Musharraf tells U.S. Jews: Statehood for Palestinians could lead to Israel-Pakistan ties

NEW YORK - Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf said Saturday that Israel could "extinguish" motives for violence in the region and move toward full diplomatic ties with his country by granting Palestinian statehood.

Musharraf was addressing the American Jewish Congress, at what the organization said was an unprecedented event, taking another step toward improving relations in the wake of Israel's Gaza withdrawal despite protests by hard-liners at home.

"By respecting Palestinian aspirations Israel will attain its legitimate desire for assured security," Musharraf said. "It will extinguish the anger and frustration that motivates the resort to violence and extremism."

Musharraf also said Pakistan would move toward full diplomatic relations if the peace process advanced toward the establishment of an independent Palestinians state.

"What better signal for peace could there be than the opening of embassies in Israel by Islamic countries like Pakistan?" he added, receiving a standing ovation for the remark.

Jack Rosen, the chairman of the American Jewish Congress, praised the comments.

"The president recognized the right of Israel to exist, he called for reconciliation between Muslims and Jews and he talked about the pains of past years of anti-Semitism," Rosen said. "You couldn't have asked for anything better than that."

Israel's ambassador to the United Nations called the speech "very courageous, very brave," but said it didn't go far enough. "I think the time has come for Pakistan, even if not to establish today full diplomatic relations with Israel, at least to go one step further and open some sort of interest office in Israel," said Dan Gillerman.

Musharraf also called on leaders to address the root causes of terrorism around the world by focusing on poverty and education in the Muslim world and he denounced terrorism. "The world today is in the grip of terror," he said. "It cannot be condoned for any reason or cause."

	Musharraf addressing Jewish leaders in New York on Saturday. (AP)