George Pelaghias, director general of the Cypriot Foreign Ministry, arrived in Israel last night as the guest of his Israeli counterpart, Yosef Ciechanover. Although Pelaghias is not considered a policy maker, political observers in Jerusalem noted the Importance of the visit, the first by a senior Cypriot official. The two countries have full diplomatic relations, but the relations are cool Cyprus does not have a resident mission here.
One of the issues expected to be raised by Pelaghias is the case of imprisoned Cypriot journalist, Panayiotis Pascalis, who was jailed for five years on espionage charges last July. Pascalis had collected published material and had taken hundreds of photographs of the Israeli coastline. The Tel Aviv District Court found he had planned to give the material to Palestine Liberation Organization officials in Cyprus.
The Cypriot official will be here for two days and will pay a courtesy call on Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan. He will also be received by Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek.
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