Meeting
of FM Silvan Shalom with Ambassadors of Latin America
(Communicated
by the Foreign Ministry Spokesman)
Jerusalem, September
8, 2003
©Israel Hadari
Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom met today
(September 8) with the Ambassadors of Latin America. During the
meeting, the Minister discussed the peace process and the appointment
of Abu Ala as Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority. Foreign
Minister Shalom noted that the appointment was an internal Palestinian
affair, and stated that "Israel is examining developments and
is waiting to see the Ministerial appointments to the Palestinian
cabinet. Abu Ala will be judged on the basis of his actions, and
the question is whether he adopts a strategic decision to fight
terror and whether he chooses the path of peace." Foreign Minister
Shalom added that he discussed the issue yesterday with the US Secretary
of State.
During the meeting,
the Foreign Minister also raised the matter of UN votes on issues
relating to Israel, and requested that the Ambassadors send a message
to their governments concerning Israel’s expectation of a change
in their voting patterns, and that they should not support anti-Israel
resolutions. At the end of the month, Foreign Minister Shalom will
be participating in the UN General Assembly session, where he will
work to change anti-Israeli voting patterns in the UN.
During the meeting,
Foreign Minister Shalom called on the Latin American countries to
follow the example of Europe which made a decision to include the
entire Hamas organization on its blacklist of terrorist organizations,
and called on the Ambassadors’ countries to block funds intended
for the Hamas organization.
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