By Stan Goodenough
Sep 04, 2005
Officials representing the Jewish State of Israel and the Islamic State of Pakistan met last week to discuss establishing diplomatic relations in what has been hailed as ?a huge breakthrough? made possible by the Israeli government?s recent surrender of parts of the Promised Land.
The developments came less than three weeks after the Sharon government expelled nearly 10,000 Jews from their homes in northern Samaria and the Gaza Strip.
Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom was reportedly ?jubilant? Thursday following a meeting in Istanbul, Turkey, with his Pakistani counterpart Khursheed Mehmud Kasuri.
Headlines following the get-together indicated that some kind of mutual agreement was imminent between the two states.
Kasuri dampened some of the speculation, saying full diplomatic relations would come about with the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.
Still, a diplomatic carrot was clearly being offered to Israel as an incentive to keep pulling Jews out of part of pre-1967 Jordan (the ?West Bank?) so that the State of Palestine can be born.
Muslims in Pakistan and in Judea, Samaria and Gaza reacted angrily to the news. PA officials, who traditionally refuse to respond positively to any Israeli concessions, slammed Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf.
According to the official PA website, the ?National Committee of Combating Normalization? has called on all Arab and the Islamic governments, the Organization of the Islamic Conference, ?and, in particular the Pakistani people to make a massive move to stamp out the phenomenon of normalization with Israel.?
The Jerusalem Post reported Sunday that the Israel-Pakistan Istanbul meeting could lead to Shalom and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon meeting with leaders of other Islamic countries at the United Nations next week.
Sharon is scheduled to address the General Assembly on September 15 on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the UN.
It is not the first time Israel has apparently won new friends after being willing to surrender Jewish land. Treated as a pariah by most nations in the world, Jerusalem is desperate for recognition and has in the past trumpeted its attainment even though the price of achieving it has been high.
In December 1993, just over 45 years after Israel was reborn as a national Jewish homeland, the Vatican finally extended recognition. The cost then was the signing of the Oslo Agreement, which handed over Gaza and Jericho to the PLO and paved the way for the establishment of a Palestinian state.