Musharraf tells Al Hayat that meeting with Jewish leaders was meant to put pressure on Israel & 'reward' them for supporting Gaza surrender

The American Jewish Congress supported Sharon's plan to make Gaza Judenrein, and Musharraf realized that American Jewish pressure is one of the best ways to acheiving a Palestinian State. Musharraf also praised the Jews for their support of Muslim causes, and realises that the non religious liberal Jews could also be a great financial asset to Pakistan. In short, the historic meeting between Musharraf and Jewish leaders is comparable to the Rabin Arafat handshake on the White House lawn and the signing of 'peace agreements' between Israel and Egypt and Jordan. The check which Uncle Sam wrote to Musharraf and promises which were made for aid to Pakistan much have been quite substantial. It should come as no surprise if the next step would be Jewish organisations like the American Jewish Congress (officials of which already visited Pakistan), to call for investment in the country and find ways to benefit it economically.

Musharraf also cynically praised George Soros 'the Jewish billionaire' for his help to Bosnian Muslims (many of whom are part of the 'white Al Qaeda). Soros is virulently anti Israel and supports numerous radical Islamist organisations and causes in the United States.

Musharraf address to Jewish Congress a historic Milestone: Karamat
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NEW YORK, September 19 (Online): Pakistani Ambassador to US Gen (retd) Jehangir Karamat has termed President Musharraf address to US Jewish Congress as part of policy of enlightened moderation and bringing Interfaith harmony.

Addressing to Congress he said on Sunday that President Musharraf address to US Jewish Congress was a historic milestone and a significant step toward the right direction that would be led to long-lasting results and elimination of violence and other issues.

Karamat further said that President Musharraf took many important decisions in strategic context in last six years regarding the changes in the region as well as in the world and he has been following the principals of Quaid-e-Azam of interfaith harmony between the nations.

"We got outstanding results in economic growth as well as in other sectors and we had worked for durable Afghanistan and now we started dialogue process with India for the prosperity and peace of the region" , he said.

Jahangir Karamat further said that President address to the US Jewish Congress will create soft image of Pakistan in the world and it will play a vital role for inter faith harmony and he added that we were in the support of President address to US Jewish Congress and Pakistani high commission and Pakistani community has done wonderful job to make sure the President address.

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NEW YORK, September 18(Online): President Pervez Musharraf has reiterated that Pakistan will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel until after the formation of the Palestinian state adding that his recent gestures towards Israel were designed to support the Palestinians and pressure Israel into realizing their rights.

"We want to strengthen the Palestinian cause and support it. We want to try to influence Israel to establish a Palestinian state," he said in an interview published Saturday in the Arabic-language Asharq al-Awsat newspaper.

"We won't have a role to play if we don't deal with them. But if we talk then we can at least ... exert pressure and use our clout." Apparently rewarding Israel for its withdrawal from Gaza, Pakistan's foreign minister met his Israeli counterpart in Turkey on September 1, the first formal high-level contact between the two countries.

On Wednesday, Musharraf and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon shook hands at a reception just before the start a the United Nations summit. But Musharraf downplayed the greeting, saying it "had no political implications." He also said he had informed Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas beforehand of the foreign ministers' meeting in Turkey.

He said the gestures "do not mean that recognizing Israel will happen unless we are certain that a Palestinian state is being established. This is the pressure we want to exert."

In another interview, Musharraf told Al Hayat newspaper: "We will not establish diplomatic relations with Israel until after the formation of the Palestinian state. An exception could be made if we feel on the ground that a state is being established." But some doubt such an assurance and have met Pakistan's recent moves with fury, especially since it has previously taken a harder line against Israel than some Arab countries.

Musharraf said he refuses to be cowed by such criticism. "I'm not a man who fears opposition," he told Asharq al-Awsat.

On an issue closer to home, Musharraf told the newspaper that Pakistan was worried about military cooperation between Israel and India, but said, "We have many ways to strike a balance and guarantee our own deterrence strategy

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NEW YORK, September 19 (Online): President General Pervez Musharraf said Sunday Pakistan decided in principle to review its policy on relation with Israel when he saw on television channels that Israeli were started evacuation from Gaza strip.

