Former IDF chief: The Golan Heights is not indispensable

jpost.com ^ | May 24, 2008 17:16 | Updated May 24, 2008 18:40 | jpost.com

[F15Eagle]

Former chief of General Staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said Saturday that it will hurt to give up the Golan Heights as part of a peace agreement with Syria, though it is a possibility.

"The thought of ceding the Golan Heights gives me a bellyache, but for real peace one must be willing to pay a real price. Theoretically, Israel can do without the Golan," said Halutz during a cultural event in Beersheba, Saturday.

Halutz refused to divulge whether he knew about the negotiations held for the past year between Syria and Israel with Turkish mediation since they began or whether he came to know of them following the Prime Minister's Office statement last week.

Halutz said that ceding the Golan was a "mental and cultural" problem, since the State of Israel now held its current borders for longer than its previous borders. "A whole generation of Israelis grew up with the Golan Heights being part of Israel - it is a problem to entertain the notion of parting with the Heights," he continued.

On Wednesday, Israel and Syria announced that the two countries will resume peace talks after an eight-year break.

The former IDF chief also mentioned the situation in the South, specifically the continuous rocket and mortar barrage on the western Negev. He said that when he was IDF chief, he recommended responding mightily to the first projectile attacks from the Gaza Strip, after the disengagement and withdrawal from the area.

"We didn't carry out any operations - and this is the result. We didn't stand by our declaration," he added.

He advocated taking action in order to ease the situation of Gaza-border community residents, adding that the situation in the South is more pressing than the Iranian threat.

[F15Eagle]

stupid, stupid, stupid

[NormsRevenge]

for real peace one must be willing to pay a real price.

—

poland and sudetenland agree.

[TADSLOS]

Halutz said that ceding the Golan was a "mental and cultural" problem, since the State of Israel now held its current borders for longer than its previous borders. "A whole generation of Israelis grew up with the Golan Heights being part of Israel - it is a problem to entertain the notion of parting with the Heights,"

Sounds like Halutz has been talking to McCain.

[kingattax]

israel has political dummies wanting to lead her over a cliff just like america does.

for some reason these idiots will not understand that iran and it's muslim zombies like syria and hezbollah don't want peace with israel, they want israel's total destruction and won't ever stop until that happens.

the koranimals can never be appeased

[Mr Ramsbotham]

It would be one thing if you could give it up and actually get some peace.

[ml/nj]

People have built homes and communities there. Doesn't anyone care?

ML/NJ

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

“Move not the ancient boundaries” - Proverbs.

[montag813]

Another victim of IGTS—Israeli General Traitor Syndrome. Barak was the last major casualty of this illness.

[F15Eagle]

ping to Roadmap idiocy

[XeniaSt]

Seven Shepherds Video

b'SHEM Yah'shua

[montag813]

Why on earth does Israel need a “peace” agreement with Syria? Israel can destroy Syria many times over. And so long as Israel holds the Golan and Hizbollah is contained, Syria is of no threat to them whatsoever. Israel needs a peace agreement with Syria like we need one with Equatorial Guinea. The entire issue is an absurdity.

[F15Eagle]

Don’t know unless they think it will disrupt Syrian-Iranian relations. But I find that virtually impossible to believe ...

dunno ... bizarre ... the Golan Heights should never be given up.

[joebuck]

"The thought of ceding the Golan Heights gives me a bellyache, but for real peace one must be willing to pay a real price."

Come on Charlie Brown, I promise I'll really hold the football this time. Come on, kick it, I'll hold it, ....pleeeeeeeeze. I'm not kiddin this time.

[F15Eagle]

It’s insanity, that’s for certain. Give up the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and the Golan Heights.

And then it’s “Enact the Final Solution” time by Israel’s enemies ....

[Salem]

Is the Golan important for Israel's security?

First, holding the Heights gives Israel strategic depth. The Golan territory is roughly 10 miles by 40 miles. All of Israel, including the Golan and the West Bank, is only approximately 45 miles wide by 270 miles. (First-time visitors to Israel almost invariably remark on how small the country is.) Thus, in the north, the Golan Heights makes the territory under Israel's control nearly fifty percent wider than it would be otherwise. This buffer zone, this extension of territory where Israel faces its most formidable enemy, is an important military asset for Israel. This remains true even in the age of missile warfare. It bears noting that, in the summer of 1990, all of Kuwait's valuable assets were in easy reach of Iraq's forces, which took them quickly. But Saudi Arabia's key assets lay across wide stretches of desert, which made an Iraqi conquest far more difficult. Though Iraq had Scud missiles, Saudi Arabia's strategic depth spared it the fate of Kuwait.

Second, control of high ground on the Golan gives Israel direct line-of-sight surveillance and warning of threatening Syrian movements in the plains below or in south Lebanon. Early warning is important to a defense posture that relies, in the event of war, upon a thin line of active forces to hold while reserves mobilize to meet the kind of attacks that Syria's large and well-equipped standing army might mount.

Third, modern technology has by no means eliminated altogether the disadvantages of having to fight uphill, a reality acknowledged by military commanders everywhere. The operational planning of the U.S. military, for example, still places great emphasis on command of the high ground as a critical force multiplier.

Fourth, possession of the Golan puts the IDF within easy striking range of Damascus. This contributes to Israeli deterrence against Syria. If deterrence fails and war occurs again, Israel's Golan position enables it to mount spoiling attacks against likely staging areas. And its proximity to Damascus can help deter especially heinous actions -- for example, missile attacks on Israel's cities.

Fifth, the Golan highlands are a major watershed. In that arid region with its growing population increasing the demand for water, control of water resources can have strategic consequences. The significance of this point is often overlooked in military and political analyses, especially those not produced locally. Control of the Golan permits control of Lake Kinneret (the "Sea of Galilee") which supplies roughly thirty percent of Israel's consumption.

Control of the Golan watershed and the Kinneret basin will further increase in importance if Israel makes concessions regarding its other main source of water, the watersheds of the West Bank. Water sources there now satisfy more than thirty-three percent of Israel's needs. These are at issue in Israel's negotiations with the PLO.

- from A Special Report Prepared for the U.S. Center for Security Policy*

[Original Source]

---

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" ... It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world."—FReeper Retief
"Palestine is the wrong name for their State. It should be called Anarchy."—FReeper sgtbono2002
"Then let's wait and see what the Arabs do after they take Gaza. There's nothing like Arab reality to break up a Jewish fantasy."—FReeper Noachian
A student told his professor he was going to "Palestine" to "fight for freedom, peace and justice,"—Orwellian leftist code words that mean "murder Jews."

[Enchante]

"for real peace one must be willing to pay a real price"

This is soft-headed liberal b.s., given the regional context and the nature of the Syrian regime. What does Israel really gain by getting a scrap of paper from a Syrian govt. that is in reality a terrorist organization? Maybe Syria cools it for a couple of years at best, but nothing short of comprehensive regime change and societal change that cannot presently be imagined is going to make Syria a good, peaceful, non-terroristic neighbor for Israel.

No, what keeps the 'peace' now, to the extent that the armed standoff is peaceful simply IS the Israeli possession of overwhelming air and military superiority plus possession of the Golan Heights. Syria at present and the forseeable future CANNOT seriously attack Israel, except by its sponsorhip of Hizbollah and Hamas. Israel would do far better to concentrate upon maximizing the destruction to those terrorist entities and keeping Syria thoroughly deterred in military terms.

The day that Israel begins to rely upon anything other that her own military self-defense to "keep the peace" will be the beginning of a new period of extreme danger for the survival of Israel.

[Lancey Howard]

“Real peace”? Yeah sure, that’ll happen....
I suppose there’s a reason this guy Halutz is the “former” IDF chief.
He sounds like something straight out of our own appeaser State Department.

[omega4179]

but for real peace one must be willing to pay a real price. maintain peace THROUGH STRENGTH.

[TheThinker]

It would be one thing if you could give it up and actually get some peace.

Peace between countries only comes from mutual respect culturally, militarily, and ideologically. Muslims respect Jews on none of thse levels.

[rahbert]

I think of the sacrifice of the Seventh Brigade fighting
to the last Centurion against a Syrian onslaught at the Hermonit, the heroic fight of the Svika force, and the out-of-hand execution of Israeli POWs by the Syrians at Hushniye junction.

No way can this happen. There can be no peace with Syria as it is presently constituted. When Syria has a freely elected
goverment, no gas weapons and arrests all terrorists within
its borders, then peace might work. They aren’t there yet.

[PRePublic]

this Olmert guy lost whatever of his values he had as a mayor, a long time ago.

[goldstategop]

That would be Dan Halutz... the disgraced IDF Chief Of Staff forced out because of his bungling of the Second Lebanon War. And here he presumes to have sound judgment on the Golan. All one can say is... ROFL!

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Convert from ECUSA]

Jeeze Louise, this “general” couldn’t manage a rubber duckie in his bathtub.