An Israeli Foreign Ministry spokesman denied reports today that Israel had interrupted negotiations for construction of a huge passenger liner by a French shipyard because Renault, the government-owned French automotive firm, in a surrender to the Arab boycott of Israel, had suspended operations in this country.
Tel Aviv newspaper headlines tonight indicated that the halt in the negotiations was directly connected to the Renault issue. The negotiations were for construction of a new trans Atlantic passenger liner for the Zim-Israel Navigation Company.
An official version today was that, actually, there had been no interruption in the negotiations, only a possible, temporary impasse which developed before the Renault closedown was announced. It was pointed out that such hitches customarily develop during complex financial negotiations.
(In Paris, it was announced today that French Minister of Transport Bouron will leave by chartered jet plane tomorrow for Israel, to attend the official opening of a new subway in Haifa. A special representative of the City of Paris will also go to Haifa with M. Bouron, to dedicate the main terminus of the subway, which has been named “Paris.”)
ALL-PARTY COMMITTEE IN ISRAEL RULES OUT COUNTER-BOYCOTT
A nine-man, all-party committee set up in Israel to fight the Arab economic boycott has ruled out a counter-boycott against such firms as Renault, the French automobile company which has yielded to the Arab boycott and halted its operations in Israel, the committee’s chief disclosed today.
Meir Grossman, head of the Jewish Agency’s external relations department and chairman of the committee, said that there was little that could be done to prevent such incidents as the surrender by Renault to Arab pressure. His committee, he said, had ruled out a counter-boycott of such firms.
His committee, Mr. Grossman said, had worked for the past two years, doing whatever was possible with the only force at its disposal–moral suasion–but this, he admitted, was only rarely successful.
He noted that economic boycott was illegal in many countries and thus that even if it were possible to organize a campaign against firms observing the Arab boycott of Israel and refusing to deal with Israel, such efforts might prove illegal. He said that the committee’s attempts to draw attention abroad to the situation had had little success and that Jewish organizations abroad were generally reluctant to lend support.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
