In contrast to the increasing resentment many Arab countries feel towards Israel’s conduct in the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, one Muslim country has not let its relations with Israel sour.
At the remote western edge of the Sahara Desert, Mauritania is the only member of the 22-strong Arab League with full diplomatic relations with Israel.
Other Arab countries have had varying degrees of diplomatic links with Israel, but mostly on an on-and-off basis.
In the framework of the Oslo agreements in 1993, Morocco, Tunis, Oman and Qatar opened a diplomatic channel with Israel. Mauritania came into the picture in 1995 when it signed an agreement with Israel to open an office under the patronage of the Spanish Embassy in Israel. This became an independent-interest office in May 1996.
In 1999 the diplomatic level was taken up a notch. The two countries exchanged ambassadors and the offices became embassies to all intents and purposes.
The general thaw in relations with most Arab countries did not last long. The diplomatic channel with Oman was short-lived; Morocco and Tunis closed their offices once the uncontrolled violence began in 2000; an Israeli representative office exists in Qatar but it has no counterpart in Israel. Egypt and Jordan both have embassies in Israel, but their ambassadors were recalled shortly after hostilities began in September 2000, an act of defiance in the face of what they called Israeli hostility against the Palestinians.
Mauritania has since maintained its status of the only Arab state with an ambassador to Israel. This post is currently held by Ahmad Ould Taguedi.
Taguedi told The Media Line that his country has maintained its relations with Israel despite some opposition from Arab countries, because of Mauritania’s strong commitment to the peace process. “We wish to encourage Israel and the Palestinian Authority to find a solution,” he said. If Israel and Mauritania strengthen bilateral ties in the process, all the better, he said.
Taguedi said his small country cannot play as significant a role in the peace process as Jordan or Egypt, Israel’s neighbors and partners in peace. However, he believes the relations are nevertheless beneficial to the region.
Private business dealings also exist between Mauritania and Israel he said, although mutual hesitation has recently caused a stalemate in this area. Still, there remains much potential for bilateral trade and there are many people interested in promoting these ties, Taguedi said.
Israel, for its part, welcomes Mauritania’s current position and has now appointed a new Ambassador to Mauritania. Bo’az Bismut, a journalist with Israel’s leading mass-circulation daily Yediot Aharonot, was personally appointed to the post on April 21 by Israeli Foreign Minister Sylvan Shalom.
Deputy Head of the Middle East Division at Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs Shalom Cohen said Mauritania devotedly maintains its special ties with Israel. “We have mutual visits to Mauritania,” he said. “It’s a perfect example of very fruitful diplomatic relations between Israel and an Arab country.”
Despite Mauritania’s resoluteness in keeping an ambassador in Israel, much to the ire of some Arab countries, Cohen said Mauritania’s status in the Arab League was not damaged. It was even strengthened, he said: “From a small and remote state, [Mauritania] came to the forefront of the diplomatic stage.”
Israel has assisted Mauritania in several areas – apart from assistance in economy and agriculture, Israel has set up a hospital in the capital, Nouakchott, for the treatment of cancer and heart problems. The hospital is scheduled to open in May 2004.
The Islamic Republic of Mauritania gained independence from France in 1960. According to the CIA World Fact Book, legislative and municipal elections, which took place in 2001, were generally open and free but the country remains in practice a one-party state.
Though divided by ethnic tensions, 100 percent of the population is Muslim.
Mauritania spans an area about three times the size of New Mexico. As of July 2003, its population was estimated at just below three million people.
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(Maps: University of Texas)