Israel and Pakistan make 'a huge breakthrough'
By Steven Erlanger and Salman Masood The New York Times
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 2, 2005
JERUSALEM The foreign ministers of Israel and Pakistan on Thursday met publicly for the first time, a diplomatic breakthrough brokered by Turkey that appeared to be a first payoff for the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip.
A jubilant Silvan Shalom, the Israeli foreign minister, called the meeting at an Istanbul hotel historic and "a huge breakthrough."
"This is the time for all Muslim and Arab countries to reconsider their relations with Israel," he said. "We think it will be a very positive signal to Israeli and Palestinian public opinion that there are some fruits from this withdrawal from Gaza."
The foreign minister of Pakistan, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, said that Pakistan had decided "to engage" with Israel and called the meeting "a gesture to underscore the importance we in Pakistan attach to Israel ending its occupation of Gaza."
The gesture from Pakistan has special symbolic importance, given that Pakistan was founded as a Muslim state when British rule ended over India, which already had full diplomatic relations with Israel.
The move is bound to be welcomed in Washington, where Pakistan represents a crucial but troublesome ally in the campaigns against Islamic terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
The administration of George W. Bush, which is Israel's closest friend and has strongly supported the Gaza withdrawal as an important step in the peace process, may have encouraged Islamabad to step forward, Israeli officials suggested.
But Kasuri and other Pakistani officials made it clear that full diplomatic relations with Israel would have to wait until there was a peace settlement in the Middle East and an independent Palestinian state.
"The meeting today does not mean recognition," Kasuri said. "That stage will come following progress toward the solution of the Palestinian problem."
Shaukat Sultan, the spokesman for Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, was more explicit in an interview in English with Israel radio. Musharraf "said, yes, we can have the diplomatic relations after the sovereign state of Palestine comes into being and after Palestine has consultations with the other Muslim countries," Sultan said.
Visiting Quetta, Musharraf said he had first sought the council of Saudi Arabia and of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, according to state-run television. He confirmed that he would soon send a delegation to visit Jerusalem and Gaza, and that he had accepted an invitation to speak this month to an interfaith conference organized by the American Jewish Congress in New York, where he would emphasize the need for a just settlement of the Palestinian question, Sultan said.
"We will not talk about recognition of Israel until a Palestinian state is established and then we will think about it," Musharraf said in Quetta. "We will take people along. This is indirect contact," though it seemed direct enough to Shalom.
The move brought immediate criticism from Pakistan's main Islamic opposition party, Jamaat-e-Islami, whose secretary-general, Munawar Hassan, called the Gaza pullout a farce and said that Friday would be a day of protest and black flags in the streets.
The leader of Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, a coalition of hard-line clerics, denounced the meeting. "We have a direct conflict with Israel," Qazi Hussain Ahmed told Geo, a television channel.
But it was an important day for Israel, which currently has full relations with only four Muslim countries: Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania and Turkey, which leaked the news of the meeting.
Shalom praised Musharraf for initiating the process through the Turks, who contacted prime minister Ariel Sharon. He and Kasuri had also had dinner together on Wednesday night "with a very good atmosphere," he told Israel radio, and he praised Pakistan for being willing to meet openly, "with joint photos and a joint press conference," he said.
"Pakistan, as the second largest Muslim country after Indonesia, has great weight," Shalom said. "They themselves took a very brave step. We know they were under harsh attack, from the clergy and from others."
Shalom said he hoped the relationship with Pakistan would blossom and help other Muslim and Arab nations to open ties to Israel.
"I hope Pakistan won't be the last stop," he said. "One has to remember that until 2000 there were representations here in Israel from Morocco, Tunisia, Qatar and Oman. There is no reason that they, and other countries, will not take positive steps."
The Gaza pullout got enormous coverage on Arabic news and cable channels like Al Jazeera, which also covered Thursday's meeting lavishly, said Mark Regev of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
"It made a strong impression in the Arab world," that Israel was pulling out of territory it conquered in 1967 and leaving it to the Palestinians, he said.
