Dr. Elon Liel, a former Director General of the Foreign Ministry, recently sent a letter to Education Minister Yuli Tamir asking her to prevent high school students from participating in “In the Footsteps of the Warriors” tours in the Golan.  The tours will strengthen the students’ connection to the Golan, Liel said.  He called the tours “a provocation,” saying Israel would discourage Syria from negotiating an Israeli retreat from the Golan.

Brigadier-General Avigdor Kahalani, who participated in the creation of the “In the Footsteps of the Warriors” tours, rejected Liel’s demand as “nothing more than a leftist initiative.”  The tours are important to the students’ moral and strengthen their sense of identification with IDF soldiers who fought in previous wars, he said.  “A bus full of students is not a provocation,” Kahalani said.