A day after the Likud approved its merger with Foreign Minister Avigdor
Liberman’s Yisrael Beytenu party, the party’s leader declared that “ceding the
Golan Heights would be suicidal,” on a Tuesday visit to the
area.
Liberman, looking out towards Quinetra, told reporters that
“unfortunately in recent years we have seen a number of attempts to negotiate
over the Golan Heights. The Golan is an integral part of Israel, and I think
that recent events prove that.”
Liberman said that al-Qaida, which “sits
just a short distance away in Quinetra, would be on [Lake] Kinneret, and the
hills and all the kibbutzim and communities would be under the threat by all
kinds of the most radical elements in the Muslim world.” The foreign minister
stressed that he viewed the Golan as he did Tel Aviv, Netanya, Holon and Bat
Yam, and was not willing to even discuss the idea of giving up the
region.
Liberman’s comments came shortly before visiting Latvian Foreign
Minister Edgar Rinkevics told The Jerusalem Post that Israel’s “calm attitude”
regarding the developments in Syria was constructive. In reference to the Golan
issue, he especially praised Israel for “not using any issues that are disputed
between the two countries,” and added that the EU appreciated that the state was
“not raising nervousness” over the issue.