September 16, 2005	Friday	Sha'aban 11, 1426

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KARACHI, Sept 15: Noting that the Istanbul meeting between the foreign ministers of Pakistan and Israel was a marked paradigm shift in Islamabad’s policy towards Tel Aviv, the Islamabad Council of World Affairs (ICWA) has asked Pakistan to “give up the illusion” that its “engagement with Israel” would lead to a dramatic change in Israel’s policy on the Palestinian issue or persuade it to take steps for its early settlement.

A statement released on Thursday by the ICWA president, former foreign minister Agha Shahi, said: “Such a view reflects regrettable ignorance of the compulsions of Israel’s internal politics and the strategic environment in the Middle East and the world at large which is not conducive to an equitable and early settlement of the Palestinian issue given the US support to Sharon’s refusal to dismantle over a hundred Israeli settlements in the West bank, to negotiate the final borders of a contiguous and viable Palestinian state, to accept a just solution of the Palestinian refugee problem and to withdraw from Al Quds.”

The ICWA said that Pakistan’s readiness to play a role “which is beyond our capacity may merely make us the target of criticism in the Islamic world besides exposing us to the danger of being drawn into intra-Arab rivalries”.

The ICWA said it was of the view that for obvious strategic, political and religious reasons, Pakistan could not afford to ignore the Palestinian problem and the Arab-Israeli dispute. In the long run, Pakistan’s security and economic prosperity are closely linked to the security and economic well-being of the Middle East. It was difficult to visualize durable peace in the Middle East without a settlement of the Palestinian problem and Israeli withdrawal from all the occupied Arab territories

The ICWA also pointed out the close similarities between the Palestinian problem and the Kashmir disputes as in both cases the people had been denied their right of self-determination.

Therefore, Pakistan’s policy concerning Palestine would have inevitable implications for the Kashmir dispute.

It said possible advantages of a premature recognition prior to a Middle East peace settlement in the form of increased US economic support, reduced animosity of Israel and the Israeli lobby in the US, and deceleration of the Indo-Israeli strategic cooperation were outweighed by the disadvantages of domestic divisions in the country on the issue, increased divisions in the Islamic world contrary to the objective of Islamic solidarity, misgivings in the Arab world about Pakistan’s position on the Middle Eastern issues, weakening of the Islamic world’s support on Kashmir and the possible negative economic repercussions in the Gulf region.

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