Israel wants diplomatic relations with Iraq

Israel on Tuesday announced that it desires to establish diplomatic relations with Iraq.

In a televised interview with the American Hurra TV, the Israeli foreign minister Silvan Shalom expressed his satisfaction over the authority handover to the Iraqis, adding that " he will leave it for the Iraqi people to decide if they want relations " with Israel.

A spokeswoman for the Israeli foreign ministry said that Shalom " said that Israel wants to establish diplomatic relations with all the Arab states, and I do think there is no intention to boycott Israel and we do not have conflict over lands with Iraq."

Shalom added that the Israeli businessmen who are now in Iraq's Kurdistan are working on their own. He said " we will not do anything that violate the Turkish interests in northern Iraq."