Czech Foreign Minister Lubomir Zaoralek said his country ''does not intend to make any strategic change in its policies toward Israel" despite reports in the media to the contrary.
In an address to the Israel Council on Foreign Relations in Jerusalem, which operates under the auspices of the World Jewish Congress, the Czech minister stated that unilateral steps were ‘’not helpful’’ for the peace process, in a reference to a debate in several EU ember states about the recognition of a Palestinian state. Sweden recenty became the first EU country to make such a move.
“We know that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is not the worst one in the Middle East, and we do not believe that once it is solved all the other problems in the region will go away," said, stresing that his country remained “committed to Israel's right to self-defense."
"The Czech Republic continues to support the two-state solution in which Israel and a Palestinian state exist side by side in peace and even cooperation with each other," he said.
Zaoralek said relations between the Czech Republic and Israel were “excellent and will remain so," and added that he was proud of the fact that there was less anti-Semitism in the Czech Republic than elsewhere in Europe.