Since 1974, there have been very few occasions in which we witnessed an exchange of fire on the Golan front. Syria has been completely deterred, and will never move a single soldier into now-Israeli soil. Why then should Israel give up land to a weak neighbour?

Israel only understands force. Its army withdrew from Lebanon (Twice) because it could not defeat Hizbollah. We should opt for resistance even if it will take many more years before we can liberate our land. Israel will eventually understand it can not continue to hold to the occupied Arab lands by force.

With the Golan Heights under its control, Syria will be able to resume shelling northern Israel and Israel will lose the ability to monitor and detect potentially hostile Syrian army troop movements. Giving up the Golan Heights is risky. Israel can not afford to take that risk.

Israel is a country that must be continuously involved in war and conflict in order to sustain its standing in the Middle East. Peace and open trades/borders with its Arab neighbors will dilute Israel’s Jewish identity and cause it, in the long run, to dissolve in Middle East’s vast sea of religious and ethnic minorities. […]

Syria’s relationship with Hezbollah and with Hamas goes well beyond a merely political one, and in fact includes financial and military support, which is later used against Israel. How can we make peace with a nation that says it wants peace, but at the same time supports terrorist organizations?

Most Arabs and Muslims have no objection to co-existing with Jews. We had been doing it for hundreds of years in good faith and in peace, before Zionism took over Judaism. It is the Aggressive Zionist ideology that has changed the entire picture. Israel, since its first day in existence, has used brute force to […]

Israel captured the Golan Heights in 1967 because Syria attacked periodically or continuously Israeli settlements below the Heights, inside Israel. Syria and Egypt were planning to destroy Israel, and Israel was left with no choice but to preempt, and to capture this strategic territory. Israel later annexed it, and today it is a part of […]

Some statements and actions by the Israeli government stir the prolonged doubt of the Syrian and Arab world in Israel’s real motivations and sought goals for engaging in peace negotiations. An impetus for this doubt is the absence of any evidence that Israel realizes the tactical and strategic value of peace with Syria. This is […]

Syria is Iran’s ally. Iran poses an existential threat to the state of Israel. The president of Iran periodically makes statements predicting the end of Israel. Israel should not talk to Syria until it cuts its relations with Iran.

During the last round of the indirect Syrian-Israel negotiations in Turkey, the Israeli team could not even guarantee that the next Israeli government would honor the agreed pre-negotiations terms and preparatory steps! Therefore, it appears to the Syrians that such engagement with any Israeli team is an utter and futile waste of time, even if […]

Syria has not made any effort towards seeding a trust-building process. For instance, Syria had welcomed Mr. Azmi Bishara in 2001, whilst he was a member of the Israeli Knesset, yet despite the fact that there are other members of the Israeli Knesset of non-Arab descent, who are also pro peace with Syria, the Syrian […]

It is evident by now that the Obama administration will not be able to risk confronting Israel`s powerful allies in the United States. So far, differences between the Middle East policies of the Bush and Obama administrations seem to be mostly stylistic in nature. Even if negotiations start, the United States will not be a […]

The Golan, as a beautiful, relatively undeveloped destination provides Israelis a relaxed, safe experience, much sought after by many with intense lifestyles. The Golan is, to most in Israel, our “Tuscany”.

The writing on the wall of the Knesset of the Biblical verse about the Nile and the Euphrates and the two blue stripes of the Israeli flag symbolize the Nile and the Euphrates prove that Israel’s long term strategic goal is to continue expanding in the area. Israel is not interested in peace. It is […]

Syria’s insistence on determining the outcome on borders a-priori, while it refuses to meet Israel’s conditions for starting those negotiations (terminating Syria’s relations with Iran and support for terror organizations).

Since the arrival of the Crusaders in the 11th century AD to the Levant, the West has never stopped dreaming of occupying and controlling the land of the Muslims. The West, after being defeated several times, has finally decided to use the Zionism cause (maybe even invented it) to plant its modern presence in the […]

Unlike with the Palestinian issue, and settlement activity and withdrawal from the West Bank, no pressure is being placed upon Israel to withdraw from the Golan. Inside Israel, Israelis are saying “If America isn’t pressing us to withdraw, why should we initiate such a move?”

On March 13 2009, in a speech commemorating the Prophet Muhammad’s birthday, Hizbullah secretary-general Hasan Nasrallah had this to say about the prospect of recognizing Israel: “Today, and tomorrow, and after one year, and one hundred years, and one thousand years, until the Hour of Judgment, we and our children and our grandchildren and our […]

Not long after the Turks moved forces to the Syrian front, did the Assad regime finally gave up Alexandretta (Hatay). Why shouldn’t they give up the Golan Heights, a much smaller piece of land and less inhabited?

