Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Despite its warm relationship with Israel, India on Tuesday stuck to its traditional stand and voted in favor of a United Nations resolution that called for the Jewish state’s withdrawal from Syria’s Golan Heights it annexed in 1967.
India voted in favor of a draft resolution in the UN General Assembly (UNGA) that expressed deep concern over Israel not withdrawing from the Golan Heights, a region in southwest Syria that the Israeli forces occupied on June 5, 1967.
The 193-member UNGA voted on the draft resolution ‘The Syrian Golan’ under agenda item ‘The situation in the Middle East’ on Tuesday. The resolution, introduced by Egypt, was adopted by a recorded vote with 91 in favor, eight against, and 62 abstentions.
Apart from India, those voting in favor of the resolution included Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Malaysia, Maldives, Nepal, Russia, South Africa, Sri Lanka and the United Arab Emirates. Besides Israel, the West and its allies—the US, UK, Australia, Canada—voted against it.
The resolution expressed deep concern that Israel has not withdrawn from the Syrian Golan territory, violating the relevant UN Security Council and General Assembly resolutions.
The fresh resolution said that Israel failed to comply with the UNSC resolution 497 (1981), stating that “the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction, and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights is null and void and without international legal effect.”
Tuesday’s resolution also declared the Israeli decision of December 14, 1981, null and void and said it had no validity whatsoever. It called upon Israel to rescind its decision.
It emphasized the illegality of the Israeli settlement construction and other activities in the occupied Syrian Golan since 1967.
The resolution demanded Israel’s withdrawal from all the occupied Syrian Golan to the line of June 4, 1967, in implementation of the relevant Security Council resolutions, and determined “that the continued occupation of the Syrian Golan and its de facto annexation constitute a stumbling block in the way of achieving a just, comprehensive and lasting peace in the region.”
It expressed grave concern over the halt in the peace process on the Syrian track and expressed hope that peace talks will soon resume from the point they had reached.