Djibouti: ties with Israel only after peace gesture with Palestinians

Djibouti will not establish official ties with Israel without moving towards peace with the Palestinians, said the president of the African Muslim state, Ismail Omar Guelleh. In an interview with the French publication The Africa Report this week, Guelleh said that “conditions are not ripe.” “We have problems with the Israeli government because they are denying the Palestinians their inalienable rights,” he said. “All we ask of the government is to make a gesture of peace and we will do 10 in return. But I’m afraid they will never do that. “
Guelleh added that his country does not have a problem with Jews or the Israeli people in general. The president noted that Israelis come to his country to do business, and Djiboutian citizens have been able to travel to Israel for the past 25 years. Djibouti is one of several African countries that have been named as likely to normalize relations with Israel after the Abrahamic Accords. One country with which progress has been made is Niger, according to a senior Israeli diplomatic source with knowledge of efforts to have more countries. establish diplomatic relations with Israel. While there has been talk that Pakistan will join the ranks recently, any recent contact with Israel has been made through a third party, and the source said he did not see it as serious. recognizing Israel as “unsubstantiated speculation” in a statement issued Tuesday night.

“The prime minister has made it clear that unless a just settlement of the Palestinian problem is found, satisfactory to the Palestinian people, Pakistan cannot recognize Israel,” a spokesman said. The comments came a week after Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan said he faced pressure from unidentified countries to establish relations with Israel, but would not consider it. Pakistani passports say on them: “This passport is valid for all countries in the world except Israel.”