Syria funds and supplies Hamas and Hezbullah. Syria has treaties with Iran guaranteeing that Iran will step into any altercation Israel has with Syria. Syria is the reason Lebanon is the shithole that it is, and has been for twenty years. A few months ago, Israel bombed what everyone thinks was a nascent Syrian nuclear weapons site. Syria has installed Hezbollah-style rocket launchers on its border with Israel. And word is that Ehud Olmert has agreed to give back the Golan Heights in exchange for “peace” with Syria.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has informed Damascus that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert agrees to fully withdraw from the Golan Heights in return for peace with Syria, the independent Damascus-based website Press Shams reported Wednesday, quoting diplomatic sources.
The Prime Minister’s Office declined comment Wednesday on the report, saying that “we will not comment on the said report but we can refer everyone to the prime minister’s holiday interviews saying that we know what the Syrians want of us, and they know what we want of them.”
Diplomatic sources in Jerusalem linked the report to the upcoming US Congress hearing regarding the North Korean bid to distribute nuclear technology.
Several days ago, Syrian President Bashar Assad confirmed Olmert’s remarks that Jerusalem and Damascus were holding talks through a third party in a bid to look into resuming the negotiations between the two countries.
Now, I’m all for peace with Israel’s neighbors. But I don’t see how Syria has done anything to indicate that Syria is interested in peace with Israel. Khaled Meshaal, the leader of Hamas, lives comfortably and safely in Damascus. Imad Mugniyeh was protected by Syrian intelligence forces. Syria hosts regular terrorist conferences. Not terrorism conferences. Terrorist conferences, where they all get together and figure out new ways to kill Jews.
If this is true, Olmert is the biggest threat in Israel’s existence. The only good thing about this is that his government will absolutely fall if he tries to force this onto the Israeli people.
The Syrian report’s credibility may be questionable, but that did little to pacify the infuriated political arena.
Head of the Knesset’s House Committee, Knesset Member David Tal of the prime minister’s Kadima party, announced Wednesday that he would push forward the forming of the Golan Heights Act once the Knesset returns from its Passover hiatus. The bill will make a referendum on the region’s future mandatory.
Knesset Member Yuval Steinitz (Likud) said the report indicated “unprecedented irresponsibility on Olmert’s part both political and defense-wise.”
Without the Golan Heights, he added “Israel will have serious trouble defending itself and its water sources. I have no doubt the public is on the Golan’s side, not the prime minister’s.”
I’m going to have to give this one the I-Don’t-Think-It’s-True rating. But I suspect Olmert would cede the Golan without demanding that Syria expel all terrorists from Damascus. And it’s a pretty bad reflection on Olmert that I think that.