Malaysia: Gaza pullout 'small step'
Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar praises Israel-Pakistan meeting, but says Muslim world a long way from making peace with Israel
minister said Friday.
Malaysia, which chairs the world's largest Islamic political grouping, has no immediate plan to establish
formal ties with Israel, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar said in response to the first public meeting between the foreign ministers of Israel and Pakistan.
"It's not wrong for any nation to have interaction with Israel's foreign minister to convey the desire of Muslim nations to see the establishment of a Palestinian state," Syed Hamid told reporters. "But we shouldn't simply consider that the problems in that region have been solved because of the Gaza pullout, which is a small step."
Breakthrough meeting
Israel has hailed the meeting Thursday between Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom, and his Pakistani counterpart, Khursheed Kasuri, in Turkey as a diplomatic breakthrough that could signal warmer ties with other Muslim nations.
However, Pakistani President Gen. Pervez Musharraf has said that talk of formal ties with Israel was premature, though his country plans to send a delegation to Jerusalem.
Syed Hamid, whose country chairs the 57-nation Organization of the Islamic Conference, stressed that
Israel, "Needs to take many more steps to turn a free and independent Palestinian state into a reality.
"We welcome the steps to open the door to peace," he said, "but the road to peace remains a long way."
He added, "In all this excitement in welcoming the Gaza withdrawal, we must not forget that the final goal is to form a viable Palestinian state."
Israel currently has diplomatic relations with several Muslim countries: Turkey, Jordan, Egypt, Mauritania and former Soviet republics in central Asia.