The Arabs have been negotiating with successive Israeli governments since the Madrid conference in 1991. Each time negotiations neared a final agreement the Israeli government collapsed, new elections were called and a new government announced it will not accept all the understandings reach between the previous Israeli government and one of its Arab negotiating partners.

The main Israeli concerns are security, territory and water rights. It seems that in all three parameters a peace deal will not be favorable for Israel. Obviously Israel stands to lose territory and potentially also water rights from the deal. Israel has currently no security issues directly with Syria, so the only possible improvement could […]

Even if Israel accepts to return the Golan Heights, Israel won’t abandon its nuclear weapons which clearly threaten Syria and the Arab world. Israel, despite being the aggressor, will refuse to put listening posts inside its territory to forewarn Syrians of future Israeli attacks. The aggressor expects, on the other hand, the victim to allow […]

Water is one of the scarcest resources in Israel. It is one of the most sensitive issues for all Israelis. Israelis believe Syria has tried in the past to alter and affect the flow of water to Israel. Syrian access to the Lake of Gallilee opens up still-fresh wounds. So is the thought of Syrian […]

Arab leaders, such as Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who took serious conciliatory steps to recognize Israel’s concerns, did not get anything tangible from Israel in return. consequently he, like others before him, is now perceived by most Arabs as a weakling.

The Baathist regime survives on perpetuating a state of emergency through its “war” with Israel. Ending the war will remove the state of emergency and threaten the regime’s legitimacy, especially in the eyes of Syria’s strongly pro-Arab nationalism Sunni population.

This year a majority of the Israeli people voted heavily in favor of right wing political parties. The Israeli left is getting more and more marginalized. Many members of the current government stated very clearly that they are not interested in returning the full Golan Heights back to Syria as required by many UN resolutions […]

Only peace with the Palestinians will solve the deep Arab-Israeli conflict. There is no rush, nor particular benefit, in engaging the Syrians before the Palestinian issue is resolved.

The Israelis have always sought to divide the Arab world, and to separate tracks while never intending to leave the Palestinian Territories. Syria should not fall for this trap, as Egypt and Jordan have in the past. Israel must first prove it is ready to end its Occupation of ALL Arab land, not only the […]

Unlike the situation in the Palestinian territories, the Druz inhabitants of the Golan live in Peace with Israel. Most of them commute to the Israeli cities and villages, live their life peacefully with the Israeli authorities, and would never revolt against the Israeli army, in which many of their Druz brothers from within Israel serve. […]

Israel uses peace negotiations to blame the other side for its intransigence when the negotiations inevitably break down due to Israeli arrogance.

Despite Syrian claims, Syria can not deliver concessions from, and can not control the behavior of, Hizbollah. That organization reports to Iran and not to Syria.

Even if we hope to reach an agreement with the current far right governing coalition in Israel, we can still face newer obstacles which will be near impossible to overcome … Who knows if the Israeli negotiators suddenly informed us that they now have a new requirement where at least two thirds of all the […]

Why give up valuable land, water, and security in exchange for a deal with a regime that could easily be replaced one day by a hostile government that renews its efforts to undermine Israel’s security?

The Israeli regional power, mainly in military and economic sense, is not matched by the Syrian one. Meanwhile, the total support by dominant world powers to Israel is also biased toward Israel. Thus, at the moment at least, it appears that peace negotiations with Israel will put Syria more in the position of a surrendering […]

The current leader of Syria belongs to a small minority (Alawite) and does not represent the majority in Syria. He is a weak leader, not courageous enough (like his father was), and is not decisive enough.

In a recent opinion poll conducted in moderate Arab countries (all US allies), President Assad was the most popular Arab leader. If Syria signs a separate peace treaty with Israel, Syria will risk losing the support of it Arab and Iranian allies. This includes political leaders, popular resistance organizations, and popular support. In exchange Syria […]

The Golan contains numerous Jewish landmarks which are about 2,000 years old. The Golan featured prominently in the Jewish struggle for independence against the Romans. The international border between the English and French mandate was set arbitrarily between these two world power in the case of Syria and Palestine (later Israel) as much as it […]

What will separate Syria from Egypt, Jordan, and the Gulf states if it signs a peace deal with Israel?

Syria has always interfered in the affairs of the sovereign state of Lebanon. It has occupied Lebanon for decades, and has advanced its own financial and political interests as occupier. Syria uses Lebanon, to this day, as a proxy in its ongoing battle with Israel. It has always interfered in the political makeup of Lebanon, […]

Many Israelis oppose paying the price for peace with Syria, the full return of the Golan Heights, because they feel that Syria poses too much of a threat to be trusted with its control of the strategic Golan Heights. On the other hand, many other Israelis do not support a peaceful settlement with Syria because […]