Word: golan
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Israeli right-wingers had no doubt that both were hinting at a long- unmentionable idea: giving up part or all of the Golan Heights. Syrian artillery firing from that barren plateau once kept northern Israel under intermittent bombardment. Israel seized the heights during the Six Day War and ever since has insisted that retaining the territory is essential to its security. Jerusalem actually annexed the area...
Shamir said he was "not happy with Olmert" and added that in any negotiation "we shall say we do not agree to withdraw" from the Golan. The small rightist Tehiya party threatened to quit the government coalition if the idea of withdrawing was so much as discussed in the Cabinet. Housing Minister Ariel Sharon spoke of building enough apartments in the heights to balloon the area's Jewish population from 11,000 to 31,000. (About 15,000 non-Jews, mostly Druze, also live there...
...biggest problem is that Israel shows no sign of yielding an inch of the West Bank, Gaza or the Golan Heights. The crippling of Israel's most formidable foe, Iraq, does not seem to have enhanced Jerusalem's sense of security; Israelis are still worried about turning over any territory to the Palestinians, who loudly cheered Saddam Hussein's Scud attacks on Tel Aviv. A new poll shows the public split right down the middle on the idea of trading land for peace: 49% for, 49% against. And no government is in sight that would even try to break...
...they believe, Hussein has won enough popularity with Jordan's Palestinian citizens to hold on in Amman, but he might indeed fall in an expanded, overwhelmingly Palestinian Jordan. London and Riyadh do agree that Syria is willing to make some sort of settlement with Israel about the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights if parallel progress can be made toward solving the Palestinian problem...
Allied statesmen found precious little to cheer about. The plan did show some improvements. Unlike all Iraqi statements since mid-August, it did not propose any form of linkage: no mention of Palestinians or Israeli withdrawal from the occupied West Bank, Gaza and Golan Heights; no talk of a Middle East peace conference. It did not demand any pullout of allied forces from the gulf area, a key point in Baghdad's proposals less than a week earlier. And this time Iraq did agree to a prompt exchange of prisoners. But the plan still conspicuously failed even to mention some...