Secret Negotiations: Olmert Willing To Give Up Golan Heights For Treaty With Syria

By Joel C. Rosenberg

Critics say it is suicidal, that giving up the strategic Golan Heights to a Syria that has already formed an alliance with the genocidal maniacs running Iran would be gambling with Israel's national security. Peaceniks say surrendering the Golan is absolutely essential to getting a peace treaty once and for all with Syria, even if it is a painful concession. Some Torah scholars in Israeli I have spoken with say it may be prophetic, that just as Israel has signed peace treaties with Egypt and Jordan, so too it may need to sign treaties with Syria and Lebanon as a pre-cursor to the fulfillment of Ezekiel 38-39, which states that Israelis are "living securely in the land" before Russia and Iran form a coalition to destroy Israel and seize her wealth in "the last days."

Only time will tell, but that time may be coming sooner rather than later. The latest news from Jerusalem: the Olmert government may already be engaged in secret negotiations to give away the Golan Heights and cut a deal with Damascus. Personally, I think it is absolutely the wrong thing for Israel to do. But that doesn't mean, of course, it won't happen.

Consider the following excerpts from the Haaretz story: "Infrastructure Minister Benjamin Ben-Eliezer said Friday that Israel has been making efforts to bring Syria back to the negotiating table. Ben-Eliezer spoke just days after Prime Minister Ehud Olmert hinted that Israel might be holding -- or planning to hold -- secret talks with Syria. 'All efforts are being made to bring Syria to the negotiating table in order to sign a peace treaty,' Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio. 'We know exactly what the price would be,' he added -- namely, Israel's return of the Golan Heights, a strategic plateau captured from Syria in the 1967 Six Day War....Ben-Eliezer told Israel Radio that Barak, now defense minister, was a partner to the current efforts to renew talks with Damascus.On Wednesday, Olmert told foreign journalists that Israel favors face-to-face talks with Syria that could result in a peace treaty, adding: 'That doesn't mean that when we sit together you have to see us,' he said, an apparent reference to the possibility of secret contacts. A week earlier, Olmert told a joint meeting of the Israeli and German Cabinets that he was ready to restart negotiations with Syria if Damascus would end its support for Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas and Palestinian militant groups. All are backed by Iran and opposed to Israel's existence." A story to watch carefully as the 60th anniversary of Israel approaches.