Arens Says He Made Headway in Bid for European Backing

Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens believes he made headway here Monday in his efforts to gain European support for Israel’s new peace initiative.

He told Israeli reporters he had an “open and very good” discussion with the 12 European Community foreign ministers at an informal dinner at E.C. headquarters in Brussels.

He said he explained fully the Israeli plan for Palestinian elections in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, to be followed by negotiations for self-rule in the territories, adding that he “hoped his responses were satisfactory.”

Although the European body did not comment officially on the talks, Israeli sources said later that the E.C. ministers were indeed satisfied with his presentation.

An Italian source said the European attitude toward the Israeli initiative is “cautiously positive.”

The dinner was closed to the news media. According to Israeli officials who attended, Arens urged the Europeans to play a role in a phase of the plan that calls for rehabilitating the Palestinian refugee camps. He made a similar pitch to the U.S. government last week in Washington.

The Israeli foreign minister also contended that if the United States and Europe accept the Israeli peace initiative, “the Arabs would follow their path.”

Nevertheless, he refused to