Syrian official: Golan tax breaks prove Israel doesn't want peace

Golan don't belong to THEM anymore. Hopefully, never will. Can't trust them Syrian scoundrels not to use the Golan to further attack Israel. Sorry.

Boy, we've enjoyed over 40 years of peace and quiet in the Golan. Annnnnnd, possession is 9/10 of the Law. I think it is going to stay that way for a loooong while. If Asssad wants his Golan back, let him attack. Be warned Johnboy, he risks losing the whole enchilada, as Lieberman has correctly stated. You play with matches, little boy, you get burned. Are you gonna cry for him, Johnboy, when he loses Damascus due to his sheer stupidity ?? Whhhaaaaaa !!!

The land that Israel Israeli tractors attempted to work in the Demilitarized Zone between Israel and Syria was land within the boundary of Mandatory Palestine and therefore legitimate for Israel to work. In fact, at the time it was official Israeli policy to work the fields in the DMZ to assert Israeli sovereignty there. So?

The land that Israel Israeli tractors attempted to work in the Demilitarized Zone between Israel and Syria was land within the boundary of Mandatory Palestine and therefore legitimate for Israel to work. In fact, at the time it was official Israeli policy to work the fields in the DMZ to assert Israeli sovereignty there. So?

Eshkoli, Head of the Galilee Regional Council refutes Dayan?s petulance A complete refutation of Dayan?s self-serving claims were published a year or two ago in an article in HaAretz concerning Eshkoli, the head of the Galilee Regional Council who was allowed to address the Israeli cabinet just before the Six Day War. Eshkoli?s plea to the cabinet to remove the Syrian menace to the kibbutzim and moshavim below the Golan was accepted. Dayan was afraid of antagonizing the Soviet Union and was therefore opposed to attacking Syria. Eshkoli?s path was accepted and Dayan?s rejected. Dayan, the egoist, was offended and hence his disparaging comments about the settlements just wanting land.

It is almost absolutely for Syria could not be able to regain the Golan height in a war, but it is visible for Syria to regain its Golan Height in a fruitage peace swamp which I believe that Syria as is tired as Israel of hating of being indulging in a silent war. What kind of nations is willing to live in hating its neighbors? Step out of the hating box and visualize the prospect of eternal peace that is not easy to accomplish without dropping egos.

which came first, the rockets or the blockade?

The Golan height is the dignity of Syria as much as of Sinai Peninsula?s was the dignity of Egypt. Jordan had peace with Israel because Jordan dropped the Palestinians? issues to Israel which could never resolve. Egypt stabbed Syria in the back and made the deal peace with Israel in creating Lebanon to become the battle ground for Syria and whoever wishes to fight Israel and that does not include the Palestinian refugees.

What sovereign territory of Israel has ever been invaded by the Arabs? And, what war have the Arabs ever initiated through physical attack of that sovereign state? (Please don't bore me with 1967 BS since the same logic applied to the Gazan situation legitimizes any rocket Israel absorbs from the 'blockaded' Gazans)

We can't know what the victors would do if Israel lost a war. None of us understand them well. Israelis who think they do are fooling themselves. But let's assume that after a victory they would be mean. Some Israelis argue that this is a good reason to be just as mean to them, first. This is short-sighted. The USA supports Israel and opposes Syria etc. The USA does that -- entirely to its own detriment, the USA gets nothing useful from Israel -- is that US citizens collectively think Israel is better than other middle-east nations. The USA is Israel's only friend, and that friendship is a vital strategic resource for Israel. So Israel should make every effort to look to US citizens like it's a far better nation than its enemies. If it can't actually be better, then Israel must find ways to censor the US media including the Internet so US citizens don't find out. With solid US support Israel will not be conquered. The USA a reliable ally. China is not.

Oh pray tell us all what international law covers a tax code? " if this bill is approved, it would violate international law as well as United Nations resolutions." More inventions of non-existant international laws.

