 Top Israeli strategists have drawn up a proposal to return parts of the occupied Golan Heights to Syria under a peace deal and will put it to a key policy conference next week, organisers said on Thursday. Since Syria has always made it a point of principle to insist on the return of the entire Golan, which Israel captured in the 1967 Middle East war, the proposal appeared to have little obvious appeal for Damascus. | Other than that they're bankrupt and surrounded on all sides by superior military forces. |
Israeli officials said the initiative did not reflect government thinking, but the Herzliya Conference has often served to float ideas that later became policy — including Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's plan to quit occupied Gaza. The proposal, which would also involve Jordan and Lebanon, comes against a backdrop of renewed overtures from Damascus. "Prime Minister (Ariel) Sharon is fully aware of what is on the agenda," a conference organiser said. |