RAMALLAH: Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that Israel will never withdraw from the Golan Heights, a report said yesterday.
The daily Haaretz quoted Netanyahu as telling reporters on Thursday that “remaining on the Golan will ensure Israel has a strategic advantage in cases of military conflict with Syria.”
A week-and-a-half out from Netanyahu’s scheduled visit to Washington, the prime minister stressed that he is ready to stand up to US President Barack Obama and that he would not give up on matters that in his opinion are critical to Israel’s security.
Peace talks between Israel and Syria collapsed in 2000 after Damascus declined an Israeli offer to withdraw from the territory, saying the Israeli offer did not encompass the full territory it occupied in the June 1967 War.
Israel wanted to withdraw to the international border, keeping a small strip around Lake Kinneret (Sea of Galilee) to ensure its control of vital water supplies, but Syria wanted to advance to the lake.
Syria recently said it would be willing to resume indirect peace talks with the new Israeli government as long as they focused on a complete Israeli withdrawal from the occupied territory.
Former Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert renewed indirect talks with Syria last year via Turkish mediation. But the talks have been frozen due to political turmoil in Israel.
With regard to Iran, Netanyahu said that he intends to emphasize to Obama the need to deal with Iran and its “nuclear program, which is a major obstacle to peace in the Middle East.”
“If Iran turns into a nuclear power they will force all Arab states to ally with it, and the extreme Iranian regime that revealed its plan to eliminate Israel will not allow Arab states to normalize relations with Israel,” Netanyahu reportedly said.
