Tuesday, September 20, 2005 17:18 IST
JNW HEADLINE NEWS'If Israel surrenders, we'll all be friends'
By Ryan JonesSeptember 18th, 2005
If only Israel would surrender the tiny sliver of land known as Judea and Samaria for the creation of just one more Muslim Arab state, the Middle East and perhaps the whole world would enter an era of unprecedented peace and tranquility.
So asserted Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in a speech to American Jewish leaders in New York Saturday.
Musharraf publicly praised the “courage” of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon for uprooting the Jews of Gaza, and urged the Israeli to now turn his attention to cleansing the “West Bank” of his people.
Israel's “occupation” stands “at the heart of terrorism in the Middle East and beyond,” Musharraf stated. Ending it would “usher in a period of peace and tranquility in the Middle East and perhaps the whole world.”
Apparently of the belief that he was dangling a juicy carrot in front of Jerusalem, Musharraf said Pakistan would be ready to discuss permanent relations with Israel the moment a Palestinian Arab state was born.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post, Israeli Ambassador to the UN, Dan Gillerman described as “very problematic” Musharraf's position that the Jews' presence in Judea and Samaria constitutes the root cause of Islamic terrorism.
Prior to 1967 when Israel took control of Judea and Samaria, the Islamic world was if anything more dedicated to the physical elimination of the Jewish state, and terrorism emanated from those territories on a daily basis.