New York (Monitoring Desk): Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa has revealed an interesting exchange with U.S. President Donald Trump during their meeting regarding Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights.
Speaking at an Atlantic Council event in New York, Ahmed al-Sharaa said that during the meeting at the White House, when the issue of Israeli sovereignty over the Golan Heights came up, he jokingly told Trump that he did not own the Golan Heights and therefore could not hand it over to Israel. He added that if that were the case, then why not give New Jersey to Israel as well?
The Syrian president continued joking that there are more Democrats in New Jersey and they do not vote for Trump, so it would be better to hand it over to Israel.
Ahmed al-Sharaa, however, clarified that he had made the remark as a joke, while his serious position is that the Golan Heights are not the personal property of any president that he can give them to another country.
During the same discussion, Ahmed al-Sharaa said that negotiations between Syria and Israel had at one stage reached nearly 90 percent agreement, but progress later stalled.