Negotiators push surrender of territory twice used to invade Jewish state
By Aaron Klein © 2010 WorldNetDaily
GOLAN HEIGHTS, UNSPECIFIED – APRIL 29: Israeli soldiers make their way along a mountain path during a training march on April 29, 2010 in the Golan Heights, the disputed strategic volcanic plateau Israel captured from the Syrians in the 1967 Six Day War. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton warned Tehran and Damascus this week that Washington’s commitment to Israel’s security is ‘unshakable’ in a speech before the American-Jewish Committee. (Photo by David Silverman/Getty Images)
TEL AVIV – The Obama administration is pressing Israel to enter into negotiations with Syria aimed at compelling an Israeli retreat from the strategic Golan Heights, WND has learned.
Syria is in a military alliance with Iran. The country twice used the Golan, which looks down on Israeli population centers, to mount grounds invasions into the Jewish state.
Informed Middle East security officials tell WND that Dennis Ross, an envoy for the White House in the Middle East, visited both Israel and Syria last week to discuss specifics of a deal in which Syria would eventually take most of the Golan.
According to the security officials, Ross is slated to become Obama’s main envoy to the Israeli-Palestinian affairs issue, with the current envoy, George Mitchell, expected to step down.
With Israel, Ross discussed specifics of a deal with Syria, including which territory Israel would be expected to evacuate in both the Golan and the Jordan Valley, the security officials said.
The officials said that Ross told Syria it needs to scale back its relationship with Iran and stop facilitating the re-armament of Hezbollah. The Iranian-backed Hezbollah reportedly now has over 10,000 missiles and rockets, including a large number that can reach Tel Aviv and beyond.
During the 2008 Second Lebanon War, Hezbollah’s rocket attacks against the Israeli north in 2006 killed 43 Israeli civilians and wounded more than 4,000.
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The Middle Eastern security officials, meanwhile, told WND there were some signs U.S.-led economic sanctions against Iran are having an effect on the regime in Tehran. The officials said that in recent months, Iran decreased its funding to Hezbollah as well as to the Palestinian terrorist organizations Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
The Jewish Golan
News media accounts routinely billed the Golan as “undisputed Syrian territory” until Israel “captured the region” in 1967. The Golan, however, has been out of Damascus’ control for far longer than the 19 years it was within its rule, from 1948 to 1967.
Even when Syria shortly held the Golan, some of it was stolen from Jews. Tens of thousands of acres of farmland on the Golan were purchased by Jews as far back as the late 19th century. The Turks of the Ottoman Empire kicked out some Jews around the turn of the century.
But some of the Golan was still farmed by Jews until 1947, when Syria first became an independent state. Just before that, the territory was transferred back and forth between France, Britain and even Turkey, before it became a part of the French Mandate of Syria.
When the French Mandate ended in 1944, the Golan Heights became part of the newly independent state of Syria, which quickly seized land that was being worked by the Palestine Colonization Association and the Jewish Colonization Association. A year later, in 1948, Syria, along with other Arab countries, used the Golan to attack Israel in a war to destroy the newly formed Jewish state.
The Golan, steeped in Jewish history, is connected to the Torah and to the periods of the First and Second Jewish Temples. The Golan Heights was referred to in the Torah as “Bashan.” The word “Golan” apparently was derived from the biblical city of “Golan in Bashan.”
The book of Joshua relates how the Golan was assigned to the tribe of Manasseh. Later, during the time of the First Temple, King Solomon appointed three ministers in the region, and the area became contested between the northern Jewish kingdom of Israel and the Aramean kingdom based in Damascus.
The book of Kings relates how King Ahab of Israel defeated Ben-Hadad I of Damascus near the present-day site of Kibbutz Afik in the southern Golan, and the prophet Elisha foretold that King Jehoash of Israel would defeat Ben-Hadad III of Damascus, also near Kibbutz Afik.
The online Jewish Virtual Library has an account of how in the late 6th and 5th centuries B.C., the Golan was settled by Jewish exiles returning from Babylonia, or modern day Iraq. In the mid–2nd century B.C., Judah Maccabee’s grandnephew, the Hasmonean King Alexander Jannai, added the Golan Heights to his kingdom.
