Pakistan & Israel

Hey everyone,

I was pretty amazed to read the recent piece of news that my own country Pakistan has been engaged in talks with Israel for years in secrecy, and has only made it public. I grew up in Saudi Arabia with everything with Israel was banned. The encyclopedias where Israel was mentioned was blacked out with a marker. We all grew up with knowing that Israel was banned and we are never to hear of it. The Pakistani passport did not allow for the Israeli stamp on it.

How ironic now that Pakistan has pursued an engagement with Israel. Pakistan is stressing that it is pursuing engagement talks, and not diplomatic talks with Israel, primarily after the Gaza withdrawal. It is not recognizing the state of Israel, and will only recognize Israel when the state of Palestine is created. The Islamists are very angry at the President, saying that Pakistan has drained away all that Pakistan stood for. The President is saying that it is only but natural to have talks with Israel at the Istanbul talks. Are they friends now?

It all remains to be seen what the outcome will be of these engagement. Is it happening because Pakistan wants to show its support for the US indirectly? Or is it a genuine talks with Israel? Is Pakistan following the steps of Turkey to maintain relations with Israel?

What's even bigger news to me today was that Indonesia has also been in talks with Israel in secrecy since the 1960s! There are already a handful of Muslim countries in open relations with Israel, Palestine and Turkey included.

All those times that I was told Israel is bad, and banned and should be boycotted, and now here is Pakistan engaging in talks. It's definitely an exciting era in the field of International Relations, because of the ramifications of such a talk.

Mansur