|
Israel in secret bid to better ties with Gulf states?
NAZARETH — The Israeli foreign ministry has dispatched secretly envoys to some Gulf states to convince them to normalise ties with the Jewish state, it was claimed by Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot. The paper, which said Israeli efforts were now focused on a number of Gulf countries, quoted a high-level Israeli foreign ministry official as saying that the missions had made 'significant progress' in this regard and that the announcement of ties with those countries was "just a matter of time."The paper said the Israeli missions include a number of Israeli businessmen who are in talks with their Gulf counterparts because the plan laid down by the Israeli Foreign Minister, Silvan Shalom, revolves on two phases, adding that Phase One evolves on the building of economic ties with those countries and the opening of representative offices in those countries on a reciprocal basis, while Phase Two evolves upgrading the level of these ties to full diplomatic ties, including increasing the level of cooperation in the area of economy. According to the paper, the Israeli foreign minister had categorised the Arab world into two categories — those described by Tel Aviv as 'moderate', which are willing to establish ties with the Jewish state and the second category, is described as 'strict', which Posted by: Steve White 2005-04-28 |
| http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=62478 |