Halutz: Golan is not indispensable

Former Israel Defense Forces chief of staff Dan Halutz said yesterday that Israel should consider pulling out of the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with Syria.

"For real peace, we must be disposed to pay a real price," Halutz told a Be'er Sheva audience. He also said that as painful as it would be to withdraw from the territory, occupied by Israel during the Six-Day War in 1967, the option should not be ruled out.

"When engaging in talks with Syria, everybody knows what is on the table," he said. "We should exhaust every possibility to make peace with all our enemies."

Halutz said that the thought is troubling, because Israel has existed for longer with the Golan Heights than without it. "A whole generation grew up knowing the Golan as part of Israel," the retired general said.

He also spoke of the crisis in the Gaza Strip, and said that during his tenure as IDF top commander, he advised immediate, unreserved retaliation to rocket fire at Israel.

"We were idle, and this is the result," Halutz said. "We didn't live up to our word after the disengagement [from Gaza]."

Halutz, who was chief of staff during the Second Lebanon War in 2006, also said that Israel's military deterrence was not eroded during the war.