DIPLOMACY : In Pact’s Wake, Israel Has Host of New Friends : Nations are lining up to open diplomatic relations with the Jewish state after its historic peace accord with the PLO.

At the Israeli Foreign Ministry late this week, the question was unexpectedly puzzling: How many countries now had full diplomatic relations with the Jewish state?

“At least 125 at the beginning of this week, but there have been two more, maybe three, since then,” spokeswoman Tali Samash said. “The truth is that there are so many new ones that it’s hard to keep count.”

Shunned for decades by most of its immediate neighbors, by the Soviet-led Communist bloc and by many Third World nations, Israel is winning recognition--and praise--around the globe as one country after another bids to open diplomatic relations with it.

“They are granting of international legitimacy to Israel in the light of the declaration of principles (on Palestinian self-government) we signed with the Palestine Liberation Organization,” said Naomi Chazan, a member of the Israeli Parliament’s Foreign Affairs Committee and a specialist on Africa. “We were denied this legitimacy for many years, and getting it is important.

“This should have a positive impact on the peace process because the international community is approving the steps we are taking toward resolving (the Arab-Israeli conflict) and is giving its backing. This also puts pressure on all the parties to make further progress.”

Such broad international acceptance is almost overwhelming for Israel, which always had relations with a core of 45 or 50 Western countries but saw even many of them vote against it at the United Nations. For a time, Israel even seemed to be grouped by world opinion among the “pariah states” with which few other countries would deal.

“If the PLO is talking with us, accepts us, why shouldn’t everyone else?” a senior Israeli official asked.

By Chazan’s count, Israel will shortly have diplomatic relations with about 135 countries, an increase of more than 50% in two years. Official delegations now arrive at the rate of three or four a week to discuss trade, cultural, military and other contacts. Top-level visitors, among them prime ministers, presidents and this month King Juan Carlos I and Queen Sofia of Spain, are lined up well into 1994.

The trend began with the start of Arab-Israeli peace negotiations two years ago but accelerated with the installation of the pragmatic government of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin 16 months ago and again when Israel recognized the PLO in September.

“Israel is politically very fashionable following the agreement with the PLO,” a senior European diplomat said. “We have ministers who would not have ventured into the Middle East a year ago but who now want to visit and become identified with the peace process.

“Although it gets to be a bother, we encourage them, quite frankly, to reward Israel for the tough decision it made in recognizing the PLO and to keep the peace process on track. Israel similarly wants to gain all the recognition it can and build international support for the peace process.”

Israel has two separate focuses in all this. First are its Arab neighbors, and Israel is now on friendly terms with Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt. Second come new markets for an economy that must export to grow--all those former Socialist countries in East Europe and the old Soviet Union, India and China in Asia and maybe next the Arab world.

But some countries are hoping for a restoration of Israel’s highly successful foreign aid programs in their lands; others see establishment of diplomatic relations with Israel benefiting them in Western capitals, especially Washington.

The changes are startling. Rabin not only paid an official visit last month to China, long a supporter of the Arab cause, but then stopped in Indonesia, the most populous Muslim country, on his way home. Among the Third World countries establishing diplomatic relations with Israel recently were Vietnam and Zimbabwe, both leaders of the Nonaligned Movement in its support of the PLO and other Arabs.

“It’s a new era, and not just for Israeli diplomacy but for international affairs,” Samash said. “Fundamental shifts are under way, and they are now quite visible in the Middle East, but they are also occurring elsewhere.”

Jerusalem’s New Popularity

Israel--with full relations with at least 125 nations--has seen a sudden surge in its global popularity, diplomatically speaking, since it signed a peace accord with the Palestinian Liberation Organization. Many of Jersualem’s old friends are expressing new interest; many new friends have come knocking. Here’s a look at some of the nations burnishing their ties with the Jewish state:

NEW ARAB TIES:

Jordan, Morocco, Tunisia and Egypt

THIRD-WORLD SURPRISES:

Indonesia, Vietnam, Zimbabwe