Syria controlled the Golan for 19 years, beginning in 1948, and used it to systematically shell and attack the Israeli towns below, such as Ein Gev and others in the eastern Galilee. 140 Israelis were killed in these attacks, many more were injured, and heavy property damage was also inflicted. Israel liberated the Golan Heights in the 1967 Six Day War, thus freeing northern Israel of the Syrian threat. Israel soon realized that the Golan was vital not only militarily, but also in terms of water, history, and more. The Golan was officially annexed to Israel in 1981, and over the years, 33 Jewish communities were built, including the full-fledged town of Katzrin. Today, close to 17,000 Jewish residents in 33 communities (27 kibbutzim and moshavim, 5 communal settlements and the town of Katzrin) live on the Golan Heights and the slopes of Mt. Hermon. More about the Golan: http://xrl.us/bjvii

Olmert, Sharonchik Jr., and Assad in one cell decided the future of Jerusalem!!

In a 1976 interview by Israeli journalist Rami Tal, Moshe Dayan claimed that 80 percent of the cross-border clashes between Israel and Syria in the years before the war were a result of Israeli provocation. He said, "I made a mistake in allowing the [Israeli] conquest of the Golan Heights. As defense minister I should have stopped it because the Syrians were not threatening us at the time." "After all, I know how at least 80 percent of the clashes there started. In my opinion, more than 80 percent, but let's talk about 80 percent. It went this way: We would send a tractor to plow some area where it wasn't possible to do anything, in the demilitarized area, and knew in advance that the Syrians would start to shoot. If they didn't shoot, we would tell the tractor to advance farther, until in the end the Syrians would get annoyed and shoot. And then we would use artillery and later the air force also, and that's how it was."

Hilarious someone should tell US they are no UN and have NO credibility in the ME whatsoever.

america should just hurry up and take over syria and lebanon

Dear Sir, I often read your talkbacks with great interest. Permit me, this time to make a remark of great importance. You refer to the text about the Golan published the 26th of April 2007, and I quote:" Most of the Golan Heights were included within Mandatory Palestine when the Mandate was formally granted in 1922, but Britain ceded the area to France in the Franco-British Agreement of 7th March 1923. The Heights became part of Syria upon the termination of the French mandate in 1944."Unquote. The Franco-British agreement was totally illegal, because being in total breach with article number 5 of the resolutions of the League of Nations concerning the Mandate of Palestine, voted unanimously by its 51 members, the 24th of July 1922. I quote article number 5: "The Mandatory shall be responsible for seeing that no Palestine territory shall be ceded or leased to, or in any way placed under the control of the Government of any foreign Power". So the Golan Heights are not and never were Syrian territory. Israel's decision to impose its laws on the Golan Heights on December 14, 1981, RIGHTED the WRONG that was committed by the British in March 1923. Ceding the Golan to Syria, by any Israeli leader must be considered as an act of High Treason.

Rami Tal had to be lying. He said Dayan told him that Israel instigated Syria on the Golan from 48 to 67. This is impossible because when Rami Tal came out with this information in the 90s, Soldiers who fought in Dayan's unit on the Golan said not one time did any soldier instigate Syria.