Mobile UPI  |   About UPI  |   UPI en Español  |   UPI Arabic  |   UPIU  |   My Account
Search:
Go

FM: Israel won't cede Golan Heights

|
|
 
  
Published: March. 1, 2011 at 10:43 AM
A map of the Golan Heights, via Wikimedia Commons. 

JERUSALEM, March 1 (UPI) -- Israel is willing to enter into peace negotiations with Syria but giving up the Golan Heights will not be on the table, an Israeli official said.

"There is no justification or reason for Israel to cede the Golan Heights," Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman told envoys from Japan and Romania along with Quartet envoy Tony Blair, Ynetnews.com reported Tuesday.

Israel acquired the Golan Heights, located at the southern end of the border with Syria, during the 1967 War.

Lieberman accused the Syrians of desperately wanting to talk about peace but not really wanting to seek peace.

"They want a peace process in order to get Western legitimacy," he said. "President Assad's only goal is to maintain the rule of the Assad dynasty."

Lieberman's statements followed a month of more than 20 meetings with European and senior U.S. officials.

During a Monday session with former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Lieberman said he's not sure the current uprisings in Middle Eastern nations will result in the establishment of democracies.

Topics: Avigdor Lieberman
Recommended Stories
© 2011 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved. Any reproduction, republication, redistribution and/or modification of any UPI content is expressly prohibited without UPI's prior written consent.

Order reprints
  
Join the conversation
Most Popular Collections
Presidential election in Yemen The Brit Awards in London Mardi Gras in New Orleans
Linsanity Music Legends For Celebration Of Blues The fuel crisis in Gaza
Additional World News Stories
1 of 19
President And Mrs. Obama Host Music Legends For Celebration Of Blues Music in Washington
View Caption
fark
Buying potato chips? That's a shootin' (w/photos and video)
Brain disease turns 22-year-old hottie into a toddler (w/ 'you'd spank it' pics)
If you're willing to entrust your back-room boob job to Queen Divas Hair Salon and Spa, then don't...
From the "You CAN make a difference" files: Tonight a City Council in California killed a proposal...
If you shoot "your friend" in the forehead at point blank range, saying he asked you to do it generally...
London Bridge may not be falling down but the Queensboro Bridge in New York sure as hell is