By KUNA,
Gaza : Israeli Minister of Infrastructure Binyamin Ben-Eliezer said on Tuesday Israeli-Syrian peace would change the strategic situation in the Middle East region as a whole.
Speaking to the Israel Radio, the minister claimed that peace with Syria would isolate Iran and silence Hezbollah.
He added that Israel would see a genuine peace with Syria and would be ready to pay any price for such a peace and coexistence with Syria.
Ben-Eliezer said that he would go to Golan later in the day to make sure that its local population’s needs of power, public works and development are met.
Meanwhile, the Israeli security cabinet will meet on Wednesday to discuss the latest Lebanese developments and Hezbollah’s growing power in Lebanon, the Israeli Haaretz newspaper reported.
Israel is alarmed at the recent speech delivered by new Lebanese President Michel Suleiman following the swearing-in ceremony, especially his “defensive strategy” phrase, it said.
The paper claimed that Suleiman’s speech had buttressed Hezbollah’s legitimacy of weapons against Israel.
On a reported Hezbollah-Israeli swap deal, the Israeli Yediot Aharonot daily claimed that the cost asked by Hezbollah from Israel for a prisoner swap showed that the two Israeli soldiers captured by the Lebanese group for years were not still alive.
Hezbollah called on Israel to free Samir al-Kuntar, four Lebanese prisoners and ten corpses in exchange for releasing the two Israeli soldiers.