Word: golan
(lookup in dictionary)
(lookup stats)
Dates: all
Sort By: most recent first
(reverse)
...expect Syria to distance itself from its old friends in Hamas, Islamic Jihad and Hizballah and will hope to coax Assad away from his alliance with Iran. But the Syrians aren't in such a hurry. While Damascus might be ready to recognize Israel if it hands back the Golan Heights region captured from Syria in 1967, it reserves the right to support Palestinian and Lebanese militants as long as Israel occupies Palestinian and Lebanese territory (the latter being a reference to the Shebaa Farms area, which Hizballah claims is Lebanese but U.N. maps show as Syrian). Real peace...
...wooing Syria away from Iran will be no easy matter. Syrian officials have long said they would be open to a regional peace if Israel returned occupied Syrian land in the Golan Heights and offered a just settlement to the Palestinian question. But they have also maintained their right to continue Syria's relationship with Iran and support for Hamas and Hizballah, just as the U.S. arms and supports Israel...
...especially wary of U.S. demands that it give up its strategic alliances with Iran, Hizballah and Hamas. Syria's fears that breaking from its allies in search of a separate peace deal will cost it leverage needed to achieve its primary goals of recovering the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights and reintegrating into the international community. An ongoing Lebanese political crisis is certainly a reminder of Syria's ability to help - or hinder - the achievement of U.S. goals in the region. (Read "Fatah and Hamas: Heading for a Showdown in Lebanon...
Experts, however, declared the ossuary a modern-day forgery. It was seized by Israeli police and its owner, Tel Aviv collector Oded Golan, was arrested and charged with counterfeiting the ossuary and dozens of other items. Golan and co-defendant Robert Deutsch were put on trial in the Jerusalem District Court in 2005. Deutsch is accused of forging other valuables, though not the ossuary. Both men deny all charges. (Read a review of a book on fraudulent biblical relics and the ossuary of James...
Next week, defense attorneys will take on one technical aspect, presenting evidence suggesting that scientists testifying for the prosecution have disproved their own findings against the ossuary. The scientific evidence against Golan is largely based on measurements of the oxygen isotopic composition (in technical terms, d18O - Delta 18 Oxygen) of the thin crust - or patina - covering the ossuary inscription...