Arabs to seek UN Security Council action on Golan Heights

Reuters

Tunis, TunisiaUpdated: Apr 01, 2019, 06:47 AM IST

Arab leaders pose for the camera, ahead of the 30th Arab Summit in Tunis, Tunisia March 31, 2019, in this handout picture courtesy of the Egyptian Presidency. Photograph:(Reuters)

Story highlights

Arab leaders, long divided by regional rivalries, also ended their annual summit in Tunisia calling for cooperation with non-Arab Iran based on non-interference in each others' affairs

Arab leaders said on Sunday they would seek a UN Security Council resolution against the US decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights and promised to support Palestinians in their bid for statehood.

Arab leaders, long divided by regional rivalries, also ended their annual summit in Tunisia calling for cooperation with non-Arab Iran based on non-interference in each others' affairs.

Arab League Secretary General, Ahmed Aboul Gheit was critical of the United States, saying that the decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over Golan "had no value."

US President Donald Trump signed a proclamation last week recognizing the Golan Heights as part of Israel, which annexed the area in 1981 after capturing it from Syria in 1967.

Syria's seat at the summit was vacant. Damascus has been suspended from the League since 2011 over its crackdown on protesters at the start of its civil war.

So far, no consensus has yet been reached to allow Syria's reinstatement, according to the Arab League.