World leaders seek meetings with Sharon

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, fresh off Israel's historic Gaza Strip withdrawal, has been flooded with so many requests to meet with other world leaders during the U.N. 60th anniversary celebrations in New York this week that he couldn't accommodate them all, aides say.

That's a big change for Israel, which is used to a much chillier reception at the United Nations, where more than 20 anti-Israel resolutions are passed annually.

Sharon's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip and the northern West Bank is expected to serve him well internationally when he and other world leaders convene in New York to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the U.N.

Limited payback

Still, there will be limits to the diplomatic payback Israel will receive for having quit Gaza just a day before Sharon takes off for New York.

Muslim nations expect major strides from Israel on the peacemaking front - if not the establishment of a Palestinian state - before committing to warmer ties.

"For the Iraqi state, it is very difficult," Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said recently of the prospect of relations with Israel.

'Hopeful of meetings with Muslim leaders'  

Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman Mark Regev said Sharon's "very full" schedule in New York included talks with President Bush, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Russian President Vladimir Putin and Jordan's King Abdullah - in addition to leaders from the European Union, Turkey, Australia and Canada.

"I think we're hopeful that there will be meetings with Muslim leaders," Regev added, without elaborating.

"There's an enhanced understanding in the international community of what this prime minister has done to try to create a more positive situation between us and the Palestinians."

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom expects to meet with Muslim foreign ministers at the U.N. session, Regev said, but declined to elaborate or say whether Shalom would talk with leaders who haven't met publicly with Israeli officials.

Pakistan meeting 'historic'

In a landmark change, Muslim Pakistan publicly launched talks with Israel, with the two nations' foreign ministers meeting in Turkey this month.

Both countries linked the diplomatic breakthrough to Israel's withdrawal from Gaza, and Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf later praised Sharon's "courage and boldness."

Musharraf also backtracked from his initial statement after the meeting that Pakistan wouldn't consider diplomatic ties with Israel before a Palestinian state is established, saying he would consider ties if Israel takes concrete steps toward the formation of a Palestinian state.

But Musharraf, who initiated the talks, let his appreciation for Sharon go only so far. He threw cold water on speculation that he and Sharon might meet in New York, saying it was too early.

Other Muslim leaders, like Iraq's Talabani, similarly were willing to entertain the once-heretical notion of ties with Israel but demanded more of Israel before considering them.

"There is no animosity in Iraq" (toward Israel), he said in a speech at a Washington center funded by Israeli businessman Haim Saban. But a Palestinian-Israeli peace deal would be a prerequisite, he said.