Dutch Foreign Minister Christoph van der Klaauw heard some forceful criticism from Premier Menachem Begin today and some more mildly phrased, but equally pointed reservations, from Labor opposition leaders–all directed at the European Economic Community’s (EEC) policy in the Middle East.
Van der Klaauw was on the second day of his fact finding mission to Israel, part of the EEC’s effort to consider launching an “initiative” to bring comprehensive peace to the area.
“I asked him by what right the EEC tells us how we would arrange the security of our people,” Begin told reporters after his meeting with the Dutch statesman. Van der Klaauw himself left Begin’s office tight-lipped, refusing to reply to reporters’ questions.
Informed Israeli sources said the meeting, though tough, was not unpleasant in tone or atmosphere. Begin told reporters he had told the Foreign Minister that by meeting with Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat in Beirut last month he had “shaken a hand covered with the blood of Israeli children.”
Labor party chairman Shimon Peres and foreign affairs spokesman Abba Eban also attacked the Dutch minister in a separated session with him in the Knesset for the EEC “giving legitimacy to the PLO.” Eban said later that van der Klaauw’s own account of his conversation with Arafat had demonstrated amply “how right we are.” The Dutch official could point to no softening of the terrorist leader’s extremism.
Eban said his impression was that the European initiative was petering out. He and Peres, at any rate, had urged van der Klaauw, who is presently chairman of the EEC Council of Ministers, that it was time for the EEC to shelve its putative initiative.
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.
