Word: golan
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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Caught in between four countries and sixty years of conflict, the disputed territory of the Golan Heights seems closer than ever to a permanent resolution, after decades of tug-of-war between Israel and Syria over its rightful ownership. Israel's new Prime Minister, Tzipi Livni, has expressed a commitment to resolving the Golan issue once and for all, while outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert mentioned the impossibility of ever hoping for peace with the Syrians without giving up the Golan Heights in a recent interview...
...history of the rocky, Los Angeles-sized plateau, strategically nestled between Lebanon, Syria, Israel and Jordan, traces back to biblical times. From 953-586 B.C. the Golan Heights was both a buffer zone and a contested area for the ancient Kingdom of Israel and the Aramean Kingdom in Damascus...
...following centuries, the Golan Heights changed hands incessantly, enduring brief bouts of occupation by everyone from Alexander the Great to the Roman Empire. The area finally settled under the control of the Ottomans in the 16th century, where it remained until the dissolution of the Empire after World War I. French mandated modern-day Syria emerged from its ashes and the Golan Heights was included within its newly defined borders...
...After the establishment of the state of Israel and the ensuing Arab-Israeli War of 1948-9, the Golan Heights once again became the site of tumultuous border clashes. Syria took advantage of the area's mountainous terrain and high vantage points to shell the Israeli border below while Israel attempted to occupy and control the demilitarized areas and divert the Golan Heights' freshwater supply from the Jordan River for its own uses...
...murder comes at a critical time for Syria, which is presently engaged in a delicate balancing act of pursuing indirect peace talks with Israel and improved ties to the West, at the same time as maintaining its relations with Hizballah and Iran. In exchange for the return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in 1967, the Israeli government demands that Syria curtails its strategic alliance with Iran and its backing for Hizballah and for Palestinian militant groups. Still, since Syria and Israel revealed in May that they are negotiating via Turkish mediation, Damascus has paradoxically strengthened its military...