Source : INDIA TODAY NEWS
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has taken a humorous swipe at US President Donald Trump over the Golan Heights, suggesting that he should give New Jersey to Israel instead. Al-Sharaa made the remark while discussing Syria’s relationship with Israel during an Atlantic Council event on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly in New York on Tuesday.
He recalled a conversation with Trump during his visit to the White House, when the US President spoke about Israel’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
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“When I visited Trump at the White House, when he said the Golan Heights belongs to Israel, I made the joke, ‘Why don’t you give New Jersey to the Israelis? You don’t own the Golan Heights to give, but you own New Jersey.’ I believe New Jersey is full of Democrats, and they are not voting for Trump, so it would be good to give it to the Israelis. At least it’ll be something you own,” he said on Tuesday.
‘TRUMP DOESN’T OWN THE GOLAN HEIGHTS’
Al-Sharaa’s point was that Trump cannot give away territory that does not belong to the United States.
“But once when I visited him in the White House, I made a joke with him. And when he said about the Golan Heights that it has sovereignty of Israel, I said, why don’t you give New Jersey to the Israelis? You don’t own your land rights to give it to them, but you own New Jersey,” he said.
He then joked about New Jersey’s Democratic voters, saying they did not support Trump and suggesting that giving the state to Israel would at least mean giving away something Trump actually owns.
Al-Sharaa also used the discussion to criticise Israel’s policy towards Syria since the October 7, 2023, Hamas attack.
‘GOLAN WILL REMAIN SYRIAN TERRITORY’
Al-Sharaa argued that the events of October 7 should not determine Syria’s security policy or justify actions that undermine its sovereignty. He said Israel’s approach was creating further security problems rather than resolving them.
“If you want to protect your own security, so you need to respect the security of others,” he said, calling on Israel to change its security policy.
The Syrian President also reiterated his position on the Golan Heights during his UN General Assembly speech.
“Any attempts to violate our sovereignty will be stopped,” he said.
“Golan will remain Syrian territory.”
“Any other attempts will be thwarted according to Security Council resolutions.”
WHY IS THE GOLAN HEIGHTS DISPUTED?
The Golan Heights is a strategically important plateau along the Israel-Syria border. Israel captured most of the territory from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War and extended Israeli law and administration over it in 1981. According to the UN Security Council, that move was “null and void” and had no legal effect. The UN continues to refer to the area as the occupied Syrian Golan.
The status of the territory remains disputed. Syria claims the Golan Heights, while Israel controls it and has cited security concerns for retaining the territory. In 2019, US President Donald Trump recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights, reversing longstanding US policy. The US position differs from that of the UN, which continues to regard the territory as occupied Syrian land.
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SOURCE :- TIMES OF INDIA
