Golan settlers: Barak is not authorized to restore the Golan
Syria-Israel, Politics, 1/19/2000

Israeli settlers announced on Tuesday that they had warned Syrian President Hafez al-Assad that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak is not authorized to return the Golan to Syria.

The "movement committee" which was established by the Israeli settlers said in a message addressed on Monday to the Syrian embassy in Washington that, "We consider it is our duty to inform you that the Israeli prime minister is not legally authorized to give up any part of the Golan." The committee, which leads the campaign opposing withdrawal from the Golan, in the name of 17,000 settlers concluded, "Therefore that Israeli government will not be able to implement any agreement that states to give up the Golan."

The mayor of Katzrein town, the greatest among the 33 Jewish settlements in the Golan said, "We have thought of sending the message through the Egyptian embassy in Tel Aviv, but the Egyptian embassy told us not to do so, and it is logical to directly write to the Syrian authorities."

Opinion polls recently held in Israel indicated that 55% of the Israelis oppose a complete withdrawal from the occupied Golan for a peace agreement with Syria.

A total majority of 61 parliamentarians at the Israeli Knesset must approve such a withdrawal before it is submitted for a referendum.

Previous Stories:
  Syrian official: Israeli pressures for the normalization   (1/18/2000)
  Israel readies maps to end disrupted peace talks   (1/18/2000)
  Syrian-Israeli negotiations are postponed under demarcating June 4, 1967 lines   (1/18/2000)

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