Golan Heights on the block

I don’t know much about wine. My experience has been limited to the homemade wine family members have made and a brief run in with a bottle in the park when I was about 12. Neither experience left a good taste in my mouth. Ever since the Ontario CUPE boycott I have been buying Israeli wines – mostly reds, because if I have to drink wine that’s my preference.

Chris Taylor gave me a bottle of Yarden Cabernet Sauvignon that I ended up opening up on my birthday. At the time, it was the only Yarden wine in my collection. I could not believe how much I liked that wine. Subsequently, I have decided that in the perfect alternative reality I am running a vineyard in the Golan Heights and writing my book there. Why do I bring that up? Because the Golan Heights are apparently up on the chopping block which threatens not only my alternative reality but the security of Northern Israel reports The Jerusalem Post

Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter said on Monday that he was in favor of withdrawing from the Golan Heights in return for true peace with Syria. The former head of the Shin Bet told Army Radio, "We have paid similar territorial concessions in the past when we signed peace treaties with Jordan and Egypt."

"Any diplomatic initiative is preferred over war, whether in Syria or Lebanon," Dichter said. "With regards to Lebanon, conditions are even more welcoming than they are with Syria. Lebanon can today begin talks with Israel without the Syrians."
According to the minister, "Talks with Syria are legitimate. If there is someone to talk to on the other side, we should talk. Israel can initiate this or turn to a third party."

Dichter's comments elicited a flurry of responses from MKs - among them MK Effi Eitam (NU/NRP), a Golan resident, who protested that "withdrawing from the Golan Heights will only endanger the security of Israel." "Syria associates itself with the evil axis of Hizbullah and Iran, and its goal is to destroy Israel," Eitam said, and declared that Syria "cannot be a partner for discussion."

Is there an Israeli suicide wish or it confined to a few select members of the Kadima fraction?