Wednesday, April 23, 2008

MKs will try to block Golan pullback
Gil Hoffman and nathan tobin , THE JERUSALEM POST Apr. 23, 2008
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The Knesset House Committee will convene after the parliament's spring
recess to advance a bill requiring a national referendum before any
concessions are made to Syria in the Golan Heights.

House Committee chairman David Tal made the announcement in response to
Syrian reports that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert had relayed messages to
Damascus via Turkey that he would be willing to give up the entire Golan in
return for peace. The bill, originally sponsored by former Kadima MK Avigdor
Yitzhaki, already passed a preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum.

"We have to prevent political thievery that would result in abdicating the
Golan," Tal said. "Withdrawing from the Golan would result in Hizbullah
terrorists entering the area and embittering the lives of the residents of
northern Israel."

Right-wing MKs reacted to the reports by bashing Olmert, who ironically is
currently vacationing in the Golan with his family. The opposition started
gathering signatures Wednesday to force Olmert to cut his vacation short and
attend a special Knesset session on the Syrian issue during the recess.

National Union-National Religious Party MK Effi Eitam (NU-NRP), himself a
resident of the Golan, urged Olmert to speak to residents and tourists in
the area while he is there so he could hear from them that he would have no
support to withdraw from the region.

"The people of Israel are with the Golan, and they will not let him return
it to Syria," Eitam said. "Olmert is abandoning the security of Israel in an
attempt to present voters with some kind of diplomatic achievement and for
that, he is willing to concede our rights to security on the northern
border, which we have enjoyed for more than 40 years."

A surprising reaction came from Ze'ev Elkin, Olmert's colleague in Kadima,
who said "unfortunately the prime minister, as usual, is playing games with
the Israeli public and the international community by releasing trial
balloons and scattering promises that he cannot keep."

Elkin, who is one of Olmert's toughest critics inside Kadima, said "just
like he did when he spoke of dividing Jerusalem, a haphazard withdrawal from
the Golan is also something the PM doesn't have support for, either in the
Knesset or within his party."

"It's very unfortunate that Olmert is raising expectations and the State of
Israel will have to pay a heavy price in years to come, [a price] that will
harm its security and not bring peace," Elkin added.

Yossi Beilin (Meretz) called upon Olmert "to take advantage of the
opportunity and conduct quick and intensive negotiations with the Syrians
according to the guidelines of an agreement that was already reached between
Ehud Barak and Hafez Assad in Shepherdstown, Virginia."
Beilin said that he hoped that the story as published was correct and that
the PM will not deny it.

Nissim Ze'ev, a Shas MK, said he was surprised by the report and demanded
that the issue be raised in both the cabinet and the Knesset's Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee.

"It is neither responsible nor serious for Olmert to talk to Syria without
updating the government," Ze'ev said, adding that Olmert "needs to tell the
government what he is offering Syria and how he will guarantee that Syria
would not attack Israel form the Golan with missiles and tanks."
Shas officials declined to speculate about whether party chairman Eli Yishai
would threaten the future of the government over the reports.

Several days ago Syrian President Bashar Assad confirmed that Israeli-Syrian
talks were taking place through a third party, but seemed not to attach
special significance to the contacts. "This is not a new thing, we have been
talking in the past as well," Assad said. Syria insists that any
negotiations with Israel be made public and opposes contacts in secret
channels.

Wednesday afternoon, Prime Minister Spokesman Mark Regev said the Prime
Minister's Office did not generally comment on reports published by the
media, and referred the Israeli public to interviews Olmert gave the Hebrew
press over the weekend.

In an interview to Yediot Aharonot given over the weekend, Olmert was asked
whether he was willing to stand by the "deposit" given by former prime
ministers Rabin, Peres, Netanyahu and Barak to Assad and to his father Hafez
Assad before him, that Israel would eventually withdraw from the Heights in
return for peace.

"What I can say is that I'm very interested in peace with the Syrians, I'm
working on it and I hope my efforts will ripen into significant progress. I
promise that in issues between us and Syria, they know what I want from them
and I know well what they want from us," Olmert said.