Outgoing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu initially agreed in secret talks with Syria to a full withdrawal from the Golan Heights to the Israeli- Syrian border that existed prior to the 1967 Six-Day War, according to an article in this week’s issue of The New Republic magazine. Syria agreed in turn to a single 6-mile demilitarized zone and to an international monitoring station on the Golan, Middle East specialist Daniel Pipes reported, citing “several sources with firsthand knowledge” of the 1998 talks. Netanyahu, who denied the report, ultimately balked at signing the accord after his defense and foreign ministers refused to endorse the agreement, according to the article.
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