if the Jews that started there colonization of the Golan want to stay, they can, but it would be under the leadership of Assad and as part of Syria. the hundreds of thousands that left the Golan should be allowed bk, and rightly allowed to return to there land If NetanYAHOO makes up silly notions that "Iran would be at its doorstep if it gave back the Syrian Golan, an arrest warrant from the UN &international court of Justice should be issued. enough is enough israel cant simply grab whatever land it like willy nilly without suffering the consequences! Just like Egypt and Jordon has not broken its treaty , nor will Syria... Put it this way, when Israel suffers its first defeat, which will happen, its simple maths and reasoning, (400 million Arabs, 1.4 billion Muslims, 4 million Jews), if the Arabs decide to "Annex the Land", and use the same reasons Israel does, it WOULD ~BE complete JUSTIFIED,,, is that what you Israelis want?? peace

lol you can't make peace by threats, both sides need to get something, what? syria will not suppoer terrorism??? that's is how she makes money, kinda stupid, and lame, the syrian r to blame they started 2 wars against Israel not honoring international law that was legislated by the UN in 1947 for the jews to have their own land in Israel. how come there is no logic when it comes to Syria.

Walid Muallem clearly does not grasp the fact that Syria lost the Golan Heights to Israel in a war in which Syria was the aggressor. Syria is the vanquished. Israel is the victor. To the victor belong the spoils. Especially when the spoils -- in this case, the Golan -- was acquired by Israel while fighting a defensive war. Moreover, Israel formally annexed the Golan Heights in 1981, so it is off the table, anyway.

The monsters who run Syria are no better than any Mafia except they have an army with sophisticated weapons. Thieves and murderers who before 1967 used the Golan to fire artillery indiscriminately all over northern Israel. If you forget the past you are doomed to repeat it!

Frankly adam, you give me the impression that you would like to see the complete disappearence of the State of Israel. Isn't that what you and your liberal friends want? Not just the deportation but also the genocide of Israeli Jews would take place should the Arabs invade and, G-d forbid, succeed in destroying the Jewish state, effectively bringing about a second Holocaust. But I forget, thats what you want. You want the Jews in the Land to be 'wiped off' the face of the Earth don't you? If anything you would want the genocide of innocent women and children to satisfy your apparent hatred of these people right? After all isn't that 'proportionate' with the so-called crimes committed under a so-called occupation? You make me sick...

Adam The only reason Israel occupies the Golan is because Syria invaded Israel & Israel pushed them back. Why should Israel do anythig or give anything back until an official peace treaty is negotiated? It may have been "the 6 day war" but here we are almost 40 years later & Syria is still at war with Israel more or less. Why don't you give Ireland its independence & worry about your own back yard.

Please read your history. Hundreds of thousands that left the Golan? Besides the Syrian army there were a couple of small villages, or are speaking about rats and mice?. The place was a real crap hole until Jews arrived and made it a garden. We only kept the Golan because Syria used it to make target practice on the Jews in the fields below it. Of course with your pro-arab, anti-Semitic stance you would welcome that status-quo again

I hope and pray we don't make this terrible mistake.

"Our forces are now entirely ready not only to repulse the aggression, but to initiate the act of liberation itself, and to explode the Zionist presence in the Arab homeland. The Syrian army, with its finger on the trigger, is united....I, as a military man, believe that the time has come to enter into a battle of annihilation." This quote was made by Hafez al-Assad, then Defense Minister of Syria, on May 20, 1967, two weeks before the outbreak of the 6 Day War. Syria attacked Israel 3 times, with the express intention of annihilating Israel. It was one of the ringleaders that attacked the fledgling State of Israel in 1948. At the beginning of the 1967 war, when Israel was fighting ONLY on the Egyptian front, Israel sent communications to the other Arab countries via the UN and diplomatic sources that they would not be attacked, so long as they refrained from attacking Israel. Syria (joined by Jordan and the air force of Iraq) opted to attack Israel, launching air raids and artillery barrages in the Upper Galilee (including Tiberias), and even a ground operation involving tanks and infantry in the Tel Dan area. The Syrians were driven back and opted instread for a sustained artillery barrage against Israel. Israel, tied down on the Egyptian and Jordanian fronts, did not take the Golan Heights until the 5th day of the war. http://www.sixdaywar.org/content/northernfront.asp In 1973, Syria joined Egypt in an attack on Israel on Yom Kippur. Unlike Sadat of Egypt, who had more limited objectives, Assad of Syria made his objectives clear on October 15, 1973: "Our forces continue to pursue the enemy and strike at him and will continue to strike at enemy forces until we regain our positions in our occupied land and continue then until we liberate the whole land." Syria has incurred 3 strikes, and it is now Game Over for ever recovering the Israeli Golan. In fact, Syria should remember as a miracle for all time that as a result of the 1974 Disengagement Agreement, Israel ceded to Syria the Eastern Golan (as a demilitarized zone), plus the city of Quneitra, plus the summits of the Hermon. Here's a map: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Facts+About+Israel/Israel+in+Maps/May+1974+Israel-Syria+Disengagement+Agreement.htm

They put forward all these demands to avoid making Peace with Israel

Egypt received Sinai back and have since supported terrorism from Gaza. Now there is a Peace de facto with Syria and any change will only make things worse for Israel, emboldened Syria becoming an active enemy instead.