"I immediately called Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri to the Army House and directed him to meet with his Israeli counterpart", he stated this while telling about the causes of establishing relation with Israel in his brief interaction with Pakistani journalists in New York.

President noted history offered tremendous opportunities but the need was to understand these opportunities in better manner and to take advantage of it. "However, national interest should be kept aloft at any cast", he added.

Every one in Pakistan except extremists, Musharraf said were talking about, what enmity we have with Israel. "As a country we are not against Israel", he remarked.

He underscored existing situations for talks with Israel were very conducive. "Jack Rezone came here to Pakistan and invited me to address the Jewish congress", he said adding he accepted happily his invitation by seeing advantages for Pakistan and as well for Palestine cause as well.

Musharraf lauded Turkey role saying Turkey extended its full out support in holding meeting between Pakistan and Israeli foreign ministers.

"First of all Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz discussed the matter with Turkish Prime Minister. He accepted it and has arranged a meeting between Pakistan and Israeli foreign Minister". He said the meeting yield fruitful results.

Meanwhile, Musharraf directed Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to pass law from the parliament against those NGOs, which were getting foreign aids and subsequently tarnishing and maligning Pakistan image abroad.

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NEW YORK, September 19 (Online): President Musharraf underlining the need to support the endeavor to promote interfaith an inter civilization dialogue and harmony said that Pakistan has no direct conflict or dispute with Israel and as the peace process progresses towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, we will take further steps towards normalization and cooperation, looking to full diplomatic relations.

Addressing the American Jewish Council in New York President calling for shunning old prejudices and keeping the world hostage to the politics of perennially defining and redefining the enemy, said we should move forward with courage and reach out to work for the rebirth of history and a new future of peace, harmony, mutual respect, dignity and shared prosperity.

"We must not forget; but we must forgive. Suffering often such compassion from the Jewish community. It was Jewish groups in the US who were in the forefront in opposing the ethnic cleansing of Muslim in Bosnia." I am told that the largest contribution to the Bosnia cause was the Jewish-American businessman and philanthropist George Soros. More recently, in the backlash against Muslims, including Pakistani immigrants, after 9/11, they received legal and other assistance from several Jewish groups. I wish to acknowledge and appreciate this", the president said.

President talking about Israeli ties with Pakistan said, "Pakistan has no direct conflict or dispute with Israel. We pose no threat to Israel's security. We trust that Israel poses no threat to Pakistan's national security. But our people have a deep sense of sympathy for the Palestinian people and their legitimate aspirations for statehood.

In response to the bold step taken by Prime Minister Sharon to withdraw from the Gaza, Pakistan decided to initiate an official contact with Israel. Our foreign ministers met in Istanbul through the good offices of our Turkish friends. As the peace process progresses towards the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, we will take further steps towards normalization and cooperation, looking to full diplomatic relations", he said.

Shunning the west's image of Islam as a religion of terror President Musharraf said a parallel danger lies in fallacious theories and polemical campaigns motivated by prejudice. These are tendencies to associate Islam with terrorism and even suggestion that this great religion of tolerance, compassion and peace, somehow, denies espousal of these universal values.

However, it is fact that, today, most of those involved in terrorism acts, as well most of those who suffer the consequences of these acts, are Muslims. Obviously, there is a deep disturbance and malaise within Islam societies, which has become specially acute in recent years, he said.

"The reasons are plain to see. Since the end of the cold war, almost every major festering problem and conflict affects and torments the Islamic world.

Palestine has been at the heart of the troubles in Middle East. In our region, Kashmir has been source of tension and conflict.

The unfortunate history of Afghanistan spawned extremism and terrorism. Turmoil in Iraq causes great concern in the Islam world and the rest of the international community.

These and other political issues have given rise to a deep sense of anger, desperation and humiliation in the Arab and Muslim populations", the President emphasized.

It is this political and social environment, which breeds terrorism and extremism. At the same time, I do not shy away from pointing to the failure within the Islamic societies to embrace reforms, progress and modernity, he said.

