Syrian MP and the head of the Syrian parliament's media committee, Elias Murad, has slammed the US for officially granting US recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory.
US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation recognising Israeli sovereignty over the disputed region, which is a border area seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed by Israel in 1981.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu called the recognition "historic" and said the Golan Heights, which are still claimed by Syria, would remain permanently under Israeli control.
"Your decision to recognise Israel's sovereignty on the Golan Heights is so historic," Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu told Trump.
"Your recognition is a twofold act of historic justice. Israel won the Golan Heights in a just war of self-defence, and the Jewish people's roots in the Golan go back thousands of years."
Mr Murad told SBS Arabic24 that Syria would continue to voice its opposition to the move through the UN.
US President Donald J. Trump (L) and Prime Minister of Israel Benjamin Netanyahu (R) display the signed Presidential proclamation on the Golan Heights. Source: AAP
"Firstly, this land is historically Syrian, secondly it is Syrian according to UN resolution number 497 in 1981,” he said, citing the unanimously adopted declaration which was passed following the Israeli annexation.
“Syria lodged a complaint with the UN secretary general who affirmed the commitment of the UN to the resolution that says Golan is Syrian land.
“Syria is talking to the whole international community to refuse what Trump did of breaching the international legitimacy and the moral principles and values that worked as a foundation for the UN.
“It is who don’t own gives to who don’t deserve, the Syrian land are not some kind of farm to be given away to this or that.”
Trump was isolated in the move, with the United Nations and US allies France and Britain all saying that they still considered the Golan Heights "Israeli-occupied" in line with UN resolutions.
Russian foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that Trump's declaration "ignores all international procedures" and "could drive a new wave of tensions" in the Middle East.
Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlut Cavusoglu criticised Trump for giving "virtually an election gift" to Netanyahu.
Foreign Affairs expert Associate Professor Timothy Lynch believed there was a degree of hypocrisy by countries in the region who were critical of the US move.
“The job of Arab regimes which surround Israel is to be as outraged as possible whenever the US does something which is in Israel’s interest, we had it over Jerusalem, and we’ve seen it recurrently when Israel has sought to protect itself," he said.
"There is a degree of hypocrisy, if you look at the Syrian Civil War which has happened just to the north of the Golan Heights, in terms of humanitarian abuses of rights, the humanitarian disaster, that’s Muslim on Muslim although different sects – that should be the central concern of Arab regimes.
Prof Lynch said Trump's move was a way to display his "loyalty to Israel".
"It’s symbolically significant, I don’t think its logistically, economically and militarily significant, but symbolism matters profoundly in the Israel, Palestine and wider issues about the existence of the state of Israel," he said.
"It’s a very important way in which Trump's displaying his loyalty to Israel and his understanding of its geostrategic plight. It’s surrounded by enemies that want it not to exist. It doesn’t change the military balance of power. Israel, for 52 years now, has regarded the Golan Heights as fundamental to its national security, that’s why it has retained control and populated the region."
-With AFP