H asks whether, if Israel was conquered, the conquerors would give land back to Israel. And the answer must be -- it depends. If this might eventually happen due to Israel losing diplomatic relations and trade etc with the civilized world, it isn't very unlikely that the victors would want to maintain good relations with the civilized world themselves, and so they might try to follow precedent. The last time Germany was conquered most of it was returned to Germans. The victors held war crimes trials. A clear precedent. I'd expect attempts to assign responsibility for Israeli crimes past 80-90 years or so. (Surely it couldn't happen before 2030.) The victors set up one or more German governments following democratic principles. A precedent. They would allow surviving Israelis to leave if they wanted, and Return for palestinians. Israel with Palestinian majority. Jews exempted from military service and disarmed. Or maybe something with less precedent.

Knesset should be fair and extend those tax breaks to dmascus, and make Asshead happy as then law is the same.

Besides the fact that possession/ooccupation is illegal and in violation of the UN peace agreement the Golan hasn't brought Israel any peace and is but a cause celebre to the Muslims.

"during the 67 war when syria attacked israel" They attacked Israeli forces OUTSIDE of Israel's actual Sovereign territories.

The Syrians have every right to attack Israel in order to get it back.

Gc:"Golan is strategically important, it`s a platform" Yeah? Annnnnnnnd? You can't annex another country's territory because YOU want the strategic high ground that belongs to THEM. So sorry, but the strategic high ground belongs to Syria i.e. the territory is THEIRS, and sooner or later Israel is going to have to give it back.

In a 1977 interview, Moshe Dayan said that Israel deliberately provoked Syria by sending tractors into a DMZ. When Syria fired, Israel would escalate, until it 'justified' grabbing the whole Golan. Dayan said that over 80% on incidents on the Syrian front were provoked by Israel. Dayan said it was done at the request of kibbutz leaders who wanted the good farmland. Source: google for "moshe dayan interview site:nytimes.com"

Syria caused a lot of Jewish bloodshed. Maybe a "sorry" would be the right place to start.

Assad is feeling pretty tough these days with Irans backing his regime. He talks about Israel not wanting peace. Such a tough guy. If Syria wants the Golan it knows what it must do, and that is stop supporting Hizbabies, Hamas, and stop trouble making. Assad of course wont do this because he thinks he can win in a war because of his proxies. Well ISrael hads fought may arab nations all at once and prevailed. What Assad does not understand is once he has a go at ISrael, all of Damascus is a target. If Hizbullah tries, all of lebanon is a target. if hamas tries, hamas will be wiped out this time regardless of any goldstones . Assad shoudl tread very carefully with his bellicose talk Assad needs to take the Purple pill it will make his Napoleion complex go away

so why does he care if Israel has incentives to stay there? The enemies of Israel are willing to take Israel apart, bit by bit. and in return.. threats and more threats

and it will be clear for everyone who is who.

Golan Heights belong to Syria. But if I were an Israelian citizen, I would oppose giving it back to the neighbour country without a real peace treaty, recognizing mutual existence and sovereignty, through respected frontiers. Luiz Felipe Haddad.

Mark - you have outdown yourself with your eloquence. Why do you and your ilk spend so much time posting on an Israeli website? Your ignorance of history and geopolitics and shocking and your posts are so biased that must be a bonifide anti-semite. I can see no other explanation. Your posts add nothing. They make John Boy and some of the other anti-zionists look intelligent. Why dont you troll around on the arab newspaper sites known for their liberal unbiased journalistic ethics?

Fair enough. If that's your only problem, give the land to Syria with a proviso (monitored by the US or some other neutral agency) that the land remain forever non-militarized. Or would that get in the way of Israeli territorial aggression?

What strange logic! Syria wants back a part of its country which was taken from it. What does past conduct have to do with that?

From the time Israel was reborn, Syrian militia used the Golan Heights as an area to fire down into Israel. This was before the 1967 war, before "occupation" became the buzz-word in the Arab world. And because it was only the Jews being harrassed then mum was the word within the UN and world community. As a result of the '67 war Israel lost many soldiers to take control of this high ground. There was ABSOLUTELY no occupation of Arab lands before 1967 yet these same countries attacked several times. The only reason was to rid the Middle East of the Jew. I will not discuss whether the Golan is biblical Israeli territory...but Syria attacked Israelis from the Golan just for the sake of killing them. It makes no difference now if the Golan is considered occupied. The Syrians were agressive before occupation. If Syria wants peace it comes with open negotiations - no preconditions of the Golan being returned. High ground is good for defence and offence. Ask any soldier.

