Halutz: Ceding Golan to Syria 'gives me bellyache' but feasible, for peace

By JPOST.COM STAFF
"The thought of ceding the Golan Heights gives me a bellyache, but for real peace one must be willing to pay a real price. Theoretically, Israel can do without the Golan," former IDF chief of staff Lt.-Gen. Dan Halutz said during a cultural event in Beersheba, Saturday. Halutz refused to divulge whether he knew about the negotiations held for the past year between Syria and Israel with Turkish mediation since they began or whether he came to know of them following the Prime Minister's Office statement last week. Halutz said ceding the Golan was a "mental and cultural" problem, since the State of Israel now held its current borders for longer than its previous borders. "A whole generation of Israelis grew up with the Golan Heights being part of Israel - it is a problem to entertain the notion of parting with the Heights," he continued.