22 May 2004	Saturday	02 Rabi-us-Saani 1425

JOHANNESBURG, May 21: Israel plans to shut the trade office of its embassy in South Africa, Israeli officials said on Friday, but they denied the move was a reaction to Pretoria's strong condemnation of its policy in the Middle East.

This Day newspaper said South Africa had reacted angrily to the move, questioning whether Israel wanted to impose sanctions on the country, but Foreign Ministry officials declined comment.

Acting Israeli ambassador Daniel Pinhasi said the decision to close the trade office in two months was not political - though he said a recent submission by South Africa to the World Court appeared "anti-Israel".

"The decision was purely professional," Pinhasi said on telephone from Pretoria. "Things have not been happening in the last 10 years...in terms of increasing exports of Israel to South Africa, in the same way as South Africa exporting to Israel."

"We are in constant dialogue with the South African government. There are issues we agree upon and there are issues we do not agree upon," he added. South Africa and several other countries strongly condemned Israel's construction of a controversial barrier in the Gaza Strip at World Court hearings in The Hague earlier this year.

But, unlike the United States and most European countries opposed to the barrier but not present at The Hague in February, South Africa actually attended the hearings, which Pinhasi said aligned it with several "undemocratic" states also there. -Reuters