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.