US Ambassador Sees Golan Remaining in Israeli Hands 'Forever'
US ambassador to Israel David Friedman expects the annexed Golan Heights to remain under Israeli control "forever", according to an excerpt released Thursday of an interview he gave to an Israeli newspaper.
Israel seized most of the Golan Heights from Syria in the Six-Day War of 1967 and later annexed it in a move never recognised by the international community.
"I cannot honestly imagine a situation in which the Golan Heights is not part of Israel forever," Friedman told Israel Hayom, which is set to publish the full interview on Friday.
"I cannot imagine a situation in which the Golan Heights is returned to Syria," he added.
"Giving up the high area of the Golan Heights may put Israel at great security disadvantage, and it is unnecessary to say that I cannot think of anyone more unworthy of receiving such a prize than Assad," he said, referring to Syrian President Bashar al-Assad.
Friedman even mentioned the possibility of the US officially recognising the Golan as Israeli territory.
During a visit to Israel in August, US National Security Adviser John Bolton said there were no discussions on such recognition.
Israel and Syria, the scene of a deadly conflict that has raged since 2011, are still technically at war.
In the past, successive Israeli governments have held peace talks with Syrian officials, either directly or indirectly, predicated on the return of all or part of the Golan regardless of the 1981 law that unilaterally annexed it.
06 September 2018, 18:55
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Mr. Friedman was also until recently the Israeli ambassador to the US, but was removed for failing to establish a healthy working relationship with his US counterpart.
07 September 2018, 07:04
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Nonsense. Sometimes you come up with such rubbish I don't know exactly where you make it up.
07 September 2018, 17:19
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Article 24 of the Lebanese Constitution: The Chamber of Deputies consists of elected representatives whose number and the manner of the election are determined by the electoral laws in effect. Until the Chamber of Deputies issues an Electoral Law, outside the sectarian record, representative seats are distributed according to the following rules:
a. Equally between Christians and Moslems.
b. Proportional between the sects of both sides.
c. Proportional among districts.
Exceptionally, and once, representative seats vacant at the date of publishing this Law, and the seats created by the Electoral Law, are filled totally by appointment by a two-thirds majority of the National Détente Government, in implementation of the equality between the Christians and the Moslems, according to the National Détente Document. The Electoral Law determines the details of the application of
this Article.
