Israeli President Shimon Peres last month addressed a conference attended by 29 Arab and Muslim foreign ministers who applauded him following his speech, Israeli newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth has reported.
According to the newspaper, the Israeli leader spoke via live videoconference to the Gulf States Security Summit in Abu Dhabi in the United Arab Emirates two weeks ago. Foreign ministers from five Gulf nations were present, while Saudi Arabia was represented by a son of the Saudi monarch.
Top diplomats from other Arab and Muslim countries – including Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh – were also among the attendees.
Peres appeared on a video screen at the summit, sitting in his office in occupied Jerusalem against the backdrop of a large Israeli flag.
“There was a lot of excitement from both sides by his appearance,” an unnamed representative involved in the event was quoted by the Israeli paper as saying.
“Everyone understood that this was something historic: the president of the Jewish State is sitting in his office in Jerusalem with an Israeli flag, and they’re sitting in the Persian Gulf talking about security, the war on terror and peace,” added the unnamed source.
Organizers of the event had said that Peres would only participate if his speech was kept under wraps.
The Israeli paper noted that there were no walkouts from the conference room, pointing out that Peres even received applause when he concluded his address.
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