"Though it was a significant Israeli-Pakistani event, it's a larger event, the sort of phenomenon we'll see increasing, of people in the Muslim world who want to engage with Israel and see that's the way toward peace," Regev said.
The Musharraf speech to the interfaith group in New York was criticized because was not clearer in his denunciation of anti-Semitism, said Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations in New York.
"But there is a lot more interest from Arab and Muslim countries in private and public meetings" with Israeli officials during the United Nations General Assembly session in New York, he said in a telephone interview. "Sharon is in great demand."
Salman Masood reported from Islamabad.
JERUSALEM The foreign ministers of Israel and Pakistan on Thursday met publicly for the first time, a diplomatic breakthrough brokered by Turkey that appeared to be a first payoff for the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip.
A jubilant Silvan Shalom, the Israeli foreign minister, called the meeting at an Istanbul hotel historic and "a huge breakthrough."
"This is the time for all Muslim and Arab countries to reconsider their relations with Israel," he said. "We think it will be a very positive signal to Israeli and Palestinian public opinion that there are some fruits from this withdrawal from Gaza."
The foreign minister of Pakistan, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, said that Pakistan had decided "to engage" with Israel and called the meeting "a gesture to underscore the importance we in Pakistan attach to Israel ending its occupation of Gaza."
The gesture from Pakistan has special symbolic importance, given that Pakistan was founded as a Muslim state when British rule ended over India, which already had full diplomatic relations with Israel.
The move is bound to be welcomed in Washington, where Pakistan represents a crucial but troublesome ally in the campaigns against Islamic terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
The administration of George W. Bush, which is Israel's closest friend and has strongly supported the Gaza withdrawal as an important step in the peace process, may have encouraged Islamabad to step forward, Israeli officials suggested.
But Kasuri and other Pakistani officials made it clear that full diplomatic relations with Israel would have to wait until there was a peace settlement in the Middle East and an independent Palestinian state.
"The meeting today does not mean recognition," Kasuri said. "That stage will come following progress toward the solution of the Palestinian problem."
Shaukat Sultan, the spokesman for Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, was more explicit in an interview in English with Israel radio. Musharraf "said, yes, we can have the diplomatic relations after the sovereign state of Palestine comes into being and after Palestine has consultations with the other Muslim countries," Sultan said.
Visiting Quetta, Musharraf said he had first sought the council of Saudi Arabia and of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, according to state-run television. He confirmed that he would soon send a delegation to visit Jerusalem and Gaza, and that he had accepted an invitation to speak this month to an interfaith conference organized by the American Jewish Congress in New York, where he would emphasize the need for a just settlement of the Palestinian question, Sultan said.
"We will not talk about recognition of Israel until a Palestinian state is established and then we will think about it," Musharraf said in Quetta. "We will take people along. This is indirect contact," though it seemed direct enough to Shalom.
The move brought immediate criticism from Pakistan's main Islamic opposition party, Jamaat-e-Islami, whose secretary-general, Munawar Hassan, called the Gaza pullout a farce and said that Friday would be a day of protest and black flags in the streets.
The leader of Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, a coalition of hard-line clerics, denounced the meeting. "We have a direct conflict with Israel," Qazi Hussain Ahmed told Geo, a television channel.
But it was an important day for Israel, which currently has full relations with only four Muslim countries: Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania and Turkey, which leaked the news of the meeting.
Shalom praised Musharraf for initiating the process through the Turks, who contacted prime minister Ariel Sharon. He and Kasuri had also had dinner together on Wednesday night "with a very good atmosphere," he told Israel radio, and he praised Pakistan for being willing to meet openly, "with joint photos and a joint press conference," he said.
"Pakistan, as the second largest Muslim country after Indonesia, has great weight," Shalom said. "They themselves took a very brave step. We know they were under harsh attack, from the clergy and from others."
