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Peace Process

Shalom sees euphoric future for region


By Ryan Jones
September 21, 2005

Seemingly starry-eyed after a week of meeting Muslim counterparts from enemy nations, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom Tuesday declared the ?iron curtain? between Israel and its neighbors is coming down.

?These are optimistic times in the Middle East,? Shalom told the United Nations General Assembly in New York at the tail end of a visit marked by an international embrace of Israel for its ?disengagement? from Gaza and northern Samaria.

Shalom said his more than 10 meetings with Arab and Muslim leaders were ?open and friendly, as befits meetings between countries which have no conflict.?

He urged all Arab and Muslim nations to engage in open relations with the Jewish state, pointing out that doing so will help bring about a conclusion to the regional conflict.

Shalom's enthusiasm for the future notwithstanding, comments by Muslim leaders following their meetings with the foreign minister and his boss, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, indicated the warming ties are being used as a tool to ensure additional Israeli withdrawals.

Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, for instance, said his nation will be ready for full normalization with Israel the moment a Palestinian Arab state is born on all of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

Some suggested these efforts are being driven by Washington, which is loathe to see Sharon fall from power just as he has proven both willing to and capable of uprooting Jews from the Land of Israel. That assessment was backed up last month by a senior US official.

?These countries were asked to undertake some high-level gesture to highlight Sharon and the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip,? the source told Middle East Newsline.

Nor are high level talks between Israel and Muslim regimes expected to alter regional attitudes towards the Jewish state.

According to the Associated Press, which interviewed a random sampling of people throughout the Middle East, the current actions of some government do not reflect the wishes of the Arab masses bordering Israel.

?I wonder how they can undertake such a step, forgetting a cause [the annihilation of the Jewish state] they espoused for more than half a century,? said former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss, before calling for an Arab League summit to ?check this sweeping, ominous tide.?

A recent survey by the Pew Research Center revealed no fewer than 99 percent of Hoss' countrymen still back that villainous cause.

In Jordan, a nation already at ?peace? with Israel, the numbers were even more foreboding, with the poll showing the entire population of the Hashemite Kingdom harboring ill will for the Jews.

Regional feelings towards Israel seemed to be summed up by Sayed Mohammed, a 58-year-old Egyptian museum employee, who said of the Jews, ?These people can never be trusted. Treason runs in their blood.?

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