"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus
I don't see how shrinking Israel makes the country more secure. The demographic argument has been debunked and it doesn't apply to the Golan Heights. I submit its Ehud Olmert plying his Walter Mitty fantasy whose results have proven far more harmful to Israel's well-being than any Greater Israel theorists have ever done to the nation.The power structure of the middle east is changing, quickly. Allegiance is settling around ethnic boundaries and Syria was the odd man out. Deathly afraid of the encroaching Shi'ites but afraid of being undermined by the west. Now by entering the western sphere on their own terms the Syrians get what they wanted(and Israel gets a *ton* more security, both from having Syria off the table and from Syria expelling Meshaal and gang from Damascus).
The biggest problem with his strategy is that he is in retreat. He is not carrying a big stick to go with his soft speech. He has only carrots for the enemies of Israel.
The enemies will play him like a fiddle.
Olmert is the one who is delusional. All that’s needed is to look at how the “Road Map” and every other attempt at agreements and concessions have been DOA so far as winning Israel any real peace is concerned. Israel should announce that nothing will ever budge from current de facto borders until/unless the Arab side has ALREADY proved its commitment to real peace, ending terrorism and all incitement to terrorism and Jew-hatred. Israel could completely change the dynamics of the discussion simply by making clear that not an inch of concession will ever be discussed again until the Arab sides are already demonstrating a genuine commitment to peacemaking.
As for the Golan Heights, they do have enormous strategic value as a buffer zone and for denying Syrian artillery high ground within range of a substantial Israeli population. Israel should never discuss any concession on Golan unless Syria is already transformed into a peace-making regime, which is pretty hard to imagine now. Giving the current Syrian regime Golan is (roughly) like France allowing Hitler back into the Rhineland in 1936, so that there was no longer any strategic buffer, allowing the surprise attack through Belgium in May 1940.