West Germany has fully acknowledged the “special significance” of its relations with Israel, when the Israeli-German talks on Bonn’s promised economic aid to Israel opened in Bonn last week, Foreign Minister Abba Eban reported here today at the weekly meeting of the Israel Cabinet. The Israel delegation to the first phase of these talks returned here this weekend, and further conferences of the teams representing both governments are to be held next month.
Mr. Eban reported that progress has been made in the discussions on Israel’s demand that Bonn provide assistance without linking such aid to specific projects. The Germans had objected to that request, insisting that such aid must not be used for armament acquisition purposes.
The Foreign Minister agreed with a statement made here yesterday by Bonn’s Ambassador, Dr. Rolf Pauls, who had chided the Israeli press for allegedly emphasizing the negative aspects of the Bonn negotiations. Like Dr. Pauls, Mr. Eban said that differences had ben “over-emphasized. ” He stated that, on the contrary, the first phase of the talks had covered at least half of the ground and that the German Government is “definitely seeking agreement.”
Specific sums for German aid to Israel, the Foreign Minister said, had not as yet been discussed, “and this may prove a difficult question” in the next round of talks. The Cabinet authorized Prime Minister Levi Eshkol, Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir and Mr. Eban to give further study to the reports from the Israeli negotiators at Bonn.
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