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Uriel Zosha Kelman and Eli Cara, Israeli spies (AP)
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| By Associated Press August 29, 2005 |
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Israel and New Zealand will restore full diplomatic links Tuesday, closing a damaging row sparked by two Israeli agents, officials said Monday.
Ties were severed by New Zealand in 2004 after the secret service agents were arrested by police, convicted and imprisoned for fraudulently obtaining a New Zealand passport.
Uriel Zoshe Kelman, 31, and Eli Cara, 50, were sentenced to six months but released and deported after serving about two months.
New Zealand demanded -- and won -- an apology from Israel for the men's action, which Prime Minister Helen Clark said proved the pair were Israeli spies.
"It is an acknowledgment that these people were associated with Israeli intelligence agencies. That's always been our belief," she said in late June, after the apology was made by Israel's Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom.
In a letter to New Zealand counterpart Phil Goff, Shalom apologized for the involvement of Israeli citizens in criminal activities and vowed to take steps to ensure it didn't happen again.
Israeli diplomat Naftali Tamir will reopen formal diplomatic links between the two nations when he presents his credentials to New Zealand Governor General Dame Silvia Cartwright.
Tamir, who is also Israel's ambassador to Canberra, paid a brief courtesy visit to Goff on Monday, when both men emphasized they were pleased that the bilateral relationship was back on track.
New Zealand police are still seeking two other men involved in the passport fraud.
One man, Ze'ev William Barkan, escaped arrest by fleeing the country shortly before Cara and Kelman were picked up by police.
A fourth man, New Zealand national Tony Resnick, who abruptly left the country when police uncovered the passport fraud, also "remains a person of interest to our investigation," police Assistant Commissioner Jon White said.
A warrant for Resnick's arrest has been issued and Interpol alerted, with New Zealand authorities confirming he is hiding in Israel.
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