MYTH
U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights violates UN Resolution 242.
FACT
Opponents of President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights have argued it violates UN Resolution 242 (E.g., “Indyk: ‘Like it or not, Golan Heights are Syrian,’” Arutz Sheva, March 25, 2019). That resolution long ago lost its relevance and it is only trotted out when convenient to criticize Israel. Having already annexed the Golan, the issue was already moot.
Still, for argument’s sake, let’s look at what 242 says.
The first point addressed by the resolution is the “inadmissibility of the acquisition of territory by war.” Some people read 242 as though it ends here and the case for requiring a total Israeli withdrawal from the territories is proven. On the contrary, the reference clearly applies only to an offensive war. If not, the resolution would provide an incentive for aggression. If one country attacks another, and the defender repels the attack and acquires territory in the process, the former interpretation would require the defender to return the land it captured. Thus, aggressors would have little to lose because they would be insured against the main consequence of defeat. As legal scholar Alan Dershowitz observed, “No country in history has ever given back to a sworn enemy, militarily essential territory that has been captured in a defensive war” (Alan M. Dershowitz, “Trump Is Right about the Golan Heights,” Gatestone Institute, March 30, 2019).
Resolution 242 calls for the “Withdrawal of Israeli armed forces from territories occupied in the recent conflict.” Note the authors deliberately rejected the Arabs’ call for the resolution to require Israel to evacuate “all” the territories. The British ambassador who drafted the resolution, Lord Caradon, explained the rationale, “It would have been wrong to demand that Israel return to its positions of June 4, 1967, because those positions were undesirable and artificial” (Beirut Daily Star, June 12, 1974).
Moreover, since Israel withdrew from 94% of the territories when it gave up the Sinai, the Gaza Strip, and portions of the West Bank, it has already partially, if not wholly, fulfilled its obligation under 242.
The resolution’s reference to withdrawal from territory is linked to the second unambiguous clause calling for “termination of all claims or states of belligerency” and the recognition that “every State in the area” has the “right to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries free from threats or acts of force.” Israel has no obligation to withdraw from any part of the Golan in the absence of a peace accord with Syria.
Nevertheless, Israel repeatedly attempted to negotiate a peace agreement, which included offers to withdraw from parts of the Golan after annexing the territory. The leaders of Syria, however, refused to normalize relations under any circumstances. Israel’s annexation, and U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty, does not preclude a territorial compromise from being reached if a future Syrian leader agrees to end all belligerency and the Israeli people are convinced the benefits outweigh the risks.
The bottom line is that Resolution 242 does not preclude Israel from annexing the Golan Heights. U.S. recognition acknowledges this fact.
https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/myths-and-facts-exclusives#230