I just want to know. If for example Hezbollah, Hamas, Syria and Iran were to win a war against Israel,capturing Jerusalem and Tel Aviv, would they return them to the Jews? BTW in this scenario Israel begins the War by invading Damascus, Gaza and Iran.

Do you expect we trust anybody on this? We trust what we see from here.

It may not mean that land for peace isn't the answer, but it sure doesn't help the situation. One more poke the dog until it bites siuation. Then, poor us, we didn't do anything.

because Golan is Israel forever.

that Syria didn't realize this was the price to pay if it attacked Israel and lost. At least now they know that Assad will be finished if they start another war. They've been warned.

And it seems that they seem to think that this doesn't contradict their professed desire for peace. Either they are clueless or they think we have some sort of a death wish.

So is israel. They should just go to war and give assad the spanking he desreves and make him stsy out of Lebanon for good. While at it, give nasralla the spanking he craves.

... the better...

... maybe tax benefits are a sort of early compensation (in Hebrew "mik-de-ma") for what is inevitably to come...

Israel is going to receive what it deserves, Justice. I can already see the smoke, with the United States watching with semi-concern. Gee Whiz, I though nukes were out of fashion. Salaam/Shalom

This is really insane. Who on earth would expect Israel to hand over the Golan Heights to Syria, Iran's proxy and the supplier of weapons to Hizbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza? Israel DOES want peace in the North which is exactly why the Golan Heights should never be returned to hostile Syria, so they could use it as a staging platform from which to attack the Hula Valley. Gimme a break!!

It's the government that will NEVER make peace. The Israeli people minus the settlers Yearn for peace.

Israel extends its tax collections onto the Golan heights residents, Syria says it means Israel doesn't want peace. Israel cuts back its tax collections on the Golan heights residents, Syria says it means Israel doesn't want peace. What israel wants is no Syrian artillery and terrorist attacks inflicted on its farming communities in the Gallilee valley below, and with the Assads in power, staying on the Golan is the only way to assure that. Why its been a picture of peace for the last 4 decades, compared with the daily shelling of Israel from the Golan when Syrian warmongers controlled it for 19 years previously. And Assad just announced last week that "merely" giving him the Golan again would not be enough to yield true peace with Syria!!! To heck with this guy, things should stay as they are!

in not so delicate language Assad threatened to take Golan eights by force. Now he is indignant that Israel responded in kind. Assad should be very aware of consequences of next war. Seems like he forgot that his father's aggression left Syria without Golan Heights. You attack you take chances of losing more territory. You want peace you will get peace in return. Syria has vast unpopulated areas and plenty of land. If they want peace they should act like they want peace without threats and support of all terror regimes.

"A Syrian Foreign Ministry official said Thursday that the bill which provides Golan Heights residents with tax benefits proves that Israel does not want peace" - Israel Radio Does the bear crap in the woods? Is the Pope Catholic? Does Israel never fail to pass up any chance for peace? Ok by me. But please no protestations that Israel actually wants peace. It refuses to even discuss the subject with anyone anymore. The subject is the third rail of Israeli politics. Touch it and you are dead. Peace means coming to terms and there are no terms that are acceptable.

The Golan is miles from anywhere and the economy is very bad there. Living there means less opportunity and economic stability. These benefits are not that much , and would never be a reason for anyone to move or live there. You still have to make a living.

the golan was captured because why? right, during the 67 war when syria attacked israel. dont come on here talking about peace when Syria is the belligerent.

... the arabs would not have attacked the Jews while the arabs were occupying the Golan. Thus absolute proof that giving away the Golan will not lead to any peace.

"poorly timed" So Livni did not vote against it because it is wrong, just because she does not like the timing. The Syrian official is right. This Knesset does not want peace.