US to oppose UN Golan resolution, wins Israeli praise
JERUSALEM - The United States said it would oppose on Friday for the first time an annual resolution at the United Nations calling on Israel to rescind its authority in the occupied Golan Heights, drawing praise from Israeli officials.
The Golan Heights form a buffer between Israel and Syria of about 1,200 square km (460 square miles). Israel captured most of it from Syria in the 1967 Middle East war. It annexed the territory in 1981, a move not recognised internationally.
The United States has abstained in previous years on the annual "Occupied Syrian Golan" resolution, which declares Israel's decision to impose its jurisdiction in the area "null and void", but Washington's UN envoy Nikki Haley said it would vote against the resolution in Friday's vote.
"The United States will no longer abstain when the United Nations engages in its useless annual vote on the Golan Heights," she said in a statement on Thursday.
"The resolution is plainly biased against Israel. Further, the atrocities the Syrian regime continues to commit prove its lack of fitness to govern anyone."
