BEIRUT: The Council of Maronite Bishops Wednesday condemned the United States’ decision to recognize the occupied Syrian Golan Heights as Israeli territory, following its monthly meeting chaired by Maronite Patriarch Beshara Rai.
The council, which met at the church’s seat in Bkirki, said the decision violated international agreements and denied people the right to demand their land.
U.S. President Donald Trump last week signed a proclamation officially granting U.S. recognition of the Golan Heights as Israeli territory, a dramatic shift from decades of American policy. Israel seized the strategic land from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and annexed it in 1981, in a move never recognized by the international community.
The bishops also said it was in Lebanon’s interest to solve the refugee crisis, calling for safe and dignified returns that weren’t tied to a political settlement to the Syrian conflict.
President Michel Aoun has on several occasions called on international bodies and officials to help facilitate the return of displaced Syrians, whose presence is adding strain to the country’s flagging economy and frail infrastructure.
In a statement after the meeting, the bishops also warned against hastily passing legislation that would allow cannabis cultivation for medical use in Lebanon without first conducting sufficient scientific research.
Officials last year announced their intent to legalize cannabis cultivation for medical and industrial purposes. MP Yassine Jaber, who heads a subcommittee of Parliament’s joint committees that is tasked with studying cannabis legalization, said earlier this year the plant would not be legalized for recreational use.