ISRAELI AMBASSADOR HANDS CREDENTIALS TO PRESIDENT MESIC

ZAGREB, May 3 (Hina) - Relations between Israel and Croatia have not been what they should have been like over the past decade but today's Croatia hopes they will take off, Croatian President Stjepan Mesic told Israel's newly-accredited Ambassador to Croatia, David Granit, on Thursday. Granit, who will be based in Jerusalem, handed his credentials to Mesic in Zagreb. "Croatia has definitely left the time of revision of our more recent history and more or less open flirtation with the ideas of nazism and fascism," Mesic said, adding today's Croatia "is proud of its role in the anti-fascist struggle and it pays tribute to all the victims of fascism." Mesic believes his visit to Israel, scheduled for October 30, will contribute to improving relations between the two countries. He also hopes Israel will open its embassy in Croatia during Granit's mandate. "The suffering of the Jewish people throughout the history, particularly during World War II, must never be forgotten," the President said, adding Croatia "condemns any manifestation of anti-Semitism, regardless of where it happens" and supports projects of education about the Holocaust. The Israeli ambassador said Israel and Croatia were young countries which had been established in very violent circumstances. It is important for both countries, he said, to leave that period behind and join the community of world nations and improve the living standards of their citizens. He expressed hope the two countries could do much together. Israel believes that the future also depends on the past, Granit said. The Israeli people remembers the past, he said and voiced hope that Croatia, just like other countries, would remember its past and possible mistakes and direct its young generations to the right path. The incoming Israeli ambassador today also met Croatian Parliament Speaker Zlatko Tomcic. (hina) rml