GET ON THE PEACE TRAIN:

Israel Army Chief Sees Golan Heights Pullout as Safe Move (STEVEN ERLANGER, 8/13/04, NY Times)

Israel's senior army commander says that his country could safely withdraw from the Golan Heights in any future peace settlement with Syria, without retaining any occupied territory there as a buffer.

Lt. Gen. Moshe Yaalon, the army chief of staff, broke with Israel's traditional position in an interview published today with the newspaper Yediot Aharonot, saying: "From the point of view of military requirements, we could reach an agreement with Syria by giving up the Golan Heights. The army could defend Israel's borders wherever they are."

Israel usually argues that a complete withdrawal from the Golan, seized from Syria in 1967 and annexed in 1981, would leave northern Israeli towns once again vulnerable to Syrian missile and infantry attacks.

Israeli-Syrian peace talks collapsed in 2000 when Syria insisted on a complete Israeli withdrawal to pre-1967 borders and Israel wanted some border adjustments near the Sea of Galilee.

General Yaalon's comments were published just a day after Deputy Prime Minister Ehud Olmert made the mistake of warning Israelis that many more settlements in the West Bank would also have to be dismantled before any peace can be reached with the Palestinians and the outside world.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon made no secret of his annoyance with his chief deputy, authorizing an aide, Assaf Shariv, to say: "The prime minister was very angry when he heard of Ehud Olmert's comments. His comments were contrary to the positions of Ariel Sharon. The disengagement plan is the only plan on the table."

It'd help if we de-Baathified Syria first.

Posted by Orrin Judd at August 14, 2004 11:04 AM