by Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
At first ever cabinet meeting held on Golan Heights, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says the strategic plateau has been a place of "peace and prosperity" during 49 years of Israeli rule • "Israel today is the solution, not the problem," Netanyahu says.
Prime Minister Benjamin
Netanyahu during a tour of the Golan Heights last week
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Photo credit: Kobi Gideon / GPO  |
"Israel will never come down from the Golan
Heights," Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday at the start
of a weekly cabinet meeting, which was being held for the first time
ever on the Golan -- the strategic plateau Israel took control of from
Syria in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed in 1981 in a move that
was not recognized internationally.
"In the 49 years Israel has controlled the
Golan, it has been a place of peace and prosperity," Netanyahu said.
"Israel today is the solution, not the problem."
The prime minister went on to say, "The border line is not going to change, regardless of what there is on the Syrian side.
"The time has come for the international community to finally recognize that the Golan will remain under Israeli sovereignty permanently."
Netanyahu's statements came amidst the backdrop of reports that, as international diplomatic efforts to achieve a diplomatic resolution to the Syrian civil war continue, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, who currently controls only around one-fifth of his country, is demanding territorial concessions from Israel in the Golan. Reports say that a negotiated settlement in Syria could designate the entire Golan (the Israeli Golan consists of the western two-thirds of the plateau) as Syrian territory.
"The time has come for the international community to finally recognize that the Golan will remain under Israeli sovereignty permanently."
Netanyahu's statements came amidst the backdrop of reports that, as international diplomatic efforts to achieve a diplomatic resolution to the Syrian civil war continue, Syrian dictator Bashar Assad, who currently controls only around one-fifth of his country, is demanding territorial concessions from Israel in the Golan. Reports say that a negotiated settlement in Syria could designate the entire Golan (the Israeli Golan consists of the western two-thirds of the plateau) as Syrian territory.
Upon hearing of these reports, Netanyahu
reacted harshly, saying in closed-door conversations that Syria could
"forget about" getting the Golan back.
Netanyahu recently spoke by telephone with
U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry about the matter, telling Kerry,
"This won't happen." He also informed Kerry, "Israel will not hand over
the Golan Heights to anyone." The prime minister said Assad's demand was
ridiculous and surprising given the fact that Israel has been able to
maintain quiet on the Golan in recent years.
Netanyahu plans to express similar sentiments when he meets with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Moscow on Thursday.
During his meeting with U.S. President Barack
Obama at the White House last November, Netanyahu reportedly suggested
that U.S. recognition of Israeli sovereignty on the Golan Heights would
send a message of deterrence to Iran. The prime minister was quoted as
saying that the disintegration of Syria "allows for different thinking"
on the future status of the Golan. Obama reportedly did not respond to
Netanyahu on the matter.
Netanyahu said at the time that, now more than ever,
territory has meaning in the Middle East, and whenever Israel withdraws
from territory, terrorists groups take over there, such as what took
place in the wake of the 2005 disengagement from the Gaza Strip.
Shlomo Cesana and Israel Hayom Staff
Source: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_article.php?id=33145
Copyright - Original materials copyright (c) by the authors.
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