The Deputy FM of Syria speaking at the Annapolis Peace Summit, insisted that Israel must handover the Golan Heights and totally withdraw from the 1967 Arab lands before Syria will consider normalizing ties with the Jewish state.
Syria made a surprise appearance at the Annapolis conference, a decision made at the last minute and based upon America's agreement that the Syrian delegation would be allowed to put the Golan Heights on the agenda. The Syrian delegate at Annapolis made it very clear that Israeli occupation of Arab lands was the root of instability in the Middle East and Saudi Arabia called for the US to quick start the Israeli peace talks with Syria and Lebanon in the very near future.
Jimmy's Prophetic Prospective on the News
The Syrian claim that the Golan Heights never belonged to Israel is contradicted by Biblical history and has a very interesting prophetic significance as well.
In the last forty years, there has been an ongoing debate over the ownership of the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria. Israel took control of the Golan Heights in the Six Day War of 1967 and defended that control during the 1973 Yom Kippur War. As to the question of Israel's ownership of the Golan Heights, that dates back 3,500 years when the Lord gave the Golan, or Bashan, another Biblical name for the area, to the half tribe of Manasseh, Joshua 20:8.
Prophetically, this conflict between Israel and Syria over the Golan Heights, will continue to fester until the Syrian make their move militarily to take the Golan Heights. This prophetic scenario is revealed in Daniel 11:40-43 where Syria is referred to in Biblical terms as the King of the North. Syria will lead the alignment of Arab and Moslem states against the Jewish state of Israel at the very beginning of the seven year Tribulation Period soon after the Rapture.
The Syrian claim that the Golan has never belonged to Israel contradicts scripture and sets the stage for End Time prophecy to be fulfilled.