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Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, who is the frontrunner to take over for embattled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert when their Kadima Party holds primaries next month, confirmed on Sunday that she will continue land-for-peace talks with Syria. In an interview with CNN, Livni said that if elected Kadima leader she will press forward with efforts to make peace with Syria based on a partial or full Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad said that he is ready to establish normal relations with Israel and to exchange ambassadors and sign bilateral agreements if a peace deal is reached between the two countries. “We have raised the matter of normalizing relations since the beginning of the peace talks,” Assad told Al-Jazzeera Television, adding that good relations between states entail setting up embassies and signing agreements. He said that relations could worsen or improve, turn friendly or be suspended, “but this a normal part of nationhood.” “The indirect talks with Israel will pave the way for direct talks or else negotiations...

The United States is pressing for an Israeli withdrawal from a disputed Golan Heights area located on the border with Lebanon, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told the Arabic language daily Al-Hayyat on Sunday. According to the report, Rice told Lebanese leaders during her unexpected visit to Beirut that the U.S. would bolster its efforts in the coming weeks toward pushing Israel to pull out from the Shaba Farms.

AL-QUNEITRA, (SANA)_ Deputy Chief of Office of Studies of the Chinese Communist Party's history Lee Chongeh has expressed Chinese support for Syria's right to restore all her occupied territories in the Syrian Golan, pointing out to the close friendly relations between China and Syria in all fields. In a statement during his visit to the liberated city of al-Quneitra Thursday, the Chinese officials condemned the deliberate barbaric destruction practiced by the Israeli occupation forces in the city of Quneitra before their withdrawal in the year 1974. Upon arrival in the city of Quneitra, the delegation was received by a number...

Jerusalem - An Israeli legislator who caused outrage in Israel for indicating that Premier Ehud Olmert deserved the death penalty for returning the Golan Heights to Syria, refused to retract his remarks Tuesday and said he had based his comments on the law. 'I do not apologise for my remarks,' Ariyeh Eldad, of the National Religious Party, told Israel Army Radio.

But Israeli leftists were ready to pounce. Following Eldad's remarks, MK Ran Cohen (Meretz) said he would complain to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, demanding that MK Eldad be probed for incitement. "These words of slander are reminiscent of the days before Rabin's murder and must not be heard," Cohen explained. "The law enforcement authorities must prevent this from a public figure." An official at Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's Office said in response that "the man and his words are unworthy of a response." NU-NRP MK Zevulun Orlev said in a letter to Eldad that he was "amazed by the remarks."...

Former chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said Saturday that it will hurt to give up the Golan Heights as part of a peace agreement with Syria, though it is a possibility. "The thought of ceding the Golan Heights gives me a bellyache, but for real peace one must be willing to pay a real price. Theoretically, Israel can do without the Golan," said Halutz during a cultural event in Beersheba, Saturday. Halutz refused to divulge whether he knew about the negotiations held for the past year between Syria and Israel with Turkish mediation since they began or whether...

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said on Saturday that the Zionist regime is not in a position to set conditions for withdrawing from Golan Heights. Mottaki made the remark at a joint press conference with the Head of Hamas Political Bureau Khaled Mashal at the Foreign Ministry building on Saturday. Under the current circumstances, the Zionist regime has no option but to withdraw from occupied lands including occupied Palestine, Mottaki said. Tehran backs Damascus in its drive to re-take Golan heights, underlined the Iranian minister...

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in September 2006 that "the Golan Heights will remain in our hands forever." He made the statement in the wake of the Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon after a ceasefire failed to win the release of IDF soldiers Ehud Goldwasser and Eldad Regev, whose kidnapping by Hizbullah terrorists ignited the Second Lebanon War. The Prime Minister announced Wednesday he is conducting indirect peace talks with Syria, which repeatedly has said that Israel's surrendering the strategic Golan is a conditon for peace. After the Second War in Lebanon two years ago, Syrian President Bashar Assad stated...

