Israel–Pakistan relations

Israeli–Pakistani relations

Israel
Pakistan

Israel–Pakistan relations refers to the bilateral relations between the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the State of Israel, which have varied from non-recognition to close coordination during the Soviet–Afghan War. Both states were established based on ideological declarations (see Two-Nation Theory and Homeland for the Jewish people) in 1947 from British Empire. Diplomatic ties have not been established and Pakistan has refused to recognize Israel.[1] Nevertheless, Pakistan and Israel use their Embassies at Istanbul to mediate or exchange information with each other. In 2010, Pakistan is believed to have used its embassy in Istanbul to pass on information about a terror group to Israel according to WikiLeaks. Compared to India-Pakistan relations, Israel-Pakistan relations have remained consistently calm with no conflict between the two nations.

History

Pakistani passport restriction on travel to Israel

An attempt to establish diplomatic relations with Pakistan and Israel was made in 1947, when Israel's first Prime minister David Ben-Gurion sent a telegram to Jinnah—Pakistan's main founding father but Jinnah gave no particular response.[2][3] Later in 1949, Israel's Foreign Ministry believed it might be possible to open legations in Karachi, then the capital of Pakistan, or at least to conduct trade openly.[4] Initial contact between the ambassador (High Commissioner) of Pakistan in London and representatives of Israel and Jewish organizations was made in early 1950.[4] The Pakistani government was asked to issue passage permits to India for a few hundred Jews who wanted to leave Afghanistan and wished to emigrate to Israel.[4] The Pakistan government refused to allow them to transit through Pakistan and the Jews left through Iran.[4]

In 1952, Sir Zafarullah Khan, Pakistan's foreign minister promoted his hardline policies toward Israel, and pressed his policies toward the unity of Arab states.[4] Thus Khan's policy had worked to build strategic ties with Arab states.[4]

Political tension

Pakistani attitudes towards Israel

During Israel's War of Independence, Israel's diplomatic mission in Washington received information that Pakistan was trying to provide military assistance to the Arabs including rumours that a Pakistani battalion would be sent to Palestine to fight alongside them. Pakistan bought 250,000 rifles in Czechoslovakia that apparently were meant for the Arabs. Also it became known that Pakistan bought three planes in Italy for the Egyptians.[5]

The Pakistan Air Force participated in the 1967 Six-Day War and the 1973 Yom Kippur War. Saiful Azam, who served as a Pakistani fighter pilot shot down at least 4 Israeli planes during the Six-Day War.[6] After the Yom Kippur War, Pakistan and the PLO signed an agreement for training PLO officers in Pakistani military institutions.[7] During the 1982 Lebanon War, Pakistani volunteers served in the PLO and 50 were taken prisoner during the Siege of Beirut.

Pakistan and Israel continued to engage in covert conflicts throughout the world. When Mossad failed to prevent the Pakistani Nuclear Program and the globally dubbed "Islamic Bomb", a plan to bomb Pakistan Nuclear Facilities in Kahuta was authorized by the Israeli High Command with Indian approval and support.[8][9] Pakistan's intelligence agency, the ISI discovered the plan and prepared retaliatory measures. Pakistani F-16s did not have the fuel capacity to carry out bombing missions in Israel and return. The Pakistani 14th Squadron was assembled and pilots were asked if they would volunteer for a suicide mission, all pilots stepped forward and accepted the mission.[10] Israel canceled the bombing operation after learning of the possible Pakistani counter-strike and Indian fears of another Indo-Pak conflict. Mossad and the ISI have been known to engage each other in various countries such as Iran, Afghanistan, India, Myanmar and previously Bosnia. In 2015, Israeli Defence Minister Avigdor Lieberman stated that ISI was behind a series of captures and assassinations of Mossad agents throughout the world.[10]

According to Time, French intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy said that Daniel Pearl, an American-Israeli, was assassinated by elements with backing from Pakistan's Inter-Services Intelligence over his alleged role in gathering information linking ISI and Al-Qaeda.[11] According to other reports from BBC and Time, Pakistani militants beheaded him because of their belief that Daniel Pearl was an Israeli Mossad spy agent under the cover of being an American journalist.[12][13]

