Blinken refuses to support Trump’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over Golan

SANAA, Feb. 9 (YPA) – US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Monday declined to support the Trump administration’s recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, citing instead the region’s importance to Israel’s security.
Former President Donald Trump granted formal US recognition of Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan in 2019, in a major shift from a policy that the United States has followed for decades.

Israel occupied the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war and annexed it in 1981 in a move not recognized internationally.

Blinken told CNN, “In practice, I think that controlling the Golan in this situation remains of real importance to Israel’s security, and Legal questions are something else and over time if the situation in Syria changes, this is something we are looking at, but we are not. Anyway close to that ”.

Biden’s advisors have previously said that he “will not withdraw the United States’ recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan. ”

Blinken also confirmed the Biden administration’s commitment to maintaining the US embassy in Jerusalem, after the Trump administration recognized the city as the capital of Israel, in a reversal of previous US policy.