Lieberman: Israel won't give up one inch of Golan

Chairman of the radical Israeli party, Yisrael Beytenu, Avigdor Lieberman has said on Sunday that, so long as his party is in the government, Israel will never give up the Golan Heights to Syria.

Speaking at a rally in the town of Katzrin, which is located in the Golan Heights, Lieberman said that right up until the civil war in Syria began in 2011, there were high-ranking officials in the Israeli political system who were willing to begin talks with Syria and concede parts of the Golan Heights.

Lieberman did not name those officials.

“Yisrael Beytenu has an absolute commitment to the Golan Heights and as long as we are in the government, Israel will not be giving up one inch of the Golan Heights, no matter how and when the conflict in Syria will end," Lieberman declared.

Last December, at the height of the election campaign to the Knesset, the Israeli newspaper Yediot Achronot claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu negotiated with Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and was willing to give up the entire Golan region in exchange for peace.

According to the report, Netanyahu and Assad communicated via United States intermediaries.