In addition to these, Pakistan religious political parties such as the Jamaat-e-Islami, Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam and militant groups such as Lashkar-e-Taiba fiercely oppose any relationship with Israel, and have repeatedly called Israel as the enemy of Islam and Pakistan.[14][15] Pakistan forbids its citizens from going to Israel and all Pakistani passports bear the inscription "This passport is valid for all countries of the World except Israel."[16][17][18]

Israeli attitudes towards Pakistan

In the 1980s, Israel was said to had planned, with or without Indian assistance, a possible attack on Pakistan's bomb capacity.[19][20] After destroying an Iraqi nuclear reactor in 1981, Israel allegedly planned a similar attack on Pakistan's nuclear facilities at Kahuta in collusion with India in the 1980s. Using satellite pictures and intelligence information, Israel reportedly built a full-scale mock-up of Kahuta facility in the Negev Desert where pilots of F-16 and F-15 squadrons practiced mock attacks.

According to The Asian Age, journalists Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark stated in their book Deception: Pakistan, the US and the Global Weapons Conspiracy, that the Israeli Air Force was to launch an air attack on Kahuta in the mid-1980s from Jamnagar airfield in Gujarat, India. The book claims that "in March 1984, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi signed off (on) the Israeli-led operation bringing India, Pakistan and Israel to within a hair's breadth of a nuclear conflagration".[10]

McNair's paper #41 published by USAF Air University (India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan's "Islamic Bomb") also confirmed this plan. It said, "Israeli interest in destroying Pakistan's Kahuta reactor to scuttle the 'Islamic bomb' was blocked by India's refusal to grant landing and refuelling rights to Israeli warplanes in 1982." This had been India's policy for all foreign military planes/ships. Israel, on its part wanted this to be a joint Indian-Israeli strike to avoid being solely held responsible.[21]

On Thursday, October 1, 2015, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu avoided the fear of being potentially uncomfortable by cancelling his booking of dining in at Serafina in New York, as the Prime Minister of Pakistan Mian Muhammad Nawaz Shareef too was dining in at the same time, due to his harsh opinion over "Israel's naked brutality in Palestine".[22]

Military intelligence cooperation

A view of the Pakistan Conference in West Jerusalem with poet of the nation Allama Iqbal

Despite the hostilities against each other, both countries are reported to have directorates to deal with each other at an intelligence level.[1] The history of Pakistan–Israel intelligence cooperation dated back to the early 1980s, when Pakistan's President and Chief of Army Staff General Zia-ul-Haq allowed ISI to establish a secret directorate to deal with Israel's Mossad.[23] Intelligence offices were set up at both countries' embassies located at Washington, D.C. where Mossad and ISI, with CIA, ran a decade year long anti-Soviet operation, codename Operation Cyclone.[24] Under this operation, Israel proliferated Soviet made-weapons to the Afghan rebels fighting the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, and Israel supplied weapons to the Pakistan Army.[24]

WikiLeaks, in a disclosed United States diplomatic cable, revealed that ISI had secretly passed on intelligence data to Mossad. ISI had intercepted information that Israeli civilians may be targeted in a terrorist attack in India during September and November 2008 (following the 26 November Mumbai Terror Attacks that among its targets included a Jewish centre—the Nariman House).[25] It was reported that Pakistan's Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha was in direct contact with Israel's Mossad.[26]

Israel and Pakistan were both allied to the United States and the western bloc during the Cold War, while India was allied to the Soviet Union's bloc. India supported the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan and supported the pro-Soviet Afghan leader Mohammad Najibullah. Pakistan and Israel opposed the Soviet invasion, with Israel supplying arms to Pakistan to give to the Afghan rebels. Israel had captured the weapons from Palestinian groups such as the PLO who were supplied by the Soviets.[24]

Normalization of ties

Diplomatic

Some Israeli leaders believe that diplomatic relations with Pakistan should be established as Pakistan could possibly serve as a bridge between Israel and the Muslim world including Arab countries.[27] Although the governments of Israel and Pakistan do not officially have relations with each other, there have been a number of contacts between the two states.[28] According to the Jang News, there continue to be multiple reports that many top Pakistani personalities and figures have visited Israel.[29] Former President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf has openly spoken for the diplomatic relations with Israel. He is the first Pakistani Muslim to be interviewed by Haaretz writer Danna Harman in London.[30] In 2016, A Pakistani Ph.D. scholar and writer, Malik Shahrukh, started Israel Pakistan Friendship Group, which campaigns for the diplomatic relationship between two nations.

