Israeli Foreign Minister Gideon Saar has affirmed that the new scenario in the Middle East provides political opportunities but has warned that, although there is an interest in “normalizing” relations with Syria and Lebanon, Israel is not arranged in any case to renounce its control over the Golán high.
“The Golán highs will continue to be part of Israel in any peace agreement,” said the head of Israeli diplomacy, during a press conference this Monday with his Austrian counterpart, Beate Meinl-Reisinger, in which he has opened the door to hold doors with “neighbors” countries in the sake of national security.
It is a strategic territory taken from Syria during the six -day war in 1967 and in which, according to Saar, “Israel has applied its laws for 40 years”, so it will be a ‘red line’ in a hypothetical negotiation. In fact, Israeli forces have taken advantage of Syrian chaos in recent months to gain ground in the neighboring country.
But Netanyahu is “interested in expanding the circle of peace”
The Israeli minister has stressed however that his government is “interested in expanding the circle of peace and normalization” that supposed the ‘Abraham agreements’, a battery of texts promoted in 2020 to normalize relations with countries such as United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.
In this sense, he has appealed again to the “success” of the bombings in Iran, which would have moved away the “immediate danger” regarding the development of atomic weapons by Tehran, in the face of international “obsessive criticisms” that would not take into account the “complex reality” on the ground.
“Israel is a country attacked from many fronts, by enemies looking for its elimination. And although we have always had a sword in hand, we have never abandoned our democratic tradition,” said Saar, arguing that the Israeli authorities are equally “serious” in their will to reach a high fire in the Gaza Strip.
The minister has claimed the international community to support the initiatives of the Donald Trump administration to bury the “illusions” of Hamas. Thus, although Israel “prefers (achieve its objectives) by diplomatic means”, “if it is not possible, it will have no choice but to use the military route.”
He has also defended the current help distribution system in Gaza, although organizations such as the UN have criticized it for the risk of the civilian population and the few supplies that arrive. According to Saar, the previous method was “problematic” because “Hamas controlled help and used it as an economic engine for its war machine”, so it asks the international community to “understand it.”
