ISRAEL: Pakistan Takes a
Controversial Step Closer Analysis by Adam Morrow CAIRO, Sep 5 (IPS) - A surprise between the foreign ministers of Israel and
Pakistan in Turkey has run into considerable disapproval in the Arab world.
But many Arab nations are themselves reconsidering ties with Israel.
Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom and Pakistan's external affairs
minister Khursheed Kasuri met in Istanbul Sep. 1. It was the highest-level
meeting between officials from the two countries. Kasuri was quoted as saying
that Islamabad intends to establish relations with Tel Aviv.
"Kasuri announced that his country had decided on a diplomatic relationship
with Israel, in light of the latter's recent withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,"
the independent Egyptian daily Al Masry Al Youm reported. It quoted Kasuri as
saying: "Pakistan attaches great importance to Israel's ending of its
occupation of Gaza. We see this development as the beginning of the end of the
Israeli occupation and the establishment of a Palestinian state. Therefore,
Pakistan has decided to establish diplomatic relations with Israel."
But Kasuri was reported as clarifying that the meeting itself did not
represent official Pakistani recognition of the Jewish state. That
recognition, he was quoted as saying by state daily Al-Ahram, "would come
later, within the context of a solution to the Palestinian problem."
Shalom expressed the hope that the meeting would lead to full diplomatic
relations and serve to open a further dialogue with the Muslim world. "Now is
the appropriate time for all Arab and Muslim nations to reconsider relations
with Israel," he was quoted as saying to media.
But the move triggered demonstrations in both Pakistan and the Gaza Strip, and
faced broad criticism across the Arab world.
The Sep. 3 edition of pan-Arab daily Asharq Al-Awsat quoted a Friday sermon
delivered in an Islamabad mosque: "General Musharraf plans to sell Pakistan
and Pakistani Muslims to the Jews and their allies," an imam was quoted as
saying. "Every Muslim will resist his plan."
Hasan Youssef, a leading member of Palestinian resistance group Hamas was
quoted by Egyptian government-run daily Al-Akhbar as saying: "We urge the
government of Pakistan to reconsider this agreement. Hamas condemns any hasty
moves towards the establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel."
Islamabad's tentative step towards Tel Aviv comes in the midst of a wider
Israeli diplomatic offensive following its recent withdrawal from the Gaza
Strip to normalise relations with traditional, mainly Arab adversaries.
"Normalisation of diplomatic relations is a major goal of the Israeli
government," Emad Gad, expert on Israeli affairs at the state-run Al-Ahram
Centre for Political and Strategic Studies told IPS. "It has been one of the
few cards with which Arab and Muslim countries could exert pressure on
Israel."
Aversion to relations with Tel Aviv is widespread in the Arab region. The
antipathy dates back to the inception of the Jewish state, but it has
intensified with perceived Israeli heavy-handedness following the eruption in
late 2000 of the second Intifadah, the Palestinian uprising.
"Normalisation always runs counter to general sentiment, not because of
history or long-held grudges, but because of current (Israeli) policies of
aggression," Wael Khalil, member of the Egypt-based Palestine Solidarity
Movement told IPS. "Even if all governments in the region normalise their
relations with Israel, it will never be welcomed by the people -- not with
these policies."
But despite such reservations, the diplomatic bombshell in Turkey comes within
a wider context of gradual, if often downplayed tilt towards conciliation.
Pakistan itself has long had covert relations with the Hebrew state. "There
have been secret Israel-Pakistan contacts in the past," Gad said.
In Egypt, the Arab world's most populous country (77 million), the trend has
been more conspicuous. Last year saw a flurry of conciliatory gestures
including high-level visits to Cairo by Israeli officials, prisoner exchanges,
a major bilateral economic agreement, and the return earlier this year of an
Egyptian ambassador to Tel Aviv after a four-year absence.
Jordan, which like Egypt has a peace agreement with Israel, has been no less
accommodating. A Jordanian proposal for across-the-board normalisation of Arab
relations with the Jewish state was roundly rejected at a meeting of Arab
League foreign ministers in Algiers in March. League chief Amr Moussa was
quoted as saying at the time that Arabs should not be expected to "make
concessions, and even normalise, without anything real in return."
Tel Aviv is concentrating its diplomatic efforts on Arab North Africa and the
Gulf, where several Arab governments have long flirted with the idea of
official conciliation. "Senior ministry officials are waiting to see who will
break the ice first," Israeli daily Haaretz commented earlier this year. "Some
say it will be either Morocco or Tunisia. Others expect a breakthrough from
the Gulf."
Moroccan foreign minister Mohammed Bin Eissa vehemently denied reports in
March of an agreement to open a Moroccan liaison office in Tel Aviv. But
Hebrew media reported Sep. 3 that an Israeli special-interests office had been
opened in the United Arab Emirates. There have been indications that Egyptian
President Hosni Mubarak and Jordanian King Abdullah II may visit Israel.
While Israel enjoys official relations only with Egypt, Jordan and Mauritania
(and has a low-profile legation in Qatar), Shalom has tasked his ministry with
the ambitious goal of building diplomatic relations with a further ten Arab
countries. "We aspire to normalise our relations with as many Arab countries
as possible," Ruth Landé, press attaché at the Israeli embassy in Cairo told
IPS earlier.
That the Israel-Pakistan breakthrough came only two weeks after Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon's controversial withdrawal from the Gaza Strip is
notable. "There is a new dynamic after the withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,"
said Gad. "Many countries that had secret contacts with Israel before the
second Intifadah can now resume them. The withdrawal provides political cover
with which they can convince domestic public opinion."
That the meeting took place in Turkey, a majority Muslim country with
atypically good relations with Tel Aviv, is no less significant. Despite an
Islamist-oriented government in Ankara, Turkey and Israel have enjoyed strong
diplomatic relations since the mid-1990s that have included military
cooperation. This Israeli-Turkish axis, says a report by the Abu Dhabi-based
Emirates Centre for Strategic Studies and Research, has had "a profound impact
on the power relations and the psychology of power in the region." (END/2005)