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Israel's PM vows not to give up on annexed Golan Heights

Xinhua, April 17, 2016 Adjust font size:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu vowed Sunday that the Israeli-annexed Golan Heights will remain "forever" under Israeli control, in a first ever cabinet meeting on the contested territory.

"Israel will never relinquish the Golan Heights," Netanyahu said at the start of the meeting, according to a statement released by his office. "The time has come after 40 years for the international community to finally recognize that the Golan Heights will remain forever under Israeli sovereignty," he said.

Israel seized the Golan from Syria in the 1967 Mideast War and later annexed it, in a move never recognized by the international community.

Israeli media reported that the remarks were made due to fears that Israel might come under pressure to return the strategic ridge to Syrian hands amidst talks to settle the war in Syria.

Netanyahu said he spoke over the phone with U.S. Secretary of States John Kerry on Saturday night, telling him that Israel will not oppose a diplomatic agreement in Syria, "as long as it does not come at the cost of Israeli security. It means that at the end of the day Iranian, Hezbollah and Islamic State forces be kicked out of Syria." Endit