Israeli official visits Tunisia

The Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot said yesterday that an official at the Israeli foreign ministry is visiting Tunisia to discuss means of renewing diplomatic relations between the two countries and ending the warning over the travel of the Israelis to Tunisia.

The paper said that the chairman of the North Africa and Morocco department at the Israeli foreign ministry Shaloum Cohen met with the director general of the Tunisian foreign ministry and handed him a personal message from the Israeli foreign minister Shalom Silvan.

The paper indicated that Cohen met also high ranking figures at the Tunisian Presidential palace at the foreign ministry and officials from the Jewish community in Tunisia.

The paper said that the Tunisian side asked for ending the warning issued by the Israeli foreign ministry for its citizens over traveling to Tunisia. The paper quoted high ranking Tunisian officials as saying during the talks with Cohen that if progress is attained in the peace process, they will reopen the Israeli diplomatic mission in Tunisia and there might be a Tunisian representation in Israel.

Tunisia has closed its representation office in Israel after the eruption of the Palestinian Intifada in 2000.