(VOVworld) – On Wednesday the UN Security Council dismissed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s claim that Israel will forever retain its sovereignty over the Golan Heights, a strategic area captured from Syria in 1967. The Council’s rotating president and China’s UN envoy Liu Jieyi cited a Council resolution in 1981 which says Israel’s decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction, and administration in the Golan is “null and void and without international legal effect”.  Liu added that Council members were deeply concerned by recent Israeli statements about the Golan and said the status of the Golan remains unchanged. The Council stopped short of asking Israel to abandon this area.

A view from the western section of the Golan Heights (Photo: Reuters)

Netanyahu claimed the Golan at a cabinet meeting on the Golan Heights earlier this month. He said the Golan will always remain in Israel’s hands and Israel will never withdraw from the Golan Heights. Israel has been worried that it might be asked to hand over the Golan Heights as part of a Syria peace accord.