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Israel's New UN Envoy Sees Cracks in Arab Animosity

[AP/International Herald Tribune] Gabriela Shalev, Israel's first woman ambassador to the UN, sees cracks in the longstanding Arab cold shoulder and animosity directed at the Jewish state. When the U.S. and British ambassadors gave lunches in her honor and asked who to invite, Shalev said, "I always asked for the Palestinian observer (Riyad Mansour) - he's very nice and we're friends, more than colleagues - the Jordanian ambassador and the ambassador from Oman." "It's easier for me to connect to them than some of the other ambassadors," she added. "We have a lot in common. I can approach them in Arabic." At a dinner for new ambassadors, Shalev said Turkey's UN envoy deliberately sat her next to the ambassador from one of the "not so moderate Arab countries," which she refused to identify. "We had a wonderful talk all through the evening," she said. "We talked about peace and the Middle East. We found a lot of things in common." Two days later, Shalev said she saw the ambassador at the UN. "He nodded his head, and he was not as nice and friendly as the evening, and I understand it. Maybe people are watching." Shalev had some advice for President-elect Obama: Leave the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations to the parties themselves. "We have to deal with our own problems without any pressure - not of the UN, not of the U.S., but it should be bilateral between the parties."
2008-12-09 08:00:00
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