- JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel
plans over the next three years to double the number of Jewish settlers
living in the Golan Heights, captured from Syria in the 1967 Middle East
War, a cabinet minister said Wednesday.
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- Agriculture Minister Yisrael Katz told Israel Radio the
right-wing government agreed on the plan to solidify its hold over the
Golan before opening any peace negotiations with Syria.
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- About 17,000 Jewish settlers now live in the Golan, a
plateau with important aquifers and strategic value because it overlooks
northeastern Israel including the Sea of Galilee.
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- Israel conquered the Golan Heights in the 1967 Middle
East War and annexed it in 1981, a move condemned internationally.
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- Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has demanded a complete
Israeli withdrawal from the Golan Heights and recently urged Washington
to help revive talks with Israel that collapsed in early 2000 over the
territory.
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- Right-wing ministers in Israel's cabinet fiercely oppose
any negotiations over the disputed territory.
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- "The government decision is a response to the initiative
of Syria, which said it is interested in peace while openly supporting
Palestinian terror," Katz told the Yedioth Ahronoth daily.
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- Syria denies the Israeli charge, saying Palestinian militant
groups with a presence in Damascus have information offices only. Palestinians
launched an uprising three years ago in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, lands
Israel also occupied in 1967.
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- Katz, the plan's initiator and head of the cabinet's
settlement committee, told Israel Radio: "It is good for everyone
to know that Israel has no intention to loosen its hold on the Golan, but
exactly the opposite."
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- Israel Radio said the settlement plan would involve building
around 900 homes and other investments worth more than $300 million shekels
($68 million).
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- Israel and Syria have no diplomatic relations and remain
in a technical state of war.
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- Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom gave a cautious
welcome to the Syrian call to resume peace talks earlier this month, but
said Damascus needed first to close down "extremist training camps"
on its territory.
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- Syria inflicted heavy losses on Israel during an attack
to try to regain the Golan in the 1973 Middle East war but the assault
was beaten back. An armistice was signed in 1974.
- © Reuters 2003. All Rights Reserved.
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