For decades, the United Nations has passed several resolutions claiming the territory is occupied. 

The United Nations General Assembly on Tuesday passed a resolution calling upon Israel to withdraw from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, with a total of 91 countries voting in favor of the drafted document. Just eight countries voted against it, and 62 abstained.

Qatar, Russia, Brazil, India, China, and Saudi Arabia voted in support of the resolution, while eight countries, including the United States and the United Kingdom, voted against.

After the voting results, the General Assembly demanded that Israel withdraw from the occupied Syrian Golan Heights, pointing out Israel’s negligence in complying with Security Council resolution 497 issued in 1981, which remarked that the acquisition of any territory by Israeli force is inadmissible.

Ahead of the vote, a Syrian delegate, expressed that, for more than five decades, the UN has called on Israel to end its occupation of the Golan Heights. 

He reaffirmed Syria’s legitimate right to reclaim the occupied Syrian Golan.

Israelis captured the 1,860-square southwest Syrian region during the 1967 Six Day War, and the country extended its laws over the territory in 1980, a move that was condemned at the time by the international community, including the U.S.
Former U.S. President Donald Trump formally recognised Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights in 2019, reversing decades of American policy.

The resolution touched on Gaza

During the vote, diplomats from different countries stressed the staggering loss of life in Gaza. 

The Permanent Observer for the State of Palestine, Riyad Mansour, said the current war is the deadliest period endured by Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.

“At least 15,000 Palestinians have been killed, and more than 30,000 people have been wounded. This is a full-fledged war against Palestine and its people,” Mansour said, speaking ahead of the vote.

Mansour also brought up the 108 UNRWA, the UN refugee agency, employee deaths. Israel’s war on Gaza has marked the deadliest conflict ever for the agency, Mansour said, adding that, those killed are “still not protected, even under the UN flag.”

Senegal’s and Kuwait’s speakers backed the testimony of the Palestinian official.

“We are struck by the horror of what is happening now,.” Senegal’s delegate said.