The Golan hosted some of the most important houses of Torah study in the years following the Second Temple’s destruction and subsequent Jewish exile; some of Judaism’s most revered ancient rabbis are buried in the territory. The remains of some 25 synagogues from the period between the Jewish revolt and the Islamic conquest in 636 have been excavated. The Golan is also dotted with ancient Jewish villages.
Notice the same obtuseness in his responses as we get from missionaries?
Anyone for revisionist accounts of recent history? Go to the Shlemazel and you will get it.
Precisely. If the Palestinians have a miraculous epiphany and accept Israel as a Jewish state, they would get their own state. However, it ain’t gonna happen because they have no intentions of accepting Israel as a Jewish state, or accepting any solution that includes Israel.
BTW, successive Israeli governments have also tacitly endorsed a Palestinian state subject to “negotiations”.
Wise up.
Which obviously includes an imminent attack from the Independent Palestinian State George Bush was the first to endorse.
Shlemazel.
Ted, you are so refreshing. Thanks for being logical, honest, and brave in straight talk. I’m SO TIRED of being told I’m “way out there.” You support your (our) position. Thanks again.
What does Israel want? Who says so?
Gerald, What we need is the Sri Lankan solution in Gaza and the West Bank and to return Iran to its pre-Persian civilization. Only then will peace prevail in the middle-east.
Gerald
Go tell that to Barack, Livni, Peres and the whole lefty gang that still has enormous influence in the country.
Ted Belman:
Good cop, bad cop, remember? Besides, the idea that Israel can have “defensible borders” with a Palestinian state is a myth. Give the Palestinians sovereignty, and it will take them 3 seconds to start importing heavy armaments from Syria, Iran, Saudi Arabia, you name it, and start causing havoc on Israeli cities. If you are falling for this “the Republicans are forcing us into a better two-state plan than the Democrats are”, then you’re just playing their game. Anyone who advocates anything other than transferring the hostile Palestinians into Jordan (or Egypt or Iran or wherever) is not looking out for Israel’s security interests.
What makes them a major jewish organization in the US? The fact that Soros bought and paid for all the PR that money could buy? They don’t represent 1/5 of the Jews in America. They have been sidelined because they have been sniffed out for what they are. And yes they probably all voted for Obummer. On that ground alone I would think you would distance yourself from them, unless your entire raison d’etre is to push this point.
Not true. Bush committed to Israel in writing that the US supported Israel’s right to defensible borders and no right of return for refugees to Israel and no other plan to replace Res 242. Obama disowned the agreement and embraced the Saudi Plan and demanded no construction which Bush never demanded.
You keep repeating this line as if it was determinative of anything. Its true but they didn’t. Next.
We had 600,000 jews then in Israel and only accepted half of what we were promised because a hlf a loaf is better than no loaf. Lucky for us the legal status hasn’t changed. Now we are 6 million Jews and have the ability to keep it all. So we want to keep it.
Its too late for the Arabs to accept what they rejected then. The offer isn’t on the table.
No, it is not my idea of negotiations. It was only in answer to the suggestion that Israel doesn’t want a two-state solution.
The simple truth here is that the parties are too far apart in what they want. That is assuming that the Arabs actually want a two-state solution rather than the destruction of Israel.
Yes Obama is worse than previous administrations because he applied enormous pressure on Israel to give concessions it didn’t want to give. No other administration demanded an end to construction in total. Obama associated with radical pro-Palestinian groups and people for his adult entire life . Are you suggesting he didn’t come into office with an extreme anti-Israel bias.
Is this your idea of how negotiations work?
As far as I know the US administrations have not been fighting for anything other than negotiations and talks, even though I think they are misguided.
The problem is that they don’t seem to factor in the fact that the Palestinians have no intentions of a settlement that includes Israel as a Jewish state and no intentions of making any concessions either.
