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Golan Heights (from Israel's Story in Maps)
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| By Israel Insider staff June 8, 2007 |
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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently relayed a secret message to Syrian President Bashar Assad saying Israel would return the Golan in exchange for a comprehensive peace agreement and the severing of Damascus' alliance with Iran and terror groups in the region.
The message reportedly was, as translated by IMRA: "I am your partner to make peace between our nations. I know that a peace agreement with Syria requires me to return the Golan to Syrian sovereignty. I am prepared to fulfill my part of this deal for the peace between us. I ask to hear from you if in return for Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights Syria is prepared to fulfill its part; to break up in stages its pacts with Iran, Hizbullah and Palestinian terror organizations and cease funding and encouraging terror."
Olmert's office neither confirmed nor denied the report. The source of the leak was unclear.
The newspaper quoted an unnamed senior official in Jerusalem as saying that Assad had yet to respond to Israel's offer. It also said that Olmert had spoken by phone with US President George W. Bush last month indicating his intention to look into renewing negotiations with Syria.
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"I am your partner to make peace between our nations. I know that a peace agreement with Syria requires me to return the Golan to Syrian sovereignty. I am prepared to fulfill my part of this deal for the peace between us."
Israeli PM Ehud Olmert
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Bush reportedly gave a green light to the move, prompting Olmert to convey to Assad several messages through German and Turkish interlocutors saying he "realizes that a peace agreement with Syria would entail the return of the Golan Heights to Syrian sovereignty".
The concession of the strategic platform, which command all of northern Israel and were used for shelling and other attack, was conditional on the need for Syria " to break up in stages its pacts with Iran, Hizbullah and Palestinian terror organizations and cease funding and encouraging terror." While this prospect seems highly unlikely, Assad is under international pressure to move toward the West in order to preserve his regime.
Syria, for its part, has not yet responded to the offer, apart from vague declarations of its willingness to negotiate. "Our position is the same. We are ready to resume peace negotiations, we would like to take action for peace. We're closely following (the Israeli) statements," a Syrian official told AFP on condition of anonymity.
A Syrian diplomat in London, however, denied the Yediot report, saying that Damascus had not received any invitation from Israel to open negotiations, Israel Radio reported. Another senior Syrian diplomat also denied that Damascus had received an invitation from Washington or from any other officials to renew negotiations. In an interview the diplomat gave to a Syrian newspaper, he also said that Olmert's "defeated and weak government is not a partner for negotiations."
Responding to the Israeli newspaper report, Likud Knesset Member Gideon Sa'ar called on Yisrael Beitenu and Shas to resign from the government. "Olmert has no legitimacy from the public for a withdrawal from the Golan Heights, and his administration is a danger to Israel's security," he said. "Steps being taken far from the public eye which may be difficult to stop, and the responsibility lies with all of the cabinet members.?
Chairman of the right-wing National Union-NRP party, Zevulun Orlev, said "Ehud Olmert would sell the Golan Heights for his seat. He is trying to save his own skin, and his statement regarding a withdrawal from the Golan is a desperate attempt to survive."
Left-wing Israeli politicians, especially, anti-Zionist muslims, warmly praised Olmert's initiative. "The price tag for a viable peace agreement with Syria is a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights," United Arab List-Ta?al Knesset Member Ahmad Tibi said. "The negotiations must be renewed immediately," he said.
The far-left Meretz faction chairperson, Zahava Gal-On, said that "for Olmert to demonstrate that his intentions are serious, he must not only make statements that create a new political agenda, but he must initiate a meeting between Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the Syrian foreign minister" Walid al-Mouallem."
According to Gal-On, only direct contact will attest to the sincerity of the prime minister's intentions. "Otherwise, it would appear that the prime minister was using Syria to divert attention from the discussion surrounding the Winograd Report...."
Meretz chairman Yossi Beilin praised the "change in Olmert?s stance regarding negotiations with Syria," adding that "An agreement with Syria has existed de facto since January 2000, when (then prime minister) Ehud Barak panicked and stopped the talks at Shepherdstown, West Virginia," Beilin said. "I call on Olmert to launch negotiations as soon as possible and reach an agreement based on the Arab initiative. This will directly affect Hizbullah, Hamas and Iran and will create a new strategic situation in the Middle East."
Meanwhile, Construction and Housing Minister Meir Sheetrit said he could accept Syrian sovereignty over the Golan Heights on the revocable condition that Syria agreed to lease the land back to Israel for 20 years, a highly unlikely prospect. "If in this period it becomes clear that there is real peace then the Golan Heights will be less important," said Sheetrit.
Shas Chairman Eli Yishai said that if Syria really wanted peace, Assad should come to Israel, another highly improbably scenario.
Polls: Israeli public wants to keep the Golan
Most of the Israeli public do not trust Syrian dictator Assad, do not support concession of the Golan, and are not afraid of a war with Syria.
A Teleseker telephone poll of a representative sample of 500 adult Israelis, apparently including Israeli Arabs, carried out by Teleseker for Maariv found that 74% of respondents do not believe Assad's statements that he is interested in peace, compared to 17% who do. By a narrow margin of 48% to 45%, Israeli don't even want to renew negotiations between Israel and Syria assuming that it will also deal with the future of the Golan.
44% oppose any withdrawal, 40% would accept a partial withdrawal 40% , and 10% support a full withdrawal 10%. Olmert has apparently offered a full withdrawal, opposed by some 90% of the respondents.
Most Israelis surveyed did not think that war will break out between Israel and Syria in the coming year, whether or not the two countries negotiate.
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