Wellington, New Zealand, June 26, SPA -- Israel and New Zealand have restored full diplomatic relations after Tel Aviv formally apologized for two alleged spies who tried to illegally obtain a New Zealand passport, Prime Minister Helen Clark said Sunday. Ties between the countries plunged last year following theincident, which led to the conviction and imprisonment oftwo men New Zealand alleges are Israeli agents. Uriel ZosheKelman, 31, and Eli Cara, 50, were sentenced to six monthsin prison after pleading guilty to the passport charge, butwere released and deported after serving about two months. Clark said last year that she had "no doubt whatsoever" the two were Israeli spies. "The New Zealand government has strong grounds forbelieving that the two men convicted were working on behalfof an Israeli intelligence agency," Clark reiterated in astatement Sunday. New Zealand demanded a public apology from Israel and acommitment to prevent another such breach of New Zealandlaws by its officials in the future. Clark also imposed a range of diplomatic sanctions onIsrael from July 2004, including halting the approval of anew Israeli ambassador. In a letter released Sunday, Israeli Foreign MinisterSilvan Shalom said Israel wished "to express our regretfor the activities which resulted in the arrest andconviction of two Israeli citizens in New Zealand oncriminal charges and apologize for the involvement ofIsraeli citizens in such activities." "Israel commits itself to taking steps to prevent arecurrence of similar incidents in the future," he wroteto counterpart Phil Goff. In response, Goff said the issue is now "behind us" andthe two states "should ... resume friendly diplomaticrelations." Clark said that "restrictions on official contact withIsrael are being lifted today (Sunday). The new Israeliambassador can now be accredited, and visits and otherdiplomatic activities can be restored." She added that official inquiries had revealed that "avery small number" of New Zealand passports had beenobtained by those working on behalf of Israeliintelligence. "Those passports have been canceled and that it would befutile for attempts to be made to use them," she noted. Since the Israeli passport fraud was uncovered, NewZealand passports have been made more secure through theinclusion of biometric data on the holder, stricterchecking procedures and the reduction from 10 years to fivein the time a passport remains valid, according to a report of The Associated Press.--SPA1123 Local Time 0823 GMT www.spa.gov.sa/272589