golan heights

what if israel were to give up the golan heights?

to be perfectly honest, this is tremendously difficult for me to stomach. two years ago, i stood at the syrian-israeli border and looked at the mountain range from the hospital in quneitra that israel bombed as it left. i actually felt some current of pride run through me as i looked at israel's agriculture. rows and rows of green crops and a grove of date trees contrasted widely with the rocky desert landscape on the syrian side of the border. yes, i felt zionist. (i was shocked!)

"peace observers" suggest that israel's apache helicopters, which we saw hovering in the mountain passes, are continuously traumatic experiences; however the syrians that we encountered seemed rather blase about the military presence and concentrated more on refilling their matte. but it was clear from their hard stares and insistence on calling this area "occupied palestine" that they maintained the very liveness of the disputed land. israel's control over the golan heights is not an accepted fact for syrians. yet my reaction to this was to dismiss this position as a futile battle that would be redressed with time. the golan heights are incorporated into israel.

now, i'm starting to second-guess this. haaretz actually published an extreme left position that suggests that israel concede the golan heights to syria. before we write off levy's words as a post-zionist living in a devastatingly zionist reality, consider that patrick seale proposes much of the same here. i can attest that it would dramatically alter public perception in syria, and we need to seriously consider the public perception front as much as any other front... but honestly, when will any of this happen?

counterarguments might suggest that withdrawing from gaza got israel nowhere, so why give back the golan heights? well, because syria is not palestine. sorry to be so crude, but syrians don't care so much about what happens on that godforsaken strip of land (hi rafat, hi hasan, hi nazir, i hope you and your families are ok) while they are obviously invested in that critical strip of land that observes israel and observes damascus.

of course i assume that the us benefits from israeli surveillance as currently operates at this border.

maybe the golan heights are pipe dreams just like many others...