Israel Defense Forces Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Moshe Ya'alon said on Tuesday that Israel could defend itself even after an eventual withdrawal from Syria's Golan Heights it occupied in 1967.

In a first ever interview with an Arabic-language daily, outgoing Ya'alon also told the London-based Asharq al-Awsat that he did not foresee any likely chance of peace between Israel and Arab countries in the near future.

Many years will pass before the wounds heal and the animosity between the sides end, the IDF chief said.

Ya'alon also criticized Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas for not being tough enough to rein in militant groups including Hamas, and allowing them to take part in parliamentary polls.

Talks between Syria and Israel foundered in 2000 over the fate of the strategic Golan Heights, annexed by Israel in 1981 in a move condemned internationally.

Source: Xinhua