Military ties

Britain's Department for Business, Innovation and Skills revealed in 2013 that Israel had exported military technology to Pakistan. In 2011, Israel sought to purchase from Britain equipment that would then be exported to Pakistan. These included electronic warfare systems and aircraft parts.[31] Israel denied the report and Pakistan called the revelations "misleading."[32]

Sports ties

Football is the only sport in which these two nations played against each other at the 1960 AFC Asian Cup qualifiers. During the 2002 Wimbledon Open, Israeli tennis player Amir Hadad teamed up with Pakistani tennis player Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi to play in the 3rd round doubles. The Israeli and Pakistani teams, with their pairing of an Israeli and a Pakistani, made headline news.[33]

Dan Kiesel, an Israeli-born German, served as the Pakistan cricket team's trainer and physiotherapist and lived in Lahore.[34]

Former Foreign Minister of Pakistan Khurshid Kasuri supported ties between Pakistan and Israel.[35] Tashbih Sayyed was a well-known Pakistani-born American who openly expressed his support of Israel in many of his columns and writings throughout his journalistic career.[36]

Timeline

  • In 1947, media reports the first contact between Pakistan and Israel were made in early days of Pakistan's independence, when Israeli Prime minister David Ben-Gurion sent a secret message by phone to the founder of Pakistan, Muhammad Ali Jinnah to recognize Israel when it declares independence, which happened in 1948. But Jinnah did not give any particular response to Israel.
  • In 1949, Philippine Airlines became the only carrier to establish a direct air link between Karachi and Lod (Tel Aviv) as a sector on their Manila–London service,[37] however it is not known whether they had traffic rights between the two, allowing passengers and cargo to be flown on the route.
  • Initial contact between the ambassador (high commissioner) of Pakistan in London and representatives of Israel and Jewish organizations was made in early 1950, to open legations in Karachi, or at least to conduct trade openly.
  • A meeting took place in New York between Zafrullah Khan and Abba Eban, then Israel's ambassador to the United States, on 14 January 1953 to discuss Israeli–Pakistani relations.[5]
  • In the 1980s (1980–1988), during the Soviet–Afghan War, CIA along with MI5, Mossad and Pakistani-based intelligence ISI, ran a covert operation named Operation Cyclone in Afghanistan to remove the Soviets from the country. During the operation Israel and Pakistan also had high-level dealings through their intelligence agencies, which included military dealings. Israel also supported Pakistan by providing Soviet weapons to Pakistan during the 1980s.[23]
  • In 1981, after Israel's attack on Iraq's Osiraq nuclear reactors in the 1980s, a similar plan to attack Pakistan's Kahuta Research facility by using Indian airfields was foiled, when the Pakistan Air Force got alerted beforehand, and took preventative measures.[38][10]
  • In 1993, former Prime Minister of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto, along with her then-Director-General of Military Operations, Pervez Musharraf, had intensified the ISI's liaison with Mossad in 1993. Bhutto is said to have had a secret meeting in New York with a senior Israeli emissary, who flew to the U.S. during her visit to Washington, D.C. in 1995.[39]
  • In 1998, Pakistan's conservative Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif sent a secret courier to Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, assuring Israel that Pakistan will not transfer our nuclear technology to Iran to aide in their nuclear program, even though Iran's foreign minister had paid a visit.
  • In 2001, Pakistan via ISI, passed intelligence about the Gulf States and the nuclear ambitions of Iran and Libya, whose programs Pakistani scientists had helped to build.[39]
  • In 2003, President Pervez Musharraf raised the issue of possible diplomatic relations with Israel.[40]
  • In 2005, the foreign ministers of the two countries held talks for the first time.[41] However, following the meeting Musharraf said Pakistan will not recognise the state of Israel until an independent Palestinian state is established,[42]—although, according to Musharraf, Pakistan will eventually recognize Israel.[43]
