FM visits Poland in hope that it will make EU more pro-Israel

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom arrived in Warsaw on Tuesday to try and strengthen the relationship between Israel and Poland in the hope that the Eastern European country could make the European Union more pro-Israel, he said.

Shalom began the two-day visit with a tour of Warsaw that included laying a wreath at the monument to the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising. He was later to travel to the eastern city of Lublin, which was a center of Jewish life before the Holocaust.

"I think that Poland today is one of the leading countries in the European Union, and it could be the one that will bring about a more balanced, more positive approach toward Israel," Shalom said in an interview with Israel Radio on Tuesday.

He said Poland was the most important and largest country entering the EU and as such, could have a significant influence in the European body, which Israelis generally see as biased toward the Palestinians.

Shalom said he wants to increase the European understanding of Israel's needs, in the hope that Poland will actualize those needs.

The foreign minister will meet Wednesday with Polish President Aleksander Kwasniewski, Prime Minister Marek Belka and Foreign Minister Wlodzimierz Cimoszewicz.

"The visit is a confirmation of Poland's involvement in the promotion of the Middle East peace process and gives an opportunity for talks on bilateral issues," the Polish Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom will be a guest of Haaretz Q&A on Thursday October 14, click here to send a question

	Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom laying a wreath at the Warsaw Ghetto 1943 Uprising Memorial in Poland on Tuesday. (AP)