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| Israel-Palestine-Jordan |
| Golan settlers unfazed by Israeli-Syrian talks |
| 2008-05-23 |
| MEROM GOLAN, Golan Heights - Settler Eran Glick is not too worried that Israel will hand back the Golan Heights to Syria anytime soon. "We're still building," he says, pointing to earth-moving machines outside his air-conditioned office at the Merom Golan kibbutz. Glick is convinced the negotiations Israel and Syria have relaunched through Turkish mediators will fail to produce any concrete results, as was the case with previous peace talks. "We have heard so many announcements of negotiations in the past that we don't get excited any more," says Glick, who is responsible for kibbutz tourism. "It's like saying to someone "you're sick -- you could die tomorrow or at the age of 90,' so the best thing is to live normally," adds the 41-year-old who has lived in the Golan for 25 years. After the two countries announced on Wednesday they had resumed negotiations frozen eight years ago, Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Muallem claimed Damascus had received Israeli commitments for a full withdrawal from the Golan. |
| Posted by:Steve White |
| #1 Robert Avrech's insight into the Golan talks can be found here: The Idiot's Guide to the Israeli-Syrian Negotiations |
| Posted by: Chuck 2008-05-23 19:44 |