Shalom said he hoped the relationship with Pakistan would blossom and help other Muslim and Arab nations to open ties to Israel.
"I hope Pakistan won't be the last stop," he said. "One has to remember that until 2000 there were representations here in Israel from Morocco, Tunisia, Qatar and Oman. There is no reason that they, and other countries, will not take positive steps."
The Gaza pullout got enormous coverage on Arabic news and cable channels like Al Jazeera, which also covered Thursday's meeting lavishly, said Mark Regev of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
"It made a strong impression in the Arab world," that Israel was pulling out of territory it conquered in 1967 and leaving it to the Palestinians, he said.
"Though it was a significant Israeli-Pakistani event, it's a larger event, the sort of phenomenon we'll see increasing, of people in the Muslim world who want to engage with Israel and see that's the way toward peace," Regev said.
The Musharraf speech to the interfaith group in New York was criticized because was not clearer in his denunciation of anti-Semitism, said Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations in New York.
"But there is a lot more interest from Arab and Muslim countries in private and public meetings" with Israeli officials during the United Nations General Assembly session in New York, he said in a telephone interview. "Sharon is in great demand."
Salman Masood reported from Islamabad.
JERUSALEM The foreign ministers of Israel and Pakistan on Thursday met publicly for the first time, a diplomatic breakthrough brokered by Turkey that appeared to be a first payoff for the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip.
A jubilant Silvan Shalom, the Israeli foreign minister, called the meeting at an Istanbul hotel historic and "a huge breakthrough."
"This is the time for all Muslim and Arab countries to reconsider their relations with Israel," he said. "We think it will be a very positive signal to Israeli and Palestinian public opinion that there are some fruits from this withdrawal from Gaza."
The foreign minister of Pakistan, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, said that Pakistan had decided "to engage" with Israel and called the meeting "a gesture to underscore the importance we in Pakistan attach to Israel ending its occupation of Gaza."
The gesture from Pakistan has special symbolic importance, given that Pakistan was founded as a Muslim state when British rule ended over India, which already had full diplomatic relations with Israel.
The move is bound to be welcomed in Washington, where Pakistan represents a crucial but troublesome ally in the campaigns against Islamic terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
The administration of George W. Bush, which is Israel's closest friend and has strongly supported the Gaza withdrawal as an important step in the peace process, may have encouraged Islamabad to step forward, Israeli officials suggested.
But Kasuri and other Pakistani officials made it clear that full diplomatic relations with Israel would have to wait until there was a peace settlement in the Middle East and an independent Palestinian state.
"The meeting today does not mean recognition," Kasuri said. "That stage will come following progress toward the solution of the Palestinian problem."
Shaukat Sultan, the spokesman for Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, was more explicit in an interview in English with Israel radio. Musharraf "said, yes, we can have the diplomatic relations after the sovereign state of Palestine comes into being and after Palestine has consultations with the other Muslim countries," Sultan said.
Visiting Quetta, Musharraf said he had first sought the council of Saudi Arabia and of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, according to state-run television. He confirmed that he would soon send a delegation to visit Jerusalem and Gaza, and that he had accepted an invitation to speak this month to an interfaith conference organized by the American Jewish Congress in New York, where he would emphasize the need for a just settlement of the Palestinian question, Sultan said.
"We will not talk about recognition of Israel until a Palestinian state is established and then we will think about it," Musharraf said in Quetta. "We will take people along. This is indirect contact," though it seemed direct enough to Shalom.
The move brought immediate criticism from Pakistan's main Islamic opposition party, Jamaat-e-Islami, whose secretary-general, Munawar Hassan, called the Gaza pullout a farce and said that Friday would be a day of protest and black flags in the streets.
The leader of Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal, a coalition of hard-line clerics, denounced the meeting. "We have a direct conflict with Israel," Qazi Hussain Ahmed told Geo, a television channel.
