After a prolonged stalemate: it has been two years since there has been a conversation between the foreign ministers of the two countries.
After the publication in Israel Hayom, Foreign Minister Eli Cohen spoke today (Tuesday) for the first time with his Polish counterpart, Zbigniew Rao.
In their conversation, the two discussed warming the relations between the countries, finding a solution for the youth delegations to Poland, as well as the return of the Polish ambassador to Israel
Zbigniew Rao, Polish Minister of Foreign Affairs, photo: E.P.I
Foreign Minister Eli Cohen, photo: Oren Ben Hakon
The Polish Foreign Minister stated in the conversation that he will examine the possibility of appointing a new Polish ambassador to Israel, this after a period in which the embassy in Israel was conducted without an ambassador.
The conversation was conducted in a good spirit, and the ministers expressed a desire to maintain direct and continuous contact, and even to hold a direct meeting, in Poland or Israel, in the near future.
Comparison to a torch
As I recall, about two weeks ago government officials in Israel and Poland told "Israel Today" that there had been a rapprochement between the parties.
According to some, "the full agreement will be reached soon."
Among the factors dealing with the matter, the assessment was then that the change of government in Israel is a significant catalyst for the Poles to soften their positions.
The catalyst takes on a strong meaning, due to the good experience they had with Netanyahu in the past - compared to the aggressive line of the previous Prime Minister, Yair Lapid, who attacked Poland with blunt words several times.
According to the government officials, the agreements are not yet complete and more work is required to close the last gaps - but the atmosphere on both sides is optimistic.
Netanyahu and the Prime Minister of Poland, Mateusz Morawiecki, photo: Reuters
Since the fall of the Iron Curtain in the late 1980s and the renewal of the possibility to enter Poland freely, about 40 thousand students and teenagers have toured the concentration and extermination camps in Poland, as part of official trips by the Ministry of Education.
The trips to Poland (archive), photo: Yossi Zeliger
In the last three years the journeys have stopped.
Initially, it was the corona epidemic that prevented entry to Poland.
But about a year and a half ago, with the decline of the epidemic, a sharp conflict broke out between the countries.
One of the reasons for this was the harsh statements of the then Foreign Minister Lapid, who said: "We are not afraid of anti-Semitic threats, and we will not blink in the face of the anti-democratic government of Poland."
Lapid even instructed the Polish ambassador not to return from his homeland vacation in Warsaw, and ordered the designated Israeli ambassador, Dr. Yaakov Livna, to remain in Israel.
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