  • In 2010, according to unconfirmed "leaked" American diplomatic cables, from October 2009, head of Pakistan's intelligence agency ISI Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha provided intelligence on potential terrorist attacks in India to Israel through Washington. According to the cable, "He had been in direct touch with the Israelis on possible threats against Israeli targets in India." A few weeks before the cable was written, the Israeli Counter-Terror Bureau had issued a travel advisory warning of possible attacks against Israeli sites in India.[25][44]
  • In 2011, Israel was alleged to have exported British military technology to Pakistan.[31][32]
  • In 2012, The Punjabi origin MP Sajid Javid made a business lunch speech which was very positively received by the Likud, the Jewish Chronicle, the oldest continuously published Jewish newspaper in the world, even reporting Javid as a future Prime Minister of Israel.[45]
  • In 2015, An Israeli scientist, Ramzi Suleiman, attended a scientific conference sponsored by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences held in Lahore, Pakistan.[46]
  • In 2016, A Pakistani PhD scholar and writer, Malik Shahrukh, started Israel Pakistan Friendship Group, which campaigns for diplomatic relationship between two nations.
  • In 2017, During an official visit to India, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu dismissed suggestions that his country's partnership with India is a threat to Pakistan, saying, "We (Israel) are not enemies of Pakistan and Pakistan should not be our enemy either."[47]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Ayesha Siddiqa (1994). "Is Pakistan like Israel or North Korea?". The Express Tribune. Retrieved June 6, 2010. Pakistan has a love-hate relationship with Israel. While we abhor Tel Aviv, secretly powerful Pakistanis happily claim similarities between the two states starting with the fact that both Israel and Pakistan were created on the basis of a religious identity.
  2. ↑ Today, Israel (18 February 2013). "Could Israel and Pakistan be Friends?". Israeltoday.co.il.
  3. ↑ P. R. Kumaraswamy (June 1997). "The Strangely Parallel Careers of Israel and Pakistan". The Middle East Quarterly. IV (2): 31–39. Retrieved July 4, 2012. Pakistan is like Israel, an ideological state. Take out the Judaism from Israel and it will fall like a house of cards. Take Islam out of Pakistan and make it a secular state; it would collapse. —Zia ul-Haq, Pakistan's ruler, December 1981
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Moshe Yegar (2007). "Pakistan and Israel". Dr. Moshe Yegar, Jewish Political Studies Review. Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs. Retrieved 2011. Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  5. 1 2 Moshe Yegar, "Pakistan and Israel", Jewish Political Studies Review 19:3–4 (Fall 2007)
  6. ↑ "Have Jet — Will Travel: The Story of Saiful Azam, Fighter Pilot". Retrieved 13 August 2017.
  7. ↑ Mushahid Hussain, "How Pakistan Views Israel and the Palestinians", Middle East International, September 1988, 21; P. R. Kumaraswamy, Beyond the Veil: Israel–Pakistan Relations (Tel Aviv: Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies, Tel Aviv University, 2000), 34
  8. ↑ India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan's "Islamic Bomb", McNair Paper Number 41, Radical Responses to Radical Regimes: Evaluating Preemptive Counter-Proliferation, May 1995
  9. ↑ "India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan's "Islamic Bomb"". Institute of National Strategic Studies. May 1995. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  10. 1 2 3 4 Levy, Adrian; Scott-Clark, Catherine. Deception: Pakistan, the US and the Global Weapons Conspiracy. Atlantic Books. ISBN 9781843545330.
  11. ↑ On the Trail of Daniel Pearl, By Daren Fonda Saturday, Sep. 27, 2003
  12. ↑ "BBC News - SOUTH ASIA - Daniel Pearl: Seeker for dialogue". Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  13. ↑ The Odd Ordeal Of Daniel Pearl, By Unmesh Kher Monday, Time, Feb. 11, 2002
  14. ↑ Jamaat-e-Islami declares Israel, US the World's "top terrorists", Sana News Archived July 24, 2011, at the Wayback Machine.
  15. ↑ <DOMAIN_NAME>. "Protests Across Pakistan Against Israel's Commando Action On Gaza Flotilla". The MEMRI Blog. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  16. ↑ Pakistan K1 Visa Processing Times Archived 2011-09-14 at the Wayback Machine.