The Zionist founders accepted far less than what Israel would accept today. If the Palestinians had accepted Israel in 1947, all what you personally want would have been moot. This is simply a fact whether you like it or not.
Besides, perhaps you need to re-read the Hamas Charter before you say that I am missing anything here:
The last time I checked they are a major Jewish organization in the US. All its members probably voted for Imam Obama.
AE – I wouldn’t be quoting jstreet or ben-ami about anything Jewish…I’m surprised you didn’t know this already. That number is utter bullshit.
You both miss the point. Though a two state solution is intended, it can only come about by negotiations according to Res 242 and the Roadmap. All US administrations have attempted to curtail Israel’s right to negotiate, some more than others. They are fighting for a particular two state solution one that Israel rejects. Give Israel what it wants and is entitled to and in a blink you will have a two state solution.
Remember Judea and Samaria are not “Palestinian lands”. They were awared to jews by international law. The Arabs are only entitled to what we agree to give them.
Why blame America for this? It has been accepted in principal by numerous Israeli governments. According to Jeremy Ben-Ami, founder of J Street, 70% of Israeli Jews support a two-state plan.
The two-state plan was the original 1947 plan accepted by Israel’s Zionist founders. It would have been a fait accompli had the Palestinians accepted Israel.
The fact is that there will be no change in the status quo unless the Israeli government decides to give up more land in another futile attempt to buy peace – which will only embolden the militant Palestinians and lead to even more demands for even more concessions. No one in their right mind expects the Palestinians to concede anything – the only pressure is on Israel to concede.
What about any of this is so hard to understand? The Palestinians have no intentions of living in peace with a Jewish Israel, and the founding charters of their dominant militant organizations like Hamas have made abundantly clear. There can be no peace as long as the Palestinians refuse to accept Israel as a Jewish state, which will be sometime after hell freezes over.
At some point, given the opportunity, Israel should finally resort to the Sri Lankan solution in the West Bank and Gaza, and return Iran to its pre-Persian civilization, after which some peace may descend on this region.
But, don’t hold your breath in anticipation.
Yawn. Obama is following the same two-state plan that George H. W. Bush (under Dennis Ross), Bill Clinton, and George W. Bush did. Now Obama and Clinton are more forceful than have been the Bushes, but that is just the old “good cop/bad cop” routine. Jews and Israel supporters should not be taken into this nonsense of thinking that Obama and the Democrats are any worse for Israel than was Bush and the GOP. Remember: it was George W. Bush who demanded a Palestinian state by the end of his presidency, and George W. Bush called the failure to secure a Palestinian state his biggest failure and regret of his administration. Just because Obama takes a harder line against Netanyahu (whom he personally dislikes for a bunch of reasons that I will not get into) doesn’t mean that his approach to Israel is any different from the Bushes.
I know the birthers are wrong. Besides it makes no difference where he was born if his Mom was a US citizen at the time.
So, Catarin, the great Imam Obama sycophant, why not release the official birth documents?
While we are at it, why not release his college transcripts which have also been made state secrets while he blythely discolsed real state secrets on our fantastic interrogation methods?
FACTS and LOGIC are what count in debating, not childish emotional outbursts.
What a bunch of dreamers! You wish.
The new governor of Hawaii knew Obama’s parents at school and remembered him being born. The State of Hawaii’s law on what part of a birth certificate they will release is a law that’s been on the books for a long time and has nothing to do with Obama. Probably it has something to do with native Hawaiians. The new governor is furious at the freaky birthers, whom, let’s face it, seem to be a few hangars short of a closet. He said he would try to publish the entire birth certificate just to prove the birthers wrong, but we already know the birthers are wrong.
Anyone who calls Obama imam is not worth debating.
Aaron is absolutely right. Israel has to keep the Golan.
And I hope you’re right, Arnold, too. But (as I read here yesterday or so) Obama’s proposal to simplify the federal tax code (which is desperately needed, except that Obama will tweak it for MORE government control and higher taxes on business and investments, stifling the economy while making the feds the most viable “investor”/controller…) may garner him a lot of votes. He still has “charisma” for many and he’s clever like a fox. Unfortunately, he is still a force to be reckoned with.