...at least not for as long as Syria seeks the destruction of Israel. No Israeli leader in his right mind will allow a single Syrian on the Sea of Galilee shores, and if such a leader will somehow accidentally be elected, the Israeli people won't let him return the Golan Heights and get our mortal enemies closer to our heart. Syria can forget about the Golan Haights. They are part of the reparations it has to pay Israel for 60 years of wars, terror and persecution it has waged against Israel and the Jews. If Syria wants the Golan Heights so badly, then let them try to take it back. It is interesting how the Syrian people will respond to a destroyed Damascus and obliterated infrastructure. Syrians can dream that their missiloes impress us. The missiles around Damascus aer as useless as those in the Bek'a valley and the Scuds they are so proud of, will fall on theirr own heads. And Iran will be too busy recovering from its self-induced nuclear winter to be able to help. Syria is gambling a dangerous gamble - one which will most certainly lead to the cessation of its existence and division of its territory among Iraq, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan.

Adam, Israeli-Syrian portion of the 1967 war was started by Syria, when Syria attempted unsuccessfully to invade Galilee. Does that matter to you at all?

It's 10 times larger and richer than Jewish Golan Heights. afraid to upset the big bad Ottomans?

good for nothing? It has plenty of undeveloped land everywhere else and sparsely populated this is highly suspicious insisting so much on a tiny strip of land, and keeping a huge army for this purpose when its people are starving. This is the reason why they will not get it back, their aims are military aggressive toward the well developed State of the Jews as they did in Lebanon. Be frank for once Muallem and stop Al Takyia. it doesn't work here

So, why not get what they want? The Hamastanis are getting the Israeli water, electricity, etc. and they still seek the destruction of the Jewish state/Jews. Why should the Syrians be any different?

True peace would mean that the Israeli's currently living in the Golan would be allowed to remain. True peace would also allow for tourism, and business ventures. Israel should explore an ideal relationship understanding, and see if the Syrians agree, ask for what you want, you just might get it.

i do not know why the israeli people dont give back the golan heights all syria likes to do is shoot in to peoples homes like did pre 1967 that is called peace true peace

Israel should give the Gollans back? why? Hitorically the contries which have initiated the war, pay with the loss of their territory. Germany has paid dearly, and today Germans are not taught to hate Russians , Poles ..Arabs are taught to hate Jews, and yet give them back Gollans???? riiiiiight

The ideal relationship starts with Syria disavowing war and destruction of Israel, and as a guarntee, disavow any claim to the GH. How about this approach?

Besides, what does Syria really need Golan for except to politically save face and show that it can get its way over the Jews. Bug off Syria. Give us a real reason why you deserve an inch of the Golan.

If Syria wants peace with Israel, it should offer in exchange the Golan. There is no doubt that for Syria the benefit of peace will be tremendous. The Golan represent for Israel more security than “peace” with Syria. As “peace” with Syria will not happen, there is no reason for Israel to be generous with the Mafia regime of Assad. The Assad family has established a hereditary dynasty shored up by repression within, and confrontation and terror abroad. The rule of the Assads is not aimed at improving the lot of their people or forwarding a particular ideology. They changed ideology from secular Arabism to a seemingly impossible confection of pan-Arabism and Islamist extremism. It is pointless to “engage” Syria in dialogue except insofar as it is possible to confront them with their violations and insist that they mend their ways. More about the Golan at : http://xrl.us/bjvii

"grab" did you say "grab"! Thanks for the black humour! Syria lost their attempt at genocide in 1967 so tough shit. Israel isn't about to committ suicide to please fools like you an Assad! And keep their word? Haha ha ha ha maybe you should ask the people living in Hama about Assad (like father, like son) The best the Syrians should hope for is that they will be allowed to visit it and see how much better it is under Israel control than Syrian. What the Syrians did to Quenaitra and then blamed it on the Jews is appalling but typical. And as far as your beloved Syria is concerned, it like Jordan, and Lebanon and Iraq are creations of England and France. So tough shit, Adam old boy, its not happening.