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    Finian Cunningham: US Duplicity over Golan Demolishes Posturing on Crimea Archived Message

    Posted by sashimi on March 19, 2019, 6:17 pm

    19th March 2019
    (quote)
    In a controversial snub to international law, the United States
    signaled last week that it is moving to officially recognize the Golan
    Heights as part of Israeli territory. If the US does so, then it
    forfeits any moral authority to sanction Russia over allegations of
    "annexing Crimea".

    In its annual US State Department report, the section dealing with the
    Golan Heights reportedly refers to the contested area as
    "Israeli-controlled", not "Israeli-occupied". The change in wording
    deviates from United Nations resolutions and international norm which
    use the term "Israeli-occupied" to designate the land Israel annexed
    from Syria following the 1967 Six Day War.

    Israel has occupied the western part of the Golan since 1967 as a
    spoil from that war. In 1981, Tel Aviv formally annexed the Syrian
    territory. However, the UN Security Council in 1981, including the US,
    unanimously condemned the annexation as illegal. The resolution
    mandates Israel to return the land to Syria which has historical claim
    to the entire Golan. The area of 1,800 square kilometers is a
    strategic elevation overlooking the northern Jordan Valley.

    If Washington confirms its recent indications of recognizing the Golan
    as officially part of Israel, the development would mark an egregious
    flouting of international law.

    But what's more, such a move totally prohibits Washington from
    posturing with presumed principle over the issue of Crimea, the Black
    Sea peninsula which since 2014 voluntarily became part of Russia.

    Just last month, US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo repeated
    accusations against Russia of "annexing" Crimea. Pompeo insisted that
    US sanctions against Moscow would be maintained until Russia "returns
    Crimea to Ukraine".

    "The world has not forgotten the cynical lies Russia employed to
    justify its aggression and mask its attempted annexation of Ukrainian
    territory," he said. "The United States will maintain respective
    sanctions against Russia until the Russian government returns control
    of Crimea to Ukraine."

    Last year, Pompeo's State Department issued a 'Crimea Declaration' in
    which it was stated that, "Russia undermines a bedrock of
    international principle shared by democratic states: that no country
    can change the borders of another by force."

    Claims by Washington and the European Union of "illegal annexation" of
    Crimea by Russia are the central basis for five years of economic
    sanctions imposed on Moscow. Those sanctions have contributed to
    ever-worsening tensions with Russia and the build-up of NATO forces
    along Russia's borders.

    Those claims are, however, highly contestable. The people of Crimea
    voted in a legally constituted referendum in March 2014 to secede from
    Ukraine and to join the Russian Federation. That referendum followed
    an illegal coup in Kiev in February 2014 backed by the US and Europe
    against a legally elected president, Viktor Yanukovych. Historically,
    Crimea has centuries of shared cultural heritage with Russia. Its
    erstwhile position within the state of Ukraine was arguably an anomaly
    of the Cold War and subsequent break-up of the Soviet Union.

    In any case, there is scant comparison between the Golan Heights and
    Crimea, save, that is, for the latest hypocrisy in Washington. While
    Crimea and its people are arguably historically part of Russia, the
    Golan Heights are indisputably a sovereign part of Syria which was
    forcibly annexed by Israeli military occupation.

    The illegality of Israel's occupation of Golan is a matter of record
    under international law as stipulated in UNSC Resolution 497.

    There is no such international mandate concerning Crimea. Claims of
    Russia's "annexation" are simply a matter of dubious political
    assertion made by Washington and its European allies.

    The latest move by Washington towards recognizing Golan as part of
    Israel - in defiance of international law - comes on the back of
    several other recent developments.
    (/quote)
    Cont'd at https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2019/03/19/us-duplicity-over-golan-demolishes-posturing-on-crimea.html

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