Pakistan's other key international partners, China and Turkey, already have growing trade relationships with Israel.
Additionally, Pakistan and Israel can benefit from a change of policy orientation "- promoting soft power at the expense of hard power and interfaith dialogue instead of enduring violence.
For too long, both countries have exercised military solutions to political problems. The image is not pretty: ethnic killings in Pakistan and systematic violence against Palestinians in Israel.
While Pakistan and Israel are not natural partners, both emerged as ideological Muslim and Jewish states around the same time "- Pakistan in 1947 and Israel in 1948 "- because of a bloody partition of the territory of the British empire.
Both countries became US allies because of a shared concern for survival and security. It also led to the building of a powerful military-security establishment and the development of nuclear weapons.
However, Israel and Pakistan have followed divergent paths. While Israel shed its international pariah status and became a leading economic and military power in the Middle East, Pakistan has lost significant ground to competitors in South Asia.
Advancing ties with Israel needs fortitude and strength not shown by previous Pakistani governments. Regrettably, past contact between Islamabad and Jerusalem never got beyond the back-channel stage because of political opposition in Pakistan.
As expected, the visit to Israel drew widespread condemnation in Pakistan, including among the government and opposition. Leaders across the aisle saw it as a betrayal of the Palestinian cause.
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