The Palestinian Authority on Thursday said it was 'worried' about Pakistan's first high-level diplomatic contact with Israel as the Jewish state continues to occupy east Jerusalem and the West Bank.
"It is not good to give Israel gifts before it really implements the peace process, not only in Gaza, but in Gaza, the West Bank and Jerusalem," Deputy Prime Minister Nabil Shaath told reporters.
"We are worried about this because it's not a good time to start relations with Israel," he said, 10 days after Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's government completed its historic evacuation of all Jewish settlers from the Gaza Strip.
"The right time for this relationship with Israel is after Israel withdraws from... all land occupied in 1967 and solves the refugee issue," Shaath said, adding that he thought Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas was of the same opinion.
The West Bank leader of Hamas denounced the meeting and urged Islamic and Arab states not to fall into the trap of seeing the Gaza pullout as synonymous with the end of occupation.
"We condemn any relationship between an Islamic state and the Israelis and we ask Pakistan to go back on this agreement, especially as the Palestinian people have not yet been given their rights," Hassan Yussef said.
Israeli diplomatic sources said Thursday's meeting between Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and Khurshid Mehmood Kasuri could pave the way for the establishment of diplomatic ties.