Bernard Kouchner; 22/5/08
A bid by Egypt to broker a cease-fire between Hamas and Israel has faltered after the radical Palestinian group failed to secure a pledge to lift an Israeli-imposed siege on Gaza, Palestinian officials said Thursday. Last month, Hamas and other Palestinian factions gave their tentative approval to a cease-fire with Israel in an Egyptian attempt to mediate the deal. But Israeli leaders expressed concerns and outlined conditions for any possible truce deal with Hamas. Hamas leaders held talks with Egyptian intelligence chief Lt. Gen. Omar Suleiman this week about the idea of a cooling off period with Israel, but left Cairo abruptly Wednesday without announcing the much-anticipated truce.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/986238.html
Israel never pledged full withdrawal from Golan
22/5/08
Jerusalem never pledged to withdraw from the Golan Heights and return to the 1967 borders as part of peace negotiations with Syria despite the declarations of officials in Damascus, Israeli sources said Thursday in an interview with Channel 10. The sources also said that Jerusalem had initially intended to wait for direct negotiations to begin before publicizing news of renewed contact, but Syria had wanted the talks to be made public imminently. The sources added that a date has not yet been set for the next round of negotiations.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/986218.html
On the Golan Heights, people say that all this talk about talks is ‘just talk’
Eli Ashkenazi; 22.3.08
Community leaders in the Golan slammed Prime Minister Ehud Olmert yesterday for the indirect peace talks with Syria, saying his willingness to hand over part of sovereign Israel to the Syrians and their Iranian allies endangered Israel’s existence. Many people on the ground, however, remained indifferent, saying they’ve lived in the shadow of land-for-peace talks before. “The news doesn’t do anything to me, I’m not feeling fear or pressure,” said Liki Azaria, a tourism promoter at Kibbutz Merom Hagolan, the first Israeli settlement in the Golan after the Six-Day War.
See: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/985860.html
Poll: More Israelis object to Golan accord than to Jerusalem deal
Lily Galili; 22/3/08
About two-thirds of Israelis object to withdrawing from the Golan Heights even for peace with Syria - more than those who object to dividing Jerusalem for ending the conflict with the Arab world, a recent survey finds. The poll was conducted by the Maagar Mochot research institute headed by Professor Yitzhak Katz for the Menachem Begin Heritage Foundation. The survey, intended to assess Israel’s sovereignty and independence in its 60th year, was initiated by Dr. Udi Lebel of Sapir and Ariel colleges. The section referring to the state’s borders shows two main tendencies. One is harsher positions - 68 percent of the people surveyed want to preserve the existing situation including keeping the West Bank and Golan. The other tendency is to prefer the Golan to any other region
