ISRAEL ‘WILL NOT WITHDRAW FROM GOLAN HEIGHTS’

press tv
Fri, 10 Jul 2009 09:56:55 GMT

Netanyahu’s top policy adviser Uzi Arad ? The Israeli government has
said it will not withdraw from the entire strategic Golan Heights
even in return for a peace deal with Syria.

The remark was made by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s
top policy adviser Uzi Arad in an interview published in the Israeli
daily Haaretz on Friday.

Israel must remain on the Golan Heights to a depth of several miles
"for strategic, military and settlement reasons", Arad said.

Netanyahu’s national security adviser further urged the Syrians to
resume peace talks with Israel with no preconditions but "with each
side aware of the other’s position."

Israel and Syria have officially been at war since 1967 when Tel Aviv
occupied the strategic plateau during the Six-Day War.

Syria wants a full Israeli withdrawal to the pre-1967 border, but
Israeli officials say the plateau is too strategically important
to be returned. The Golan Heights gives Israel access to the Sea of
Galilee — Israel’s main source of fresh water.