Muslim Times(Web Desk) – Malaysian
Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has dubbed Israel as “a state of robbers”,
saying his country enjoys friendly relations with every country in the world
except Israel.
“We are not
against Jews but we cannot recognize Israel because of its occupation of
Palestinian land,” Mahathir said in remarks aired by local
broadcasters during his three-day visit to Pakistan.
“You cannot
seize others’ lands, and form a state. It’s like a state of robbers,” he added.
His remarks
came a day after US President Donald Trump said it was time to recognize
Syria’s Golan Heights, occupied since 1967, as Israeli territory.
Trump’s
announcement came ahead of a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
to the United States next week.
Netanyahu
has been pressing Washington for years to recognize Israel’s claim to the
occupied Golan Heights.
Earlier this
month, the US State Department changed its usual description of the Golan
Heights from “Israeli-occupied” to “Israeli-controlled” in
an annual global human rights report.
Washington’s
recognition of the Israeli-occupied area would mark a major shift in US policy.
The United Nations emphasizes Syria’s sovereignty over the territory.
In 1967,
Israel waged a full-scale war against Arab territories, during which it
occupied a large swathe of the Golan and annexed it four years later, a move
never recognized by the international community.
In 1973,
another war broke out and a year later, a UN-brokered ceasefire came
into force, according to which Tel Aviv and Damascus agreed to separate their
troops and create a buffer zone in the Golan Heights.
Syria said
last month that it is ready to go to another war with Israel in order to free
its occupied territories.
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