But it was an important day for Israel, which currently has full relations with only four Muslim countries: Egypt, Jordan, Mauritania and Turkey, which leaked the news of the meeting.
Shalom praised Musharraf for initiating the process through the Turks, who contacted prime minister Ariel Sharon. He and Kasuri had also had dinner together on Wednesday night "with a very good atmosphere," he told Israel radio, and he praised Pakistan for being willing to meet openly, "with joint photos and a joint press conference," he said.
"Pakistan, as the second largest Muslim country after Indonesia, has great weight," Shalom said. "They themselves took a very brave step. We know they were under harsh attack, from the clergy and from others."
Shalom said he hoped the relationship with Pakistan would blossom and help other Muslim and Arab nations to open ties to Israel.
"I hope Pakistan won't be the last stop," he said. "One has to remember that until 2000 there were representations here in Israel from Morocco, Tunisia, Qatar and Oman. There is no reason that they, and other countries, will not take positive steps."
The Gaza pullout got enormous coverage on Arabic news and cable channels like Al Jazeera, which also covered Thursday's meeting lavishly, said Mark Regev of the Israeli Foreign Ministry.
"It made a strong impression in the Arab world," that Israel was pulling out of territory it conquered in 1967 and leaving it to the Palestinians, he said.
"Though it was a significant Israeli-Pakistani event, it's a larger event, the sort of phenomenon we'll see increasing, of people in the Muslim world who want to engage with Israel and see that's the way toward peace," Regev said.
The Musharraf speech to the interfaith group in New York was criticized because was not clearer in his denunciation of anti-Semitism, said Malcolm Hoenlein, the executive vice chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations in New York.
"But there is a lot more interest from Arab and Muslim countries in private and public meetings" with Israeli officials during the United Nations General Assembly session in New York, he said in a telephone interview. "Sharon is in great demand."
Salman Masood reported from Islamabad.
JERUSALEM The foreign ministers of Israel and Pakistan on Thursday met publicly for the first time, a diplomatic breakthrough brokered by Turkey that appeared to be a first payoff for the Israeli withdrawal from the occupied Gaza Strip.
A jubilant Silvan Shalom, the Israeli foreign minister, called the meeting at an Istanbul hotel historic and "a huge breakthrough."
"This is the time for all Muslim and Arab countries to reconsider their relations with Israel," he said. "We think it will be a very positive signal to Israeli and Palestinian public opinion that there are some fruits from this withdrawal from Gaza."
The foreign minister of Pakistan, Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri, said that Pakistan had decided "to engage" with Israel and called the meeting "a gesture to underscore the importance we in Pakistan attach to Israel ending its occupation of Gaza."
The gesture from Pakistan has special symbolic importance, given that Pakistan was founded as a Muslim state when British rule ended over India, which already had full diplomatic relations with Israel.
The move is bound to be welcomed in Washington, where Pakistan represents a crucial but troublesome ally in the campaigns against Islamic terrorism and nuclear proliferation.
The administration of George W. Bush, which is Israel's closest friend and has strongly supported the Gaza withdrawal as an important step in the peace process, may have encouraged Islamabad to step forward, Israeli officials suggested.
But Kasuri and other Pakistani officials made it clear that full diplomatic relations with Israel would have to wait until there was a peace settlement in the Middle East and an independent Palestinian state.
"The meeting today does not mean recognition," Kasuri said. "That stage will come following progress toward the solution of the Palestinian problem."
Shaukat Sultan, the spokesman for Pakistan's president, General Pervez Musharraf, was more explicit in an interview in English with Israel radio. Musharraf "said, yes, we can have the diplomatic relations after the sovereign state of Palestine comes into being and after Palestine has consultations with the other Muslim countries," Sultan said.
Visiting Quetta, Musharraf said he had first sought the council of Saudi Arabia and of the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, according to state-run television. He confirmed that he would soon send a delegation to visit Jerusalem and Gaza, and that he had accepted an invitation to speak this month to an interfaith conference |
