Silvan Shalom Public Quotations

We made a huge breakthrough today..., ... This is the appropriate time for all the Muslim and Arab countries to reconsider their relations with Israel. We think it will be a very positive signal to Israeli and Palestinian public opinion that there are some fruits from this withdrawal from Gaza.

I am certain that these relations, even if they are behind-the-scenes ties, will in the end thaw into public relations, with a much higher status than today.

I think that this is the appropriate time for all the Muslim and Arab countries to reconsider their relations with Israel, ... I think that it will be a very positive signal to the Israeli public opinion and to the Palestinian public opinion that there are some fruits from this withdrawal from Gaza.

Israel is a democracy; everyone can say what they would like to. But they are a very very small minority in Israeli public opinion.

This is a historic move because it could lead other Muslim, Arab countries to understand that this is the right time to do this and to move their ties with us from darkness to light, ... After the Gaza pullout, the time is ripe also in the eyes of the public and it is also easier at the moment to do this than it was in the past.