ON THIRD THOUGHT
Pakistan on Saturday welcomed an offer of earthquake assistance from Israel but said it would have to be channeled through the United Nations, the Red Cross or donated to a relief fund.
Pakistani Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said since the two countries do not have diplomatic relations it could not receive aid directly from Israel. “We have established the president’s relief fund and everyone is free to contribute to it. If Israel was to contribute, that’s fine, we would accept it,” Aslam told The Associated Press.
Earlier, Foreign Ministry Spokesman Mark Regev said Israel offered the aid through direct channels with Pakistan, and will decide Sunday what teams and equipment to dispatch to the disaster zone. Regev played down the diplomatic significance of the aid effort.
“At the moment, everyone is talking about how we can help hundreds of thousands of Pakistanis in the area of destruction,” he said. “There is a clear international effort to help Pakistan, and Israel wants to be part of that.”
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