  17. ↑ Canada Immigration Info' - FAQs, Info' available as answer for the question "Are some passports better to have than others?".
  18. ↑ "Hubertus Hoffmann - Conflict Resolutions and World Security Solutions - worldsecuritynetwork.com". Archived from the original on 23 March 2012. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  19. ↑ India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan's "Islamic Bomb", McNair Paper Number 41, Radical Responses to Radical Regimes: Evaluating Preemptive Counter-Proliferation, May 1995
  20. ↑ "India Thwarts Israeli Destruction of Pakistan's "Islamic Bomb"". Institute of National Strategic Studies. May 1995. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  21. ↑ McNair’s paper #41 published by USAF University
  22. ↑ "Netanyahu refused to be in same restaurant as Sharif: report". Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  23. 1 2 Charlie Wilson's War: The Extraordinary Story of How the Wildest Man in Congress and a Rogue CIA Agent Changed the History of Our Times, by George Crile, Grove Press, 2007, Chapter 10.
  24. 1 2 3 "Pakistan got Israeli weapons during Afghan war". Pakistan: Daily Times Monitor. July 20, 2003. Archived from the original on September 30, 2003. Retrieved July 4, 2012. , mirrored at "Pakistan Got Israeli Weapons During Afghan War". Daily Times Monitor. 20 July 2003. Archived from the original on September 30, 2003.
  25. 1 2 Katz, Yaakov (December 1, 2010). "WikiLeaks: Pakistan passed terror intel to Israel". Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2010-12-02.
  26. ↑ Linde, Steve (21 May 2010). "World's 50 most influential Jews". Jerusalem Post. 45. Bernard-Henri Lévy, Philosopher.
  27. ↑ "Bhutto wanted ties with Israel, sought Mossad protection". Israel Today. December 28, 2007. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  28. ↑ "Pakistan-Israel in landmark talks". BBC News. September 1, 2005. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  29. ↑ Mian, Azeem M. (December 25, 2009), "PP's leadership connection to Tel Aviv", Jang Group of Newspapers, p. 1, archived from the original on 2012-10-11, retrieved 2009 Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  30. ↑ "Relations with Israel could help Pakistan, says former president Musharraf". Haaretz. 6 January 2012. Retrieved 10 February 2012.
  31. 1 2 "ISPR denies Israel arming Pakistan with hi-tech gear, says report baseless". Paktribune. Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  32. 1 2 Press Trust of India (12 June 2013). "Israel denies exporting military equipment to Pakistan". Retrieved 26 April 2016.
  33. ↑ "Sport". The Guardian. London. February 10, 2008. Retrieved May 5, 2010.
  34. ↑ Ori Lewis (12 July 2001). "Dan Kiesel: Our man in Pakistan". Haaretz. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  35. ↑ Muhsen Ali (8 September 2015). "Kasuri's encounter with Israel's Shalom – an inside story".
  36. ↑ "Tashbih Sayyed". Arutz Sheva.
  37. ↑ "Philippine Air Lines October 22, 1949 timetable, page 3 of 4".
  38. ↑ Siddiqi, Shahid R. (14 February 2010). "How safe are Pakistan's nuclear assets". Dawn.com. Archived from the original on 25 November 2010.
  39. 1 2 Journalist and author George Crile's book, Charlie Wilson's War (Grove Press, New York, 2003)
  40. ↑ "Musharraf opens debate on Israel relations". BBC news. 3 July 2003. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  41. ↑ "Pakistan-Israel in landmark talks". BBC News. 1 September 2005. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  42. ↑ "Musharraf says Pakistan not to recognize Israel". People's Daily Online. Xinhua News Agency. September 2, 2005. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  43. ↑ "Musharraf: Pakistan will eventually recognize Israel". ynetnews.com. September 27, 2006. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  44. ↑ Barak Ravid (1 December 2010). "WikiLeaks: Pakistan tipped off Israel on terror threats in India". Haaretz. Reuters. Retrieved July 4, 2012.
  45. ↑ https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/muslim-tory-mp-after-britain-israel-is-best-1.39534
  46. ↑ Khoury, Jack (28 February 2015). "Israeli lecturer takes part in Pakistan conference". Haaretz. Haaretz. Retrieved 2 March 2015.
  47. ↑ https://tribune.com.pk/story/1612753/1-pakistan-not-behave-like-enemy-towards-israel-israeli-pm-netanyahu/

Further reading

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