Israeli FM: No withdrawal from Golan Heights

Israel's new Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman ruled out in an interview published on Thursday any withdrawal by the Jewish state from the Golan Heights in exchange for peace with Syria. "There is no cabinet resolution regarding negotiations with Syria, and we have already said that we will not agree to withdraw from the Golan Heights," Lieberman told the Haaretz daily.

"Peace will only be in exchange for peace," he added.

The interview came a day after firebrand Lieberman said the new government led by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not bound by the US-backed agreement to relaunch peace talks with the Palestinians reached in 2007 at the Annapolis, Maryland conference.