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Ya'alon: Israel can return Golan Heights to Syria
Israel would not endanger its security by giving up the Golan Heights for peace with Syria, IDF Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Moshe Ya'alon said in remarks published Friday, departing from the military's traditional view that Israel needs at least part of the plateau as a security buffer. Ya'alon spoke a day after Industry, Trade, and Labor Minister Ehud Olmert indicated that Israel will have to evacuate more Israeli settlements in the West Bank than the four mentioned in Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan of unilateral disengagement from the Palestinians. As part of the plan, Israel would withdraw from all of the Gaza Strip and four West Bank settlements by the end of 2005. Israel has long argued that giving up the Golan, which it captured from Syria in the 1967 Mideast war and annexed in 1981, could leave northern Israel vulnerable to Syrian attack. In failed peace talks with Syria, Sharon's moderate predecessor, Ehud Barak, offered to withdraw from virtually all of the heights, but insisted on special security arrangements and some border adjustments. However, Ya'alon suggested that from a military point of view, Israel could afford to withdraw to the pre-1967 lines, a key Syrian demand. "If you ask me, theoretically, if we can reach an agreement with Syria ... my answer is that from a military standpoint it is possible to reach an agreement by giving up the Golan Heights," Ya'alon told the daily Yediot Ahronot. "The army is able to defend any border. This is correct for any political decision that is taken in Israel," he said. Responding to Ya'alon's comments, Ahmad Haj Ali, an advisor to the Syrian information minister, said Friday that Syria will not take seriously Israeli offers to pull out of the Golan Heights unless they are backed by moves on the ground or an open commitment to withdraw. Haj Ali was not impressed by Ya'alon's comment, telling The Associated Press: "We don't give such statements any weight unless they are associated with a serious move (toward peace) and with international guarantees. Whoever is willing to make peace should return the land to its owners and withdraw immediately or declare that openly and clearly." Other Syrian government officials could not be reached for comment Friday as it was the Muslim Sabbath. Haj Ali said he believed Ya'alon's statement was designed to "show Israel was the party seeking peace in order to look good in the upcoming American elections." Posted by: Mr. Davis 2004-08-13 |
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