UN policy on Golan Heights remains unchanged: spokesman

UNITED NATIONS, March 25 (Xinhua) -- The UN policy on the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights remains UNchanged despite the Trump administration's recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the territory, a UN spokesman said Monday.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday signed a proclamation recognizing Israel's sovereignty over the territory that Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed it in 1981.

Asked about UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' reaction to the U.S. move and whether it was a contravention of the UN Charter and of relevant Security CoUNcil resolutions concerning the Golan, Guterres' spokesman Stephane Dujarric said the UN chief's position on this issue remains UNchanged.

"For the secretary-general, it is clear that the status of the Golan has not changed. The UN's policy on the Golan is reflected in the relevant resolutions of the Security CoUNcil, and that policy, again, has not changed," Dujarric told a daily press briefing.

He said he was not aware of any plans of Guterres to contact either Trump or Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu over the U.S. move.

Immediately after Israel's annexation of the occupied territory in 1981, the UN Security CoUNcil adopted Resolution 497, which declared that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction and administration in the occupied Syrian Golan Heights "is null and void and without international legal effect."