Olmert: Ceding entire Golan is price of peace with Syria [View All]

[Doondoo]

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 Heights.

Olmert told the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that, according to documents, the prime ministers from 1993 to 2001 (a reference to Yitzhak Rabin, Netanyahu and Ehud Barak) - had all held negotiations with Syria during which it had been clear that any agreement would entail Israel completely ceding the Golan and withdrawing to the 1967 border.

But Netanyahu interrupted Olmert's remarks, saying, "You know that's not right."

"You know it's true," replied Olmert. "Don't try to hide the truth."

Later in the discussion, the prime minister reiterated his opposition to negotiations with Damascus, on the grounds "Syria is interested in the industry of peace, rather than real peace."


http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/824917.html