'Rice wrong on Mount Dov' (Shaba Farms)
Jerusalem Post
Jul. 27, 2006 23:07 | Updated Jul. 28, 2006 0:35
By GIL HOFFMAN
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice was wrong to advise Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to begin negotiations with Lebanon over the withdrawal of the IDF from the Mount Dov (Shaba Farms) area, former foreign minister Silvan Shalom (Likud) said Thursday.
The Jerusalem Post reported exclusively on Thursday that the US was counseling Israel to negotiate a withdrawal from the 160-square-kilometer parcel of land, located where the borders of Israel, Lebanon and Syria meet, as part of a long-term arrangement for Lebanon.
"The Americans are making a big mistake," Shalom said. "There is no way to justify the demands of the Hizbullah for Israel to give Lebanon the Shaba Farms area, because this territory was Syrian until 1967 and it should be discussed with Syria when the time will come to negotiating on a peace treaty with them. This concession would be translated by the Hizbullah and Arabs as a victory against Israelis surrendering territory again."
Shalom is right, imho. Wonder whose idea this is?