News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Uri Heitner, a member of the Golan Heights Residents' Council said Thursday that he hopes he can believe Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's denial of an Al-Arabiya report that Netanyahu sent a message to Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad that he was open to negotiations that included Israeli withdrawal from the Golan. Interviewed by Arutz Sheva, Heitner said he wanted to believe the denial issued by the Prime Minister's Office, because if it was not correct, it would be "a great danger to the State of Israel".

Heitner said he hoped Netanyahu would not follow former prime minister Ehud Olmert, who committed himself to withdraw from the Golan in the negotiations he started with Syria via Turkish intermediaries. He noted an agreement Netanyahu signed before he was elected that he would protect Israeli sovereignty in the area. At the same time, Heitner said that Netanyahu was forced out of his first term as prime minister on the issue of credibility, and that he was skeptical of all Israeli leaders.

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