Israeli foreign minister Gideon Sa’ar revealed Monday on CNBC that Israel is, in fact, seeking a peace deal that includes Syria and Lebanon — but would not negotiate away the Golan Heights.
As Breitbart News reported, the U.S. and Israel are considering a large-scale peace plan for the Middle East in the aftermath of the victory over Iran in the 12 Day War. Peace with Syria is reported to be part of the deal.
Israel confirmed that part, at least, of the plan on Monday.
The Jerusalem Post reported:
Sa’ar added that regarding Syria, Israel will not negotiate the Golan Heights in any peace agreement.
The Trump administration is expecting Syria to be one of the next countries to join the Abraham Accords, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said last Thursday.
Syria and Lebanon are considered something of a package deal, given the historical dominance of Syria over its smaller coastal neighbor.
The Times of Israel added that Syria may not demand the Golan, which Israel seized in the defensive Six Day War in 1967, and defended again after a Syrian surprise attack in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.
It may, however, demand that Israel return portions of southern Syria that it has occupied for defensive purposes since the fall of the Assad regime, including the peak of Mount Hermon, the highest in the region.
One portion of the Golan, the Shebaa Farms, is claimed by Lebanon and has been used by Hezbollah in the past as a pretext for attacks on Israel.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News and the host of Breitbart News Sunday on Sirius XM Patriot on Sunday evenings from 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. ET (4 p.m. to 7 p.m. PT). He is the author of Trump 2.0: The Most Dramatic ‘First 100 Days’ in Presidential History, available for Amazon Kindle. He is also the author of The Trumpian Virtues: The Lessons and Legacy of Donald Trump’s Presidency, now available on Audible. He is a winner of the 2018 Robert Novak Journalism Alumni Fellowship. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
