Yemen said on Thursday it would not establish diplomatic relations with Israel before a "comprehensive and just settlement to the Arab-Israeli conflict is achieved". "Yemen has an obvious stance towards this issue: normalization should be preceded by Israel's commitment to a comprehensive and just solution and its withdrawal from the occupied Arab territories," a foreign ministry source said in press remarks. The Yemeni official was commenting on recent reports that quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom as saying the Jewish state was mulling setting up ties with 10 Arab states, including Yemen. The sources, whose comments were published by the state-run 26 September newspaper, said Sanaa would not establish normal diplomatic relations with Tel Aviv before "the "establishment of the Palestinian state on its national soil with Jerusalem as its capital".
