Chancellor Fred Sinowatz of Austria said yesterday that his new Socialist government will continue the Middle East policy laid down by his predecessor, former Chancellor Bruno Kreisky. which is that there cannot be a durable peace in the region without a just solution of the Palestinian problem.
“It is true that the Israeli government has criticized our Middle East policy very strongly, but it must be said that our policy was also accepted by many Israelis,” Sinowatz told the editor-in-chief of Arbeiterzeitung, the organ of the ruling Social Democratic Party, in his first interview on the Middle East since taking office.
He praised Kreisky for his detailed knowledge of Middle Eastern affairs and his personal acquaintance with leading politicans in the region. In this sense, Kreisky is irreplaceable, Sinowatz said and “we will have maximum continuity in our foreign policy, including our position toward the Middle East conflict.” He spoke of Kreisky’s humanitarian efforts to achieve a prisoner of war exchange in Lebanon, but he doubted that the present situation would allow continuation of the process. “Austria will always be available, we will help if we can,” he said.
Sinowatz would not comment on the Israel-Lebanon withdrawal agreement signed last month. “But we must understand why Syria and the Palestinians are not happy with this agreement, ” he said, “The situation in the Middle East has deteriorated in recent times and I don’t know if the Israeli government will change its policy. We can only hope it will do so,” he said.
He blamed the current revolt in the Palestine Liberation Organization against PLO chief Yasir Arafat on the failure of moderation and readiness for a dialogue to produce results. “So right now, we see that the radical forces are getting stronger. We can only hope that there will be a time when reasonable persons are strong enough to put through a solution, but moderation on one side cannot succeed without a response from the other side.” he said.
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