Israel reaps diplomatic dividends of Gaza pullout

[Brightmore]

Israel reaps diplomatic dividends of Gaza pullout
AFP
September 1, 2005

Israel was reaping the diplomatic dividends within the Muslim world of its pullout from the Gaza Strip, forging unprecedented contacts with Pakistan and deepening ties with Egypt and Jordan.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's talks in Turkey on Thursday with his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Kasuri, the first public meeting at such a high level, prompted Palestinian expressions of "concern".

But Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said the Islamic republic would not formally recognise the Jewish state until the creation of a Palestinian state.

"I have said to the representatives of numerous Arab and Islamic states that our withdrawal from Gaza would be the right time for the establishment of diplomatic relations," Shalom said from Istanbul.

"This meeting is extremely significant and we hope that it will be the prelude to relations at the same level we have with (Israel's close ally) India," he added.

"We hope that there will soon be visits by delegations from my ministry to Pakistan which will be swiftly followed by the normalisation of relations between our two countries."

To date Israel has full, if often strained diplomatic relations with only three Arab states -- Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania -- and a handful of Muslim majority states including Turkey.

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[pelsar]

1. theres more...

palestenian TV interview the israeli defense minister......things sure are changing and its all because of sharon......like him or not....he creates change, the arabs/palestenains respect him.....I know it will be tough for some here to accept changes for the good, but its seems to be happening.