Posted on 06/08/2007 5:20:11 AM PDT by APRPEH
(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has offered the Golan to Syria, in exchange for full peace, including cutting ties with Iran and terrorists.
Israel's daily Yediot Acharonot reports Friday that PM Olmert has agreed to a deal with Syrian leader Bashar Assad, whereby Syria would receive control of the Golan Heights in exchange for revoking the Syrian-Iranian alliance and cutting all ties with terrorist organizations.
Olmert reportedly informed Syria, via a third party, that he is aware that a peace agreement with Syria "means returning the Golan to Syrian sovereignty." He said he is willing to do so, but wishes to know if Syria, in return, will "dismantle, in stages, its alliance with Iran, Hizbullah and Palestinian terrorist organizations."
Just this past April, Olmert projected a different message, releasing a statement that "despite Israel's sincere wish for peace with Syria, Syria continues to be part of the Axis of Evil and a terror-encouraging element throughout the Middle East."
Assad has not yet responded to Israel's latest offer.
Herzog Paves the Way
On Thursday, Minister of Social Affairs Yitzchak Herzog made headlines by saying that Israel is ready for diplomatic negotiations and dialogue with Syria.
"Israel is prepared for diplomacy with Syria, and for a serious and honest dialogue with them," Minister Herzog said during a meeting with Romanian Foreign Minister Adrian Cioroianu and Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moratinos. The ministers met in Bucharest during a meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), the world's largest regional security group, including 56 states. The topic of the OSCE conference in Romania was anti-Semitism and xenophobia.
Minister Herzog said that the obstacle to diplomacy is the Syrian regime's support for the Hamas and Hizbullah terrorist organizations, as well as its partnership with Iran. All three of those allies of Syria have expressed and acted upon their hostile intentions regarding Israel's existence.
"The Syrians should not miscalculate," Herzog said. "The chances for negotiations are dependent on the seriousness of President Assad's intentions. In recent days, we have made it clear that Israel has no intention of opening up a front with the Syrians. We hope that on their side, as well, there is no intention to drag the region into unnecessary tensions."
Herzog was reiterating the position expressed by Prime Minister Olmert during a recent meeting of the security cabinet. Olmert said then he was ready to hold direct negotiations with Syria, warning the ministers that any statements they made to the media could push Israel towards war. The Syrians "have very sensitive nerves," Olmert said, and they could easily become aggressive. He also rejected predictions that Syria would attempt to stage a military operation to take parts of the strategic Golan Heights from Israel.
Netanyahu Talked with Assad the Father
Opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a radio station on Thursday that the previous Syrian dictator, Hafez Assad, had been willing to "cede" the strategically-critical Mt. Hermon to Israel. "In my contacts with Assad," Netanyahu said, "he agreed to give me the Hermon... I told him that I have a pre-condition [for giving him the Golan], and that is the Hermon, because there is a threat from Iran, and he gave it to me. I must say I was surprised, and I was happy."
Israel took control of the Golan Heights in the Six Day War of 1967, after the Syrians had used the area for years to shell Israeli kibbutzim below. Since then, the Syrian border has always been Israel's quietest.
Israel annexed the Golan in 1981. In early 1999, the Knesset voted that no part of the Golan or Jerusalem may be transferred to a foreign power without an absolute majority of 61 Knesset Members and a popular referendum in accordance with a to-be-legislated Referendum Law. Just last month, the Knesset voted, in a preliminary reading, to require the referendum even before such a Referendum Law is legislated.
Syrian Response
On Thursday, a Syrian official was quoted by the French press agency AFP as saying, "We are prepared to renew peace negotiations and we are interested in peace."
Meir Dagan, the director of the Israeli espionage agency, the Mossad, told a closed government meeting last month that Syria was broadcasting its willingness to talk with Israel strictly as a tactical maneuver. This conclusion, he said, is based on intelligence information and internal Mossad analysis. Furthermore, Dagan said that even were Israel to open a channel of negotiations with Syria, the Assad regime would not cut its support for, or ties with, the Hizbullah terrorists in Lebanon, although it might do so in the cases of Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.
According to the head of the IDF Intelligence Corps' research division, Brig.-Gen. Yosef Beiditz, Syria is "increasing weapons purchases and training exercises. While there is no change in the deployment in the Golan Heights, which is a defensive array, [Syria] could improve its positions and deploy offensive capabilities."
