Damascus condemns Israel's trampling on rights of Syrians in occupied Golan Heights

Syria’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva Ambassador Hussam al-Din Ala made the warning on Friday in a letter to the head of the UN Special Committee to Investigate Israeli Practices Affecting Human Rights of Palestinian People and Other Arabs of Occupied Territories.

He also demanded that the UN and the international community pay more attention to the dire situation of the human rights in the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights, calling for more international condemnation of violations committed by the Tel Aviv regime against the occupied region’s Syrian citizens.

The Syrian ambassador also referred to reports by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and the head of the International Labor Organization that have confirmed the discriminatory practices and unfair restrictions imposed by Israel on Syrians in the occupied Golan Heights.

Israeli regime seized the Golan Heights from Syria after the 1967 Six-Day War and later occupied it in a move that has never been recognized by the international community. However, in a highly provocative move on March 25 last year US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation recognizing Israel's "sovereignty" over the Syrian territory.

Damascus strongly condemned the move and called it a "blatant attack on the sovereignty and territorial integrity" of Syria.

Since the onset of the occupation, Tel Aviv has been building dozens of settlements in the region and has used it to carry out a number of military operations against the Arab country.

The Syrian diplomat also called attention to reports confirming the "illegality" of Israel's building and expanding settlement blocks and transferring more settlers to the occupied territory.

“Such practices, as it is known, are prohibited by the international humanitarian law, international human rights law and relevant UN Security Council resolutions,” Ala stressed.

Elsewhere in his letter, the Syrian diplomat warned about the dangerous consequences of attempts by the Israeli regime in seizing natural resources of the Golan Heights and the property of Syrian citizens there under various pretexts, including its attempts to impose so-called alternative ownership documents and plans to install wind turbines to generate electricity on lands owned by Syrians.

The UN has time and again stressed Syria’s sovereignty over the Golan Heights. Back in December 2018, the majority of the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution urging the Israeli regime to withdraw from Golan.