The global effort to wrest the Jews’ restored homeland from them lurched ahead Wednesday with the revelation that the Olmert government is - and has been for more than a year – preparing to negotiate an agreement with Damascus that is believed to involve Israel’s surrender to Syria of the Golan Heights.

The political arena was shaken Wednesday, following an announcement by the Prime Minister's Office that Israel and Syria were holding direct peace talks mediated by Turkey. The political Right immediately connected the dramatic announcement to the legal hot waters Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is in, saying that the further the investigation into his alleged bribery offenses becomes, the more dramatic his political move will be. Leaders of the Likud, National Union-National Religious Party and Yisrael Beiteinu factions have demanded that the Knesset hold a special session following the announcement. "Olmert has just proven that he is willing to sell off...

The inevitable result of this would be an accelerated unraveling of the social fabric and disintegration of social cohesiveness, gravely undermining the country's ability to contend with the daunting challenges it would still have to face after such a withdrawal…or because of such a withdrawal. Meanwhile, the looming prospect of the return of Syrian rule will be a powerful inducement for the local Druze population to show their loyalty and allegiance to their new masters, and to endeavor to dispel any hint of suspicion of collaboration with the Zionist foe. It needs little imagination to realize that such a desire...

Israeli Knesset: No to a Golan Giveaway   By P. David HornikFrontPageMagazine.com | Friday, April 25, 2008 With Hamas and its colleagues mounting daily terror attacks from once-Israeli-controlled Gaza, with weapons flowing to the terror enclave through once-Israeli-controlled Sinai, with Hezbollah amassing an unprecedented quantity and quality of missiles in once-Israeli-controlled southern Lebanon, with only 24/7 Israeli military activity preventing a Hamas takeover of the West Bank—the push to get Israel to give up its remaining strategic assets continues.   This week President Bush met with Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas in what looks like an increasingly unhinged quest...

There is no way Syria is going to agree to Israel's terms for "peace". So don't worry that the Golan is being offered. Loosing the Golan is not what their anger is all about. In my article Syria wants to annex Lebanon to be begin with.Such a deal would require a total transformation of what they are. Barry Rubin says Syria would rather be in a perpetual state of war rather than in a perpetual state of peace. Peace would destabilize the regime. Syria has stood up to US pressure which has been intense for a number of years and...

Syrian report suggesting Olmert will agree to pull out of Golan Heights for sake of peace with Damascus inflames political area: Likud blames him for thinking of nothing but political survival; Kadima MK says will push forward referendum on area's future Amnon Meranda Latest Update: 04.23.08, 14:35 / Israel News Prime Minister Ehud Olmert undoubtedly heard about the Syrian report saying he had agreed to cede Israeli control of the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with Syria, while on vacation. The report by the Damascus-based website Shams Press was joined by a report in the Syrian newspaper al-Watan, which...

Israel has reportedly agreed to withdraw from the Golan Heights as part of a peace deal with Syria. Shams-Press, a semi-official Syrian news Web site, reported Wednesday that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agreed in principle to a Turkish plan for renewed peace talks between Jerusalem and Syria. The negotiations, according to Shams-Press, would be predicated on Israel's willingness to return the Golan to Syria. Olmert's office declined comment on the report, which caused uproar in the right-wing opposition and among some members of the Israeli coalition government. Olmert has voiced willingness to restart talks with Syria that stalled in...

They've bickered over whether she knew he was gay, whose tell-all book would sell better, whether a poster of a nude man hanging over his new lover's bed had to come down before she'd allow their 6-year-old to visit. Divorce has been exceptionally bitter for former New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey and his wife, Dina Matos McGreevey. Unless they can resolve the custody and money issues that have arisen since their acrimonious parting, the state's estranged former first couple is heading for a May trial. Celebrity divorce lawyer Raoul Felder, whose list of clients includes exes of Mike Tyson and...