Defense Minister Amir Peretz noted that the change from defensive to offensive deployment on the Golan can be accomplished "within days, not months... We are prepared for any eventuality." In that regard, Israeli defense and emergency forces recently held a large exercise simulating a military confrontation with Syria. At the same time, Peretz said that Israel should not "shut the door" on Syria's intimations that it is prepared to negotiate with the Jewish State.
Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad, in a recent telephone conversation with Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, asked the Iranian leader for better coordination against their common enemies, Israel and the United States. The conversation was excerpted on Ahmadinejad’s personal blog.
The United States doubts that Syria is interested in negotiating peace, but "we are not going to manage Israel foreign policy," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters Wednesday. He commented following the first day of talks between Bush administration officials and visiting Transportation Minister Sha'ul Mofaz, who is a former IDF Chief of Staff and Defense Minister.
But all you Bibi fans beware. Read the article carefully:
The offer was already made in the past:
Netanyahu Talked with Assad the Father
Opposition leader and ex-Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu told a radio station on Thursday that the previous Syrian dictator, Hafez Assad, had been willing to "cede" the strategically-critical Mt. Hermon to Israel. "In my contacts with Assad," Netanyahu said, "he agreed to give me the Hermon... I told him that I have a pre-condition [for giving him the Golan], and that is the Hermon, because there is a threat from Iran, and he gave it to me. I must say I was surprised, and I was happy."
Someone will have to explain to me why Olmert is not being a fool on this one.
The only way for Syria to go thru a deal like this is in a disingenuous way. 99% of the value of the Golan to Syria is as a military platform, ergo, no long term peace. Its like offering a cake deal to Syria: You can have your cake, but you can’t eat it (too).
that man is a bleeding idiot.
Ending the “confrontation” stance with Israel would doom the Syrian totalitarian regime.
Even if Olmert wants to ignore his own intelligence people, a quick read of the newspapers might tell him otherwise.
I can think of only one possibility: He's calling Syria's bluff on this. For forty years, they've claimed to want the Golan Heights back. Now, for a public repudiation (yes, I know that any ties with Iran will be maintained secretly), they can have it.
Perhaps Olmert is counting on the reaction of the man in the street to this, hoping for a toppling of the Syrian government. Then, once you have instability, you take the Golan Heights back for "safekeeping". Get rid of an enemy regime without firing too much ammo.
OK, perhaps a lame scenario, but maybe somebody's got a better idea?
“Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has offered the Golan to Syria, in exchange for full peace, including cutting ties with Iran and terrorists.”
Sounds like Olmert and Bush are joined at the hip. Both are traitorous mental midgets to our countries.
The Golan Heights is essential to the security of Israel and to Israel’s water resources.
Or maybe he wants to demonstrate that they don't want Golan/peace more than they want their Iran/Hezbollah alliance - as will happen when Syria rebukes/turns up their nose at/finds something wrong with this deal.
I'm not terribly well-versed in ME affairs but that's the first thing I thought when I saw this headline, that he's offering them a "deal" he knows they won't take in order to de-romanticize some foggy lefty myths about Syria. But I could be wrong...
So another shot at it before they bomb Assad to kingdom come? One can only hope.
Well, I tend to agree with you, this kind of "let's try it the left's way and show them how wrong they are" approach never works. It doesn't work when we in the US are constantly trying to "go to the UN" or "give diplomacy a chance", and it doesn't work when Israel does it either.
But I still have to think that's what Olmert is trying to do here....
If they give up the Golan, Israel will cease to exist within a decade. Anyone that looks at a map understands this.
If Olmert really wants to win the media war, just start a war and keep fighting it.
The americans hate the arabs and honestly don’t really care. Then the EU, and Russia will just talk. That’s all they do is talk.
Most likely the Mossad will have to eliminate Olmert if the people don’t
Where does Olmert think he can hide? The Mossad would kill him if he destroys Isreal wherever he hides.
"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
Giving back territory is foolish. Giving land to Syria for something as intangible as a promise to severe ties with Iran will hold for how long? Two months? Three?
Olmert is an appeasement weasel.
Winston Churchill had this to say on the topic of appeasement.
“An appeaser is one who feeds the crocodile hoping it will eat him last.”
Sounds like Olmert and Bush are joined at the hip.
Getting it, allowing open borders and ‘guest workers’ sets us up to have
suicide bombers and terrorist living in the population.
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