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It's Time for Pakistan to Accept Israel Is Here to Stay
(Spectator-UK) Kunwar Khuldune Shahid - Pakistan's prime minister Imran Khan said last week: "We cannot recognize Israel until Palestinians get their rights." But while Pakistan remains one of 31 states that do not recognize Israel, the two countries have much in common. Both were founded on religious nationalism, carved along communal lines as per two-state solutions proposed under British mandates. But only one - a separate Muslim state, rather than a separate Jewish state - was unanimously accepted. So what is it about Israel that Pakistan won't accept? In a country where mosque sermons call for the "destruction of Jews and Israel," and where anti-Semitic conspiracy theories are a part of religious and political discourse, even many "progressives" find it hard to envisage a reconsidering of Pakistan's policy on Israel. But these views haven't stopped the two countries working together when it suits. Islamist dictator Zia-ul-Haq spearheaded the ISI's intelligence collaboration with Mossad in the 1980s, as part of CIA-led operations in Afghanistan. Since then, Pakistan's military and intelligence cooperation with Israel has continued. Whether Khan likes it or not, the truth is that today Israel is as legitimate as any other post-World War II nation-state. The writer is a Pakistan-based correspondent for The Diplomat.