JERUSALEM — Syria has lost a MiG-21 fighter-jet near Israel. Israeli officials said the Syrian Air Force sent several MiG-21s on a mission near the Golan Heights, part of which was captured by Israel in the 1967 war. They said one of the MiGs crashed on Sept. 22. The governments of neither Israel nor Syria officially confirmed the crash of the Syrian MiG-21. The Israel Air Force has been on alert for Syrian retaliation in wake of reports of an Israeli air strike on a suspected Syrian nuclear or missile facility near the border with Iraq on Sept. 6. The...

.."The source did not reveal the circumstances and causes of the crash."

A senior Israeli general on Monday confirmed that the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) are training for a full-scale war with Syria, and that plans have been laid for a swift victory. But in the event of a conflagration, will Israel’s leadership allow those plans to be implemented?

The London based Al-Hayat reported Saturday that Israel was "concerned" that Syria's decision to remove military checkpoints on the road to Kuneitra on the Syrian side of the Golan Heights could be a preparation for war. According to the report, the checkpoints in question had been in place for 40 year, ever since the Six Day War. Al-Hayat also claimed that foreign journalists were barred from covering IDF maneuvers concucted on the Golan Heights. The newspaper also reported that Israel had blocked access to areas on the Golan Heights from which villages and towns were visible. The report also listed...

Once again, a misguided Prime Minister of Israel believes that the Israel Defense Force (IDF) could defend his imperiled country's borders without the 452-square mile Golan plateau. Israel annexed the Golan in 1981 after defeating Syrian aggression in June 1967, and after enduring the Yom Kippur surprise attacks of October 1973. When Israeli opponents of the annexation argued that the application of Israeli law did not apply real sovereignty, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled otherwise: "Wherever in the law it says Israel or the State of Israel,” said the Court, “Ramat HaGolan is included." Now Prime Minister Olmert seeks a...

23 Sivan 5767, June 9, '07 Nation Up in Arms at Olmert's Golan Offer by Hillel Fendel (IsraelNN.com) As polls continue to show overwhelming national opposition to giving up the Golan, opposition MKs blast PM Olmert for offering it to Syria. Left-wing MKs, on the other hand, want him to act, not just talk. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's latest offer to give the Golan Heights to Syria flies in the face of polls showing public opposition to ceding the Golan, and has many MKs on both sides of the political spectrum up in arms. Olmert reportedly informed Syria last month...

JERUSALEM - Israel has told Syrian leaders it is willing to give up the captured Golan Heights as part of a peace deal that would require Syria to distance itself from Iran's virulently anti-Israel regime, a newspaper reported Friday. Yediot Ahronot said Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently sent messages to Syrian President Bashar Assad through German and Turkish diplomats saying Israel was open to direct peace negotiations and to give up the strategic plateau it seized in the 1967 Mideast war. The paper said Syria had not responded to the overture, quoting unidentified officials close to Olmert. Olmert's office would...

Yedioth Ahronoth report says prime minister relayed secret message to Damascus saying Israel would return Golan to Syria in exchange for comprehensive peace, severing of all ties to Iran, regional terror groups. Right-wing MKs: Olmert trying to save his own skin, has no legitimacy to give up disputed region Ynet Latest Update: 06.08.07, 10:51 / Israel News Prime Minister Ehud Olmert recently relayed a secret message to Syrian President Bashar Assad saying Israel knew what the price of peace was and would be willing to pay it, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday. According to the report, Olmert told the Syrian leader...

'PM wants to save his skin by giving up the Golan Heights' AP and JPost staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Jun. 8, 2007 Report: Right-wingers were seething on Friday afternoon after a report that a recent flurry of secret messages from Israel to Syria signaled Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's willingness to give up the Golan Heights in return for a peace agreement. Effi Eitam (NU-NRP) said: "The Olmert government that failed in Lebanon, is behaving as failed regimes have acted throughout history, and in an attempt to hide his responsibility for the failure he is embarking on a dangerous political adventure."...

