Speaking at a UN Security Council meeting, Jaafari pitched an idea of transferring North and South Carolina to Israel. The Syrian envoy called on the US not to be misguided by thinking “that one day the Golans will be yours”.
Syria requested an urgent UNSC meeting after US President Donald Trump announced formal US recognition of Israeli ownership of the Golan Heights. The move has drawn international condemnation from Turkey, the Arab states, the European Union, China, Syria, and Russia. France, Germany and the UK also said they will not support Israeli sovereignty over the area.
Sputnik has discussed Syria’s reaction to the Golan Heights announcement by Donald Trump with Dr Bassam Abu Abdallah, Director of the Centre for Strategic Studies at Damascus University and a former Syrian diplomat.
Sputnik: There have been reports of rallies to protest [against] the recognition by Donald Trump of the Golan Heights as part of Israel. What has been the reaction in Syria to this proclamation? And what is your personal reaction to this move?
Bassam Abu Abdallah: The answer, the solution of the UN Security Council was very clear how the situation… First of all everyone knows that Donald Trump has no right to give Syrian land to Israel.
Secondly, Donald Trump is showing that he is working as a member of the Israeli government and he destroyed the whole history of American diplomacy concerning the Palestinian issue, the Golan Heights and it’s very dangerous to state.
Let’s take Venezuela as an example, Donald Trump appointed a president in Venezuela, Donald Trump froze the money of the legal Venezuelan government; so, what he is doing in Golan Heights, anyone in the world can expect that he can do anything. If you add to that the nuclear agreement with Iran, there were a lot of violations.
It’s dangerous because the United States is a permanent member of the UN Security Council, the United States by the Charter of the United Nations should be responsible for the stability and security in international relations.
So, if Donald Trump and his administration want to destroy this international system which was established after 1945, now what we should do as the international community is that we should stop this crazy president from one side.
The other thing is that the United States has now closed all the opportunities for any kind of settlement with Israel about the Golan Heights; and Trump is telling the Syrian government, the Syrian people that “you have only one option – either you will accept my decision, or you will go another way”.
So the question is what we would do not only in Syria because it’s a challenge to the whole international community because if the international community accepts the decision of Donald Trump, they should expect that Donald Trump can decide whatever he wants, where is the interest of the United States; he will not respect the jurisdictions in the world or he will not respect the sovereignty of independent states. So, this is very dangerous and [this is] a very dangerous violation generally in international relations.
Sputnik: Donald Trump previously announced that he would pull troops out of Syria and he didn’t do so; he also said he had completely defeated DAESH, but as we know that’s not quite the case. What do you think are the main reasons behind failed US policies in Syria in recent years?
Bassam Abu Abdallah: Generally, nobody can trust what the United States is saying.
The support for Daesh or for ISIS[Daesh] is the United States and there is a lot of evidence about that, this is first.
Secondly, I think that the United States is not fighting terrorism, but supporting terrorism and we have thousands of evidences. Now Donald Trump wants to show himself that he is a hero, he is fighting against ISIS[Daesh] while Donald Trump himself accused Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama of creating ISIS[Daesh]; he claimed that during his election campaign.
So, Syria, Iran, Iraq, Lebanon must be with Russia which is playing now an important role in the Middle East and in the world and is trying to stop this crazy foreign policy of the United States and to find a balanced policy for the Middle East because the policy of Donald Trump and his administration is opening up a whole range of options; nobody knows what will happen either for ISIS[Daesh] or for the Golan Heights.
So, they are firing the whole region because the United States should withdraw from the region, strategically; so, they want to fire everything, they want to extend the Syrian war and the Syrian crisis and they are trying it in the northeast of Syria.
So, we are in front of different options, but it needs cooperation with Russia, absolutely, and with Iran, Iraq, and a whole range of states in general.
*Daesh (also known as ISIS/ISIL/Islamic State/IS) is a terrorist group banned in Russia and many other countries.
Views and opinions expressed in this article are those of Bassam Abu Abdallah and do not necessarily reflect those of Sputnik.