What I do know is that Ross got smacked down as he tried to pull the same stunt and the Brutish Foreign Secretary did and was swatted down as well. What did the Ross fellow tried? He wanted to bypass Mr. Netanyahu and Barak and chat up the Israeli generals. Stroke out fast. Nothing doing.
Now. The Golan has been an item for Netanyahu to “deal with”. He may have dumped Ross in that mess…
Time will tell.
Arnold Harris:
I couldn’t have said it any better, although the Republican establishment, or at least some of them have always shown to have NO spine. Our best hope is that the Tea Party candidates will also take them to the cleaners.
Another thought; I do believe Obama won’t run in 2012 due to some states new requirement to show the birth certificate.
In my mind, the only thing left for this Obama character is to become the UN chief; it would definately be a good place for him; anti-americanism, anti-semitic, anti-Israel.
I would also hope that we could kick out this corrupt institution, let them go to Somalia. It would save us lots of money.
Oh (yawn). Them again.
On January 20, 2013, less than 25 months from now, President Barack Hussein Obama will be plain old Mr Barack Hussein Obama once again. Or maybe it will some fancy title they award former grandees in Kenya. And just next very short days from now, on Monday, January 3, 2011, his nemesis US Congress takes over from the old liberal gang. In order to rub things in, the first order of business of the Republican and Tea Party controlled House of Representatives will order a reading of the United States Constitution. That is when the shit begins hitting BHO’s increasingly petulant fan.
Lately, he’s had damned good reason to get petulant. But the House is the body that controls the purse strings of everything that happens in the Federal government. They certainly don’t control foreign policy, but they can make everything in Washington except possibly the weather real damned uncomfortable for any US president who is subject to their appropriations policies. America is all about money. As we say around here, the Golden Rule is that he who has the gold makes the rules. And that’s not really the president, who can exhort, but can’t order around other elected officials. Besides which, many of the Democrats who survived last month’s election are running away from the Imam Hussein Obama as fast as their fat little legs will carry them. Guess why? At the start of every new decade, we hold a national census, which determines exactly how those 535 House seats will be reapportioned among the several states. Every US state gets at least on Congressperson. But for the 2012 election, there will be a major apportionment shift, with the traditionally Democrat northeast and upper mid-west rust-belt states losing out to the Republican controlled parts of the southern and southwestern states.
That alone all but guarantees fewer Democrats not only in the House, but the loss of yet additional seats in the Senate. So I wouldn’t credit much likely influence to Obama these last two years of his presidency. And there’s a strong chance that a Democratic Party delegation that will pay him a quiet visit outside the hearing and peering range even of their friendly news media, and will tell Mr President that his shot at a second term as president would be (ahem) possibly inadvisable for the long-term interests of the Democratic Party. It’s happened before. It’ll happen again.
Israel already has broken this guy over the Palestine state crap. The same can apply to the Golan Heights. Possession is nine points of the law, where there is law. And in international relations, possession is nine points of hard reality. Israel has had possession of the Golan Heights for 43 years, and Israel’s possession has been more about twice as long as that of the blatherskite Baathist regimes who have fitfully misruled Syria for most of the time there has been a modern Syrian state. They are the prime cause of all the unrest in Lebanon and the war that is all but certain to come again when the Hezbollah gang thinks they have enough missiles to smack up Israel’s cities. Only a pack of fools would even discuss giving up Golan in talks with any Washington government, to say nothing of talks with a failed administration such as Imam Hussein Obama’s.
Just jolly him and his foreign policy gang along with polite but firm non-responses. Along with that, start allocating a few thousand Jewish housing units for Katzrin and some of the other urban places in Golan. Katzrin is planned for an eventual urban population of 25,000. That shouldn’t take long to achieve. And that’s always the best of all possible answers to the US State Department Near East Desk. That’s the desk under which most of State’s anti-Israeli rats hide. Snuffling around and looking for their little crumbles of cheese.
Arnold Harris
Mount Horeb WI