68% of Israelis do not want Israel to give the Golan Heights to Syria in return for a peace treaty. 86% are not willing to relinquish control of the Kotel (Western Wall) in exchange for a peace treaty. 53% do not want to hand over most of Judea and Samaria to the Palestinian Authority, even in exchange to what was defined as "real peace." 65% would oppose a unilateral withdrawal from Judea and Samaria if there is a plebiscite on the matter. 28% support such a withdrawal. The poll was conducted by the Knesset Channel and the Dahaf Institute, and...

The inconvenient truth is that Syrian President Bashar Assad has a good case for attacking Israel militarily. The frustrating, infuriating truth is that Israel has handed that case to him. This is how it is: The democratic world, Israel's peer group, considers the Golan Heights to be rightfully Syria's, but at the same time it believes Israel has the right to recognition and peace from Syria. In short, the democratic world, or free world, believes that the just solution to the Israeli-Syrian dispute over the Golan Heights is "land for peace." This is the essence of the famous UN Security...

The IDF hold intensive training maneuvers in preparation for a feared Syrian attack on the Golan Heights. Hundred of tanks and thousands of soldiers, backed by helicopters and Unmanned Aerial Vehicles, massed in the Judean Desert to drill simulations of war. The training exercise focused on Brigade 401 and its utilization of Israel's most advanced tank - the Merkava Mark 4 - against the Syrian advanced Russian-made T-72. The tanks were backed up by artillery fire and supported by infantry troops, some traveling in armored personnel carriers and others being flown into the field by transport helicopters...

Syrian Information Minister Mohsen Bilal threatened on Monday evening to return the Golan Heights to Syrian hands "by way of resistance if Israel [rejects] the Arab peace initiative."

Syrian guest to Knesset says secret negotiations needed Ibrahim Soliman, a Syrian representative in previous, informal talks between Israel and Syria, briefs Knesset committee with Israeli counterpart Amnon Meranda Published: 04.12.07, 14:47 / Israel News Israel and Syria should hold secret negotiations in order to reach a peace agreement, Ibrahim (Abe) Soliman told the Knesset's Defense and Foreign Affairs Committee Thursday. Soliman, an American citizen of Syrian descent, came to Israel Tuesday, to hold informal talks, via a non-governmental movement for peace between the two nations. He briefed the Knesset committee along with former Israel Foreign Ministry director-general Dr Alon...

Apr. 12, 2007 0:54 | Updated Apr. 12, 2007 14:26 Suleiman presents possible peace deal By MARK WEISS, SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL, AND JPOST STAFF Syrian American Abe Suleiman, a US-based Syrian citizen considered an associate of Syrian President Bashar Assad's father, presented the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee with possible scenarios for a peace deal with Syria, Meretz MK Zehava Gal-On said Thursday. Gal-On said that according to Suleiman, Syria would cease its support for terror organizations and join the global fight against terror, as well as cutting ties to Hizbullah. Syria would, in turn, demand that Israel withdraw from...

Syria Willing to Renounce Terror for Golan Heights 16:20 PM 24 Nisan 5767, April 12, '07 (IsraelNN.com) Syria is willing to renounce terror and cut its ties with the Hizbullah terrorist organization in Lebanon - if Israel will hand over the Golan Heights, captured by the IDF in the 1967 Six Day War. Syrian-American businessman Ibrahim Suleiman, who has been involved in unofficial talks with Damascus, explained in testimony before the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee Thursday, which concessions Syria was willing to make in a peace agreement with Israel. Meretz Knesset Member Zahava Gal-On shared the information with...

The European Union supports Syria's goal of regaining the occupied Golan Heights from Israel, the EU foreign policy chief said after meeting President Bashar al-Assad on Wednesday. "We would like to work as much as possible to see your country Syria recuperate the territory taken in 1967," Javier Solana told a joint news conference with Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem...

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee on Monday that peace with Syria would mean giving up the Golan Heights, seized by Israel in the 1967 Six-Day War and annexed in 1981. "The whole world knows that in any future negotiations, if they are renewed, we will have to give up on the entire Golan Heights," Olmert said during a heated exchange with oppposition leader Benjamin Netanyahu (Likud). Netanyahu had reacted angrily to Olmert's assertion that three of his predeccessors, Netanyahu included, had held talks with Syria on a complete Israeli withdrawal from the Golan...

Russia maintains listening posts along the Syrian border with Israel which it uses to follow IDF movements in the Golan Heights, it was revealed Thursday night. According to a report on Channel 2, the posts are manned by Russian military officers who pass on information to Hizbullah in Lebanon. Israel, The Jerusalem Post learned, has known about the posts for over a decade since they were established. Russia's involvement in the Iranian nuclear program, as well as various state-of-the-art arms sales it has periodically made to both Syria and Iran, has caused some friction over the last few years...

Baker report: Israel must withdraw from Golan Special panel headed by James Baker and Lee Hamilton, which looked into situation in Iraq and Middle East, rules that 'in the context of a full and secure peace agreement, the Israelis should return the Golan Heights' Yitzhak Benhorin Published: 12.06.06, 19:55 WASHINGTON – The Baker-Hamilton report submitted Wednesday evening to US President George W. Bush marks a change in the American policy regarding the Middle East, particularly on the Israeli-Syrian channel. "In the context of a full and secure peace agreement, the Israeli sshould return the Golan Heights, with a US security...

Last update - Report: Syria to demand Golan as price for aiding U.S. on Iraq By The Associated Press As Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem arrived in Baghdad for a landmark visit to Iraq on Sunday, Damascus was reportedly set to demand that Washington press Israel over the issue of return of the Golan Heights,as the price of its cooperation with the Bush administration on Iraq, Moallem is the highest ranking Syrian official to visit Iraq since the U.S.-ouster of Saddam Hussein in 2003 and a major step toward restoring diplomatic relations, Kurdish legislator Mahmoud Othman said. Media reports have...

Syria threat over Golan puts Israel on war alert By Harry de Quetteville in Jerusalem (Filed: 30/09/2006) Israel has gone on heightened alert over a possible war with Syria amid reports that President Bashar Assad may be considering military strikes to regain the Golan Heights. A signpost points out that Damascus is a mere 60kms from the Golan Heights For years Israeli military intelligence has down-played Syria's capacity to launch a meaningful attack against Israel, and the threat level has been kept "low". But Israeli reports have revealed that the threat level had been raised after intelligence assessments that Damascus...

In his highly anticipated memoir, former Gov. James E. McGreevey writes of his deep love for the man who ended his political career, the destruction of his second marriage and the events that forced him into his stunning admission on national television that he is gay. In "The Confession," the former governor also touches on New Jersey's sometimes seamy political landscape, where cash, cronyism and a handful of powerful men intersect. But the 384-page book focuses mostly on McGreevey's secret life, from his frequent sexual encounters with men at highway rest stops to his infatuation with Golan Cipel, the Israeli...

Internal Security Minister, former head of Shin Bet says, 'Any political process is preferable to military-fighting process, be it with Syria or with Lebanon'; Adds: Israel willing to withdraw from Golan Heights in exchange for full peace, water arrangements with Syria Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said Monday that "In exchange for peace with Syria, Israel can leave the Golan Heights." In an interview with Israel Army Radio, Dichter brought up: “We have paid similar territorial prices for peace with Jordan and Egypt." He added that the water question and the Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) is "an issue that...

By CAROLINE GLICK Since the cease-fire was implemented in Lebanon, we have heard scattered reports indicating that a prisoner swap with the Palestinians may be in the works. In exchange for hundreds if not thousands of Palestinian terrorists now held in Israeli prisons, IDF Cpl. Gilad Shalit, who has been held hostage by Palestinian terrorists for nearly two months, may be released from captivity. These reports lend weight to the view that things are back to normal. Terrorists kidnap Israelis and hold them hostage and Israel releases terrorists in order to free them. It is a comforting thought for people...

Syrians demand military action to reclaim Golan Heights By Patrick Bishop in Beirut (Filed: 18/08/2006) Bashar al-Assad praised Hizbollah's 'victory' Pressure is mounting on Bashar al-Assad, the Syrian president, to follow Hizbollah's example and consider force to eject Israel from Syrian land that it has occupied for nearly 40 years. The public appetite for action is just one of the uncomfortable consequences regional rulers are facing, as Arabs compare their leaders' performances over Israel with the Lebanese "resistance". Mr Assad, who supports Hizbollah, was quick to praise the militia's "victory" in a post-conflict speech and to bathe in its reflected...

In the last few days senior Iranian and Syrian officials, including Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, have stepped up their statements on the war, with the Syrian regime's mouthpieces in the media following suit.The following are excerpts:Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander: We Must Keep the Hatred of America Burning in Our Hearts Until the Moment of Revenge Arrives The Iranian conservative news agency Fars reported that Iranian Revolutionary Guards Commander Yahya Raheem Safavi gave a speech before forces from the Revolutionary Guards and the Basij [1] on July 30, 2006, in which he demanded that they be prepared to act against Israel...

DEBKAfile Exclusive: New Syria-Iranian defense treaty opens way for Iran`s Revolutionary Guards to deploy on Israel’s Golan border by summer’s end June 19, 2006, 11:57 AM (GMT+02:00) Iranian defense minister Gen. Mustafa Najjar said: “Syria’s security is part of Iran’s security,” when he signed a new military treaty with his visiting Syrian counterpart, Gen. Hassan Turkmani (picture) in Tehran last Thursday June 15. Sunday, June 18, Israel’s parliamentary foreign affairs and defense committee inspected its northern border, along with the deputy chief of staff Moshe Kaplinsky and OC Northern command Udi Adam. Both Tehran and Damascus referred to the tour...

WASHINGTON - Shortly after being elected New Jersey's governor, Democrat Jon Corzine speculated aloud that he might appoint a woman to fill out his unexpired Senate term. Then he singled out black state Sen. Nia Gill, calling her an "extraordinarily capable woman." Gill did not shy away from the hint. "I have the qualifications," she told The Associated Press on Tuesday. "If I am chosen by Jon, I am more than qualified to rise to the occasion." If Corzine does select Gill — a 57-year-old attorney — she would become only the sixth black, and second black woman ever to...

GUNMAN INFILTRATING INTO ISRAELI-OCCUPIED GOLAN FROM SYRIA CAPTU 15 Apr 2005 05:14:21 GMT Source: Reuters GUNMAN INFILTRATING INTO ISRAELI-OCCUPIED GOLAN FROM SYRIA CAPTURED AFTER SHOOTOUT-ISRAELI SECURITY SOURCES

AN ISRAELI collector of antiquities who stunned the world with a find that he said was the burial container of Jesus’ “brother”, James, is to be charged with forgery. Justice Ministry officials said last night that Oded Golan would be indicted next week on a range of charges that would include forgery over an inscription on the stone container that carried the script in Aramaic reading: “James, son of Joseph, brother of Jesus”. Six others are also to be charged. The discovery of the ossuary in October 2002 was hailed as one of the great archaeological discoveries of the age...

Attorneys for the college that oddly figured into negotiations over a former aide's threatened sexual harassment lawsuit against Gov. James E. McGreevey say they may sue one of the aide's lawyers because he was not authorized to use Touro College's name. McGreevey administration sources said Golan Cipel demanded millions of dollars and a charter for a New Jersey-based medical school for Touro College in exchange for remaining silent about his relationship with McGreevey. Cipel, who sources said had an affair with the governor, worked for the Manhattan college for three months last fall when it was trying to establish a...

Cipel Says He'll Return to US in Pursuit of 'Justice' Julie Stahl Jerusalem Bureau Chief Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - Dogged by media and accused of extortion, Golan Cipel, the Israeli man at the center of a sex scandal involving New Jersey Governor James E. McGreevey, has returned home to Israel -- to gather his strength, he said. In an interview with a local newspaper published on Wednesday, Cipel continued to insist on his innocence, amid allegations that he may have tried to blackmail Gov. McGreevey. But he did not address the allegations directly. Local papers quoted various people, including Israeli government...