UK has 'no plans' to change position over Golan Heights

LONDON

The U.K. has "no plans" to change its position on the sovereignty of the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, the country’s Foreign Office said.

"The U.K. views the Golan Heights as territory occupied by Israel," said a statement, underlining that international law, including the UN charter, prohibited the "annexation of territory by force".

"We did not recognize Israel’s annexation in 1981 and have no plans to change our position,” it added.

The statement came following a decision by U.S. President Donald Trump to officially recognize Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Syrian Golan Heights on Monday.

Trump signed a presidential proclamation sealing the move while meeting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House, saying the contested territory was a "potential launching ground for attacks against Israel."

"Any possible future peace agreement must account for Israel's need to defend itself from Syria, Iran and other regional threats," he said.

Momentum has been building in Washington for the U.S. to recognize Israel's claim to the Syrian territory, and the State Department earlier this month prompted questions about the matter when it changed its terminology for the first time on the Golan Heights, referring to it as "Israeli-controlled" instead of its former designation of "Israeli-occupied."

Israel has long lobbied the U.S. to recognize its claim over the Golan, but all past administrations refused to heed such calls.

Israel has occupied roughly two-thirds of the wider Golan Heights since the 1967 conflict with Syria, Egypt, Jordan and Iraq. It moved to formally annex the territory in 1981 -- an action unanimously rejected at the time by the UN Security Council.

The UN said the status of the Golan Heights remains unchanged following Trump's declaration, and is classified under international law as occupied territory.