Sharon: Israel not prepared to withdraw from Golan Heights in exchange for peace deal with Syria

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is not willing to withdraw from the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with Syria, Channel Two television reported Monday evening.

On Monday afternoon, President Moshe Katsav expressed regret that Syrian President Bashar Assad had rejected his invitation to visit Jerusalem.

"It seems that Assad is not made of the same material as the former Egyptian president, Saddat," Katsav said in reference to Anwar Sadat, who became the first Arab leader to visit Israel when accepted then-prime minister Menachem Begin's 1977 letter of invitation, initiating contacts which ultimately led to the signing of a peace treaty between the two states in 1979.

Syria said Monday that Katsav's invitation was not a serious response to Syria's calls for peace talks.

"We need a serious response, this is not a serious response. A serious response is to say yes, we are interested in peace, we want to negotiate..." Syria's Expatriates Minister Buthaina Sha'aban told CNN.

Israel Radio quoted Sha'aban as telling the BBC on Monday that there was no doubt that Assad would reject the offer.

The Prime Minister's Office refused to comment on Katsav's invitation, the radio said.

In extending his invitation on Monday morning, Katsav stressed that there were no preconditions attached.

"I'm the president of Israel and I have the authority to invite foreign presidents to come to Israel," Katsav said during an interview to Israel Radio. "I invite the president of Syria to come to Jerusalem to meet with the country's leaders and conduct serious negotiations, if that is his wish."

"There is no doubt that President Assad is in severe trouble, and his intentions aren't pure," Katsav told the radio, "but we must seriously examine his proposal to renew negotiations with Israel in a direct meeting and not through the media."

In early December, Assad told the New York Times that he was ready to resume negotiations with Israel where they broke off in 2000 - with Israel offering to return nearly all of the Golan Heights, which were captured from Syria during the 1967 Six-Day War.

"Partial solutions and media maneuvers do not achieve peace in the region... Syria's longstanding position is to resume negotiations from where they stopped," the official Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) said on Monday.

"The proposed mechanism for peace is negotiations," SANA said. "Visits or initiatives are not the problem. This talk is an escape from the peace process because making peace through Madrid (peace conference) and international resolutions is the only way that can achieve security and stability for the Middle East."

Katsav also repeated the claim made by security sources last week that Syrian planes flying aid to earthquake-struck Iran returned with Iranian arms for Hezbollah.

The president said Israel was not clear on Syria's opening negotiating position but that if Assad was seriously willing to start talks from "point zero," he should go through diplomatic channels and even invite Israeli leaders to Damascus.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday that Israel would be happy to begin peace talks with Syria, but only if Syria first ends its support for terrorist organizations.

Speaking with foreign correspondents in Jerusalem on Sunday, Sharon said: "I believe that what should be done is that Syria should stop the help and support for terrorist agents, and if that happens, I believe Israel will be ready."

The prime minister claimed that most Syrian assistance for terrorist organizations went through Lebanon, which had been "under Syrian occupation since January 1976."

He added that Israel, as a peace-loving nation, was naturally interested in talks with Syria, but questioned whether Damascus really wanted peace, or was merely trying to ease the American pressure it was currently under. Any talks must begin without preconditions, Sharon said.

Earlier, Sharon told the cabinet that "we shouldn't rush to embrace the Syrians before thoroughly investigating what lies behind the Syrian initiative" to resume peace talks.

Responding to Justice Minister Yosef Lapid's argument that Israel should unequivocally announce its support for peace negotiations, Sharon added that he supported talks with all the Arab states, including Syria and Libya, but they must first prove that they were willing to wage an uncompromising war on terror.

"I have expressed my full support for peace negotiations," Sharon continued. "Obviously Israel is interested in peace with Syria, but we must not forget what the head of Military Intelligence told the cabinet meeting last week that Syria is still assisting anti-Israel terrorism.

"Just as we demand that the Palestinians dismantle terror [groups] before beginning negotiations, we make the same demand of the Syrians. This is an Israeli interest, which, despite our strong desire for peace, we cannot concede."

And just how long would it take Syria to build up a mountain of weapons in the Golan were Israel to "give it back?"

Notice the Ha'aretz equation: Sharon is dissing a sure peace by not considering handing over the Golan.

Giving Syria the Golan is like giving Michael Moore a box of dounuts and telling him not to eat it.

Sharon: Israel not prepared to withdraw from Golan Heights in exchange for peace deal with Syria

Uh, perhaps I was hallucinating at the time, but didn't Israel ANNEX the Golan Heights a few decades ago? If so, then the statement above is akin to Bush saying "we are not prepared to withdraw from Texas for a migrant deal with Mexico".

This is utter insanity for Israel to even be considering "peace" talks with Saddam's arch ally in return for giving up the most strategic land in all of Israel. At this rate I will be surprised if there even is a State of Israel in 25 years. The Israeli will to self-destruction is breathtaking.

Excellent analogy CG....Having spent a lot of time in the Golan, the thought of turning over strategic parts of the Golan (or even one square inch) is reprehensible. In the Mas'ada area near Mt. Hermon, you can see the bombed out Syrian positions (Pill Boxes)--with some of the tanks still in them. Of interest, the road to these implacements have been cleared of mines, but the surrounding land (both North of and South of the road) is covered with Syrian Mines. No doubt, if Syria is given one inch of this area, they would launch harrassing attacks against Israel, just as Hizbollah does from the Shabaa Farms area to the West.

Giving up the Golan would be equiavalent to saying 'yes we're ready to be pushed into the sea.'

Sharon knows what giving up the Golan means, and he should steadfastedly (sp?; word?) educate Israelis (if necessary) about why it's so strategically vital to be in possession of that area; and continue to refuse to participate in some such self-annihilation scheme.

Syria, Palestine, Jordan, Lebanon and Egypt can go straight to hell: the faster, the better!

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