UN extends Israel-Syria border mission

Forces to remain on Golan until June 2008; Syria's ambassador: Annapolis created "new momentum."

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
golan turbines 224. 88 (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
golan turbines 224. 88
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski [file])
The UN Security Council voted unanimously Friday to extend the UN peacekeeping mission along the Israeli-Syrian border and reiterated its call for peace negotiations between the two countries. A resolution adopted unanimously by the council extends the mandate of the 1,000-strong peacekeeping force in the Golan Heights until June 30, 2008. The UN Disengagement Observer Force was established in 1974, following the Yom Kippur war, to monitor the disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights. Syria's US Ambassador Imad Moustapha said Wednesday in Montana that a recent US-hosted Middle East peace conference in Annapolis, Maryland, "has created this new momentum for peace." Syria wants a promise from Israel to restart stalled talks and improve diplomatic relationships with the United States, he said. The resolution calls on Israel and Syria to immediately implement a 1973 resolution calling for negotiations to establish "a just and durable Middle East."