Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom and his Pakistani counterpart Khurshid Kasuri have met in Istanbul, in the first-ever high level encounter between the two countries.

The meeting, they hope, will help normalise bilateral relations.

"Pakistan gives great importance to the developments in Israel and the Gaza Strip," Kasuri told reporters after the talks at a top hotel in Istanbul.

Shalom, for his part, said the meeting heralded a new era in bilateral ties.

"This is a historic meeting," the Israeli minister said. "We see this meeting as the beginning of a new period, the beginning of open and useful mutual relations."

He hailed the "courage" of Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in "supporting peace between Israel and the Muslim World".

Delegation to Jerusalem

Later on Thursday, Musharraf said he was planning to send a delegation to Israel following the talks in Ankara.  

He said Pakistan would send a delegation to Jerusalem, "where it will be welcomed by Palestinians and Israelis", but gave no further details.

The Palestinian Authority on Thursday said it was "worried" about Pakistan's first high-level diplomatic contact with Israel, which still occupies 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 also in the West Bank and Jerusalem," Palestinian Deputy Prime Minister and Information Minister Nabil Shaath told Aljazeera.

"We are worried about this because it is not a good time to start relations with Israel.

"The right time for this relationship with Israel should be after Israel withdrawal from all lands occupied in 1967 and after solving of the refugees issue," Shaath added.

The meeting was arranged at the initiative of Pakistan President General Pervez Musharraf who asked Turkish leader Recep Tayyip Erdogan to arrange it, said Israeli Foreign Ministry officials. 

In Islamabad, The Dawn newspaper said the Istanbul meeting was taking place "in response to Israel's keenness to establish contact with Pakistan".

Representatives from Israel and Pakistan had been secretly holding talks for the past several months through diplomatic and "informal channels," with Pakistan insisting it would wait for an appropriate time to make the overtures public, Dawn said.

"After the Israeli pullout from Gaza, Pakistan signalled to the Israelis that it was 'now ready' for an overt contact," the English-language newspaper said.

Israeli embassy sources in Ankara told Aljazeera that the meeting took place in Istanbul as both sides were heading to New York for the UN general assembly. As Istanbul was on the way, it was chosen as the venue, the sources said.

Aljazeera's correspondent in Islamabad Ahmed Zaidan said the meeting was an outcome of secret meetings between Pakistan and Israel. Pakistan perceived relations with Israel as a means to neutralise the advantage India had by having ties to Israel.

Pakistan also viewed the relationship as vital to gain the support of the Jewish lobby in the US as it would result in better relations with Washington.

PHOTO CAPTION

Silvan Shalom and Khurshid Kasuri. (AFP)