Israel’s FM and PM have made some contradictory remarks about returning the Golan Heights. Lieberman asserted that Assad can forget about the hills, while Netanyahu retorted that his government is ready to negotiate with Syria—and there is only one issue to negotiate: how quickly the Golan Heights are to be returned.
Looking at Europe’s condemnation of the Iranian nuclear program, Netanyahu must be busy preparing for a strike on Iran, and does not want to alienate Syria any further. But no doubt, at some point we will have a government which values a piece of paper with Syria’s signature more than it values land, and that government will return the Golan Heights.
We should not use the term “return” as if Heights were rightfully Syrian and were stolen by Israel. Heights were part of the original Palestinian Mandate before Brits transfered it to the French. There is nothing Syrian about Golan and the right term would be “giving away” not “returning”.
Now if we remember that Syria is 9 times larger than Israel, why should we give them land?