JERUSALEM: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER DISMISSES OPPOSITION CLAIMS THAT HE'S MADE A DEAL WITH SYRIA TO GIVE BACK THE GOLAN HEIGHTS

Record ID: 399140

  • Title: JERUSALEM: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER DISMISSES OPPOSITION CLAIMS THAT HE'S MADE A DEAL WITH SYRIA TO GIVE BACK THE GOLAN HEIGHTS
  • Date: 13th December 1999
  • Summary: JERUSALEM (DECEMBER 13, 1999) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. MV PROTESTERS OUTSIDE THE ISRAELI PARLIAMENT, OR KNESSET, HOLDING SIGNS SAYING "WE WILL NOT MOVE FROM THE GOLAN" 0.05 2. SCU WOMAN PROTESTER 0.09 3. LV PEOPLE GATHERED AT DEMONSTRATION 0.13 4. SV SIGN SAYING "MR BARAK STOP GIVING AWAY OUR LAND TO TERRORISTS" 0.18 5. LV PEOPL
  • Embargoed: 28th December 1999 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: JERUSALEM/GOLAN HEIGHTS
  • City:
  • Country: Israel
  • Reuters ID: LVA5FGNXDXYCOKVHK6HDMQ4BHVHP
  • Story Text: Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak dismissed
    opposition charges on Monday that he had cut a deal with Syria
    to give back the Golan Heights when peace talks resume after a
    break of nearly four years.

    Addressing parliament on the eve of his departure for
    Washington, Barak said Israel would have to pay a "heavy
    territorial price" on the strategic plateau.

    Up to 3,000 Israeli settlers from the Golan rallied
    outside Israel's parliament on Monday (December 13) to voice
    opposition to a withdrawal they say will expose Israel to the
    danger of attack from Arab enemies.

    "We will never give up the Golan", shouted settlers who
    also held up banners and prayed during their protest.

    The protest took place as Israel's parliament, or Knesset,
    debated Wednesday's (December 15) peace talks with Syria.

    During the debate, Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Barak
    dismissed opposition charges that he had cut a deal with Syria
    to give back the Golan Heights when peace talks resume after a
    break of nearly four years.

    But he made it clear that any peace deal would involve
    sacrifices.Addressing parliament on the eve of his departure
    for Washington, Barak said Israel would have to pay a "heavy
    territorial price" for peace with Syria.

    The government's upbeat mood has sown suspicion among
    critics of Barak who believe he has already agreed to Syrian
    demands to withdraw fully from the Golan Heights to the lines
    Syria held in June 1967.

    But in Monday's debate, Barak denied opposition talk of a
    "done deal" with Damascus to give up the Golan Heights.

    Barak told parliamentarians the road to peace with
    Damascus would be paved with problems but predicted that
    success would reap Israel a secure future and an economic
    boom.

    He said he would only negotiate a treaty that strengthened
    Israel's security and predicted that any deal would win
    sweeping endorsement in a planned referendum.

    But opposition members were highly critical of any peace
    deal with Syria, saying it would involve too high a sacrifice.

    "Israel is asked to pay the price of Syria's military
    strength, by giving up strategic locations, without receiving
    any rewards," said opposition Likud leader, Ariel Sharon.

    Barak is due to meet Syrian Foreign Minister Farouq
    al-Shara in Washington on Wednesday (December 15) and Thursday
    (December 16) to resume peace talks after a break of nearly
    four years.

    The U.S.-brokered talks will be at an unprecedented high
    level, though senior Israeli officials have said the initial
    contacts would be ceremonial rather than substantive.

    Both sides say they are optimistic that a peace treaty can
    be hammered out within months.

    Protesters from Israeli settlements in the Golan, however,
    are settling in for a lengthy resistance to moves to hand the
    area back.But Sharon said that opposition would take a
    "democratic" form.
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