Vashadze in Israel: an ambiguous visit

On February 27th the foreign minister of Georgia, Grigol Vashadze, officially visited Israel. Last year Vashadze was invited to Israel for complete normalization of relations between two countries, right after freeing of two Israeli businessmen from Georgia prison. The visit was planned for January, but later it was postponed by the end of February.

On the first day of the visit the guest met President Shimon Peres. The sides stated the main theme of the conversation was “the problems of regional security in the South Caucasus.” It is difficult to say what exactly issues were discussed – protection of Israeli facilities and Israelis in Georgia; export of armament by Israel to Georgia. More information will be available after the dinner of Vashadze and his Israeli colleague, Avigdor Lieberman. However, all Israeli political periodicals agreed that the visit by Vashadze means that Israel strives for becoming one of the most important players in the South Caucasus – along with Iran, Turkey and Russia.

At the same time, the visit was gloomed by a message from Tbilisi that Georgia “is going to take the Monastery of Holy Cross in Jerusalem under full control.” Israeli diplomats said that they were bewildered by the message from official Tbilisi on the fact that negotiations on “returning” the monastery to Georgia’s property are taking place. “It is news for us. We haven’t heard about it,” the foreign ministry of Israel says.

Deputy Foreign Minister of Georgia, Nino Kalandadze, insists that “the work on returning the monastery under the control of Georgia is being implemented for a long time. The negotiations involve the foreign ministry, the embassy and the consul service of Georgia in Israel. They act within their duties. The ambassador fulfills our orders.” Kalandadze added that “it is difficult to say what stage has been reached in the negotiations.”

According to IzRus, Mikhail Saakashvili was first to state on the issue on February 25th. “This monastery is a part of our history, and we should return it to Georgian Orthodox Church,” President said. He added that the government does its best to fulfill this aim.

Thus, it is a mystery whether the negotiations are taking place or not. The monastery belonged to Georgian Orthodox Church for a long time, and the outstanding Georigan poet, Shota Rustaveli, was buried there.

Petr Lukimson, Israel. Exclusively to VK