UPDATE - Trump: Time to recognize Israeli control of Golan

ADDS DETAILS THROUGHOUT

By Michael Hernandez

WASHINGTON (AA) - The time has come for the U.S. to recognize Israel's control of the occupied Golan Heights, President Donald Trump said Thursday.

"After 52 years, it is time for the United States to fully recognize Israel’s Sovereignty over the Golan Heights, which is of critical strategic and security importance to the State of Israel and Regional Stability!" Trump said on Twitter.

Momentum has been building on Capitol Hill for the U.S. to change its designation, and the State Department last week prompted questions about the matter when it changed its terminology for the first time on the contested territory, referring to it as "Israeli-controlled" instead of its long-standing designation of "Israeli-occupied."

Israel has long pushed Washington to recognize its claim over the territory it seized from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War.

Israel occupies roughly two-thirds of the wider Golan Heights as a de facto result of the conflict. It moved to formally annex the territory in 1981 -- an action unanimously rejected at the time by the UN Security Council.

Security Council Resolution 497 says 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."

It further demanded Israel rescind its decision.

The U.S. for the first time voted against an annual UN resolution condemning Israel's control of the Golan Heights in November. In all, 151 nations voted in support, with just Israel and the U.S. voting against.