israeli territory.

The protest rallies were held in Majdal Shams Town in the Israeli-occupied part of the Golan Heights as well as in Quneitra, on the Syrian-controlled side of the territory, on Saturday, The Times of Israel reported on Sunday.

The demonstrators in Majdal Shams reaffirmed Syrian sovereignty over the Israeli-occupied part of the territory by waving Syrian flags and holding up pictures of President Bashar al-Assad.

Trump tweeted on Thursday that it was “time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights,” upending decades of US policy on the matter.

The European Union (EU), too, stressed on Friday that it would not change its position on the Golan Heights and that it would continue to consider the status of the territory as occupied.

“The European Union, in accordance with international law, does not recognize Israel’s sovereignty over the territories it [has] occupied since July 1967, including the Golan Heights, and does not consider them as part of Israeli territory,” Maya Kosyanchich, a spokeswoman for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, said in a statement.

European Council President Donald Tusk expressed the same position.

“The EU’s position is well-known and has not changed,” Tusk told a news conference on Friday when asked to comment on Trump’s remarks.

Syria has pledged to liberate the region.

SS