The Muslim world emerged from decades of colonization, politically, economically and socially stunned. Political independence did not always lead to good governance. Many of us have remained trapped in a time warp, still struggling to reconstruct our political, social and economic system to respond to the challenges of our times, he said.

"In Islamic societies, there is a divide between the outlook of the protagonists of modernity and the custodians of orthodoxy. The resultant economic deprivation and social backwardness are also the source of extremism. And extremism creates a fertile recruiting ground for terrorism", the president said.

Calling for addressing the root cause of terrorism the president said the leaders of today must change the course of event instead of merely reacting to a series of catastrophic events such as 9/11 and 7/7.

"Terrorism has to be met head on with all the force required to suppress and eradicate it. In the case of extremism, the battle has to be won in the hearts and minds of people.

It cannot be achieved through the use of force. We must adopt separate short term and long-term strategies to address terrorism and extremism. Such immediate and long-term strategies have to implemented at three tiers; the global level, the Muslim world level and the national level in concerned countries", the president said.

Emphasizing for finding immediate solutions to the Palestine and Kashmir issue for addressing terrorism the president said, "To ensure success, it is essential, together with the use of force, to promote the resolution of the political disputes, which are exploited by terrorists to justify their criminal actions. Among these political disputes, may I be allowed to say clearly that the Palestinian and Kashmir disputes are ripe for resolution."

We ought to put our collective weight behind a push for their final solution. Secondly, for the long term, the socio economic revival of the Muslim world, focusing on education and poverty alleviation, will also erode the core of terrorism and extremism, he said .

Domestically, religious bigotry, hate campaigns and confrontational tendencies have to curbed. This has to be done through bold, determined, well thought out and indigenously applicable strategies, the president said.

The misuse of religion to spread militancy, hatred and violence has to be suppressed. We need to initiate serious discourse to promote an understanding of the true Islam. We must then project its real essence to the world, he said.

"I would like to say with pride that today Pakistan is perhaps the only country, which is actively confronting and addressing the issue of terrorism and extremism though well considered and comprehensive separate strategies. The results are already visible on the ground. We are determined to persist with and sustain with efforts until we gain complete ascendancy over the terrorist and extremism segments within our national fabric", he emphasized.

Lauding Israeli withdrawal of troops from the Gaza strip the president said it is incumbent on the international community west and the US to ensure a peaceful resolution of the dispute. Both parties involved the Israelis and the Palestinians must shun confrontation and pursuer peace and reconciliation.

"Israel must come to terms with geopolitical realities and allow justice to prevail for the Palestinians. The Palestinians' desire for freedom and nationhood is as intense as that of any other people. They want their own independent state", he said.

At the end President appealed to Israel to show courage and appealed to the American Jewish congress, and the entire Jewish community, to use their considerable influence to put an end to the Palestinian dispute once and for all and to usher in a period of peace and tranquility in the Middle East and perhaps the whole world. Failure is no longer an option, he added.

Speaking on the occasion Chairman American Jewish Congress, Jack Rosen said President General Pervez Musharraf's presence here tonight is the culmination of two years of preparation.

In the summer of 2003, president Musharraf surprised many people in his own county and across the Muslim world when he offered a new set of ideas first in Washington, then at the united nations, at the Islamic summit in Malaysia, and finally in Pakistan.

He told his most important audience, his own community, that the extremism path to which some Muslims had turned to would bring nothing but misery and degradation, Rosen said.

He said President Musharraf broke new ground when he suggested that Pakistan might need to rethink its refusal to establish diplomatic relations with Israel, although official ties could come only after an Israeli-Palestinian deal.

These remarks came as the Moslem world was being rent by extremist pressures, amidst cascading violence in the Middle East and dangerously mounting anti-Semitism. Difficult to say at any time, President Musharraf's words were all the more courageous coming at the moment they did.

We would like to explore with President Musharraf opportunities to bring together Pakistani, American and Israeli citizens in a dialogue about our shared futures through a program of on going exchanges and visits. The more our people interact with each other, the easier it would be for government leaders to act, Mr Rosen said.

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