(4 Jan 2000) Hebrew/Eng/Nat
Rabbis identified with Israeli settlers in the West Bank have banned the removal of Israeli settlements from the disputed Golan Heights, the focus of the current Israel-Syria peace talks in the United States.
After a three year gap, talks have resumed in the U-S between Israel and Syria and in exchange for peace, Syria demands the return of the Golan Heights, captured by Israel in the 1967 war.
But the 20 influential rabbis have ruled that the Golan Heights are part of biblical Israel and that settlements there can not be removed.
As Israel and Syria continue their negotiations in Sheperdstown, the tract of land that the Syrians want returned to them in exchange for peace remained the focus of dispute in the Middle East on Tuesday.
Since the 1967 war, Israel has built 33 settlements in the Golan Heights and it's now home to about 17-thousand settlers.
But under any agreement with Israel, Syria has said that the area must be returned to Syrian rule.
However, a group of rabbis meeting in Jerusalem on Tuesday issued a statement calling the Golan Heights a part of the biblical Land of Israel, granted by God to the Jews.
They noted that Jews lived in the Golan in biblical times and they've banned the removal of Israeli settlements.
SOUNDBITE: (Hebrew)
"We call upon the Israeli government: Do not tear apart our holy land of the Golan and do not tear the people of Israel apart."
SUPER CAPTION: Rabbi Haim Drukman
Although religious rulings do not have formal legal standing in Israel, they are considered binding by many Orthodox Jews.
And this ruling suggests that the mostly secular Golan settlers are linking their struggle with the religious - Zionist - West Bank activists.
SOUNDBITE: (English)
"There are three generations that have lived and been born on the Golan. Why in heaven's name should they be removed, on the contrary, they are the eyes and they are the defences of the state of Israel. They should be there and not only they should be there but there should be another hundred thousand people to be living in the Golan."
SUPER CAPTION: Rabbi Shalom Gold
Although Israel's secular majority does not follow rabbinical strictures, political leaders admit that the rabbis may affect an accord with Syria.
Prime Minister Ehud Barak promised a referendum on any future Golan Heights-for-peace agreement.
When Orthodox Jews vote - and they make up about a quarter of the population - they are likely to follow the guidance of their rabbis.
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