German Reparations Shipments Not Affected by Mid-east Crisis

The present Middle East conflict has given rise to no modifications in the placement of reparations orders nor has it effected reparations shipments, Dr. F. E. Shinnar, head of the Israel Purchasing Mission in Germany, declared in an interview here.

Replying to a question about warnings which had been issued to vessels bound for the Eastern Mediterranean, Dr. Shinnar described the maritime situation as improved and said it was not necessary to cancel a single shipment of reparations goods. Revealing that ten freighters were unloaded at Haifa this week he predicted that ship traffic to Israel ports will soon be back to normal.

The kind and quantity of reparations goods to be made available by West Germany in the course of each fiscal year–from April 1 to March 31–have always been determined on the basis of negotiations conducted at the end of the calendar year by economic experts who make up the German-Israel Mixed Commission. In accordance with the practice followed during the past three years, such negotiations with respect to the 1957-58 fiscal year will open next month. Dr. Shinnar disclosed. He expects that they will be completed by February or March.

Israel will ask no major changes in the schedule of commodities and services, it was stated by Dr. Shinnar, who has been in charge of the Israel Purchasing Mission since its inception. On the other hand, Israel will demand that West Germany earmark for reparations purchases in the 1957-58 fiscal year the normal annual rate of payment stipulated in the Reparations Agreement–$73,000,000. In every year so far, the Federal Republic has unilaterally made use of an emergency escape clause in order to lower the annual installment to the allowable minimum of $59,500,000. This time, Israel intends to draw particular attention to the steady rise in prices, on the German industrial market, Dr. Shinner said, and it will for that reason seek an increase in the appropriated amount to the $73,000,000 level which Germany agreed to in the reparations negotiations at The Hague.

At the close of the interview, the representative of a German economic news service asked Dr. Shinnar’s views on the prospects of German Israel economic relations after the ending of the reparations program some time between 1964 and 1966. The head of the Israel Purchasing Mission pointed to the rising volume of Israel citrus fruit exports to Germany, outside of reparations channels and further indicated that replacement parts for industrial machinery now furnished to Israel under the reparations pact would be in demand for a long time to come. Taking this into account, so Dr. Shinnar concluded, the outlook for future trade relations between the two states is not unfavorable.