Israeli and Pakistani FMs hold 1st high-level meeting

Описание: (1 Sep 2005)

1. Ministers and officials enter room
2. Mid shot of Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom
3. Wide shot of ministers sitting down
4. Cutaway of officials listening
5. SOUNDBITE: (English) Khursheed Kasuri, Pakistani Foreign Minister:
"Pakistan attaches great importance to Israel ending its occupation of Gaza. We see this development as the beginning of the process of vacation of Israeli occupation and establishment of a Palestinian state living side by side with Israel in peace and security."
6. Camera crews
7. SOUNDBITE: (English) Silvan Shalom, Israeli Foreign Minister:
"I have just completed an historic first meeting with the foreign minister of Pakistan, my colleague Khursheed Kasuri. Israel welcomes this meeting and we hope that it will herald the beginning of an open and mutually beneficial relationship between our two countries. Meetings such as this are a source of great encouragement and hope to the Israeli people, that through our efforts we are able to open new channels of dialogue and build understanding between us and all the people of the world, including the Muslim nations."
8. Close up of Kasuri
9. SOUNDBITE: (English) Silvan Shalom, Israeli Foreign Minister:
"It is our hope that through our efforts, including this historic meeting in Istanbul, the first time a meeting between the Israeli foreign minister and the Pakistani one. We will pave the way forward towards a future of peace, security and regional cooperation to the benefits of all peoples."
10. Shalom and Kasuri shake hands
11. Wide shot of meeting

STORYLINE:

The foreign ministers of Israel and Pakistan, a Muslim country that has long taken a hard line against the Jewish state, met publicly for the first time on Thursday, a diplomatic breakthrough that both ministers tied to Israel''s withdrawal from the Gaza Strip.

Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom hailed the meeting as an "historic first" and said that following the Gaza withdrawal he hoped that "we are able to open new channels of dialogue and build understanding between us and all the people of the world, including the Muslim nations."

"It is our hope that through our efforts... we will pave the way forward towards a future of peace, security and regional cooperation to the benefits of all peoples," Shalom said.

The meeting in Istanbul was at the initiative of Pakistan''s president, General Pervez Musharraf, and Shalom said he hoped that it would eventually lead to full diplomatic relations with Pakistan and all other Arab and Islamic countries.

Israel has open diplomatic relations with only four Muslim countries - Turkey, Jordan, Egypt and Mauritania, Shalom said.

He said that Israel had "secret" contacts with all Muslim countries, but Israel hoped others would follow the lead of Pakistan and bring these contacts into the open.

"Pakistan attaches great importance to Israel ending its occupation of Gaza," Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Kasuri said.

But Kasuri stressed that the meeting did not mean recognition of Israel.

Turkey, an overwhelmingly Muslim country that has good relations with Israel, was chosen as a neutral venue at the suggestion of Musharraf.

Musharraf, a key US ally in the Indian subcontinent, has been gradually moving toward conciliation with Israel, despite the influence of a powerful Islamic radical party in Pakistan.

Pakistan says Israel must abandon all other territory it captured in the 1967 Mideast war and clear the way for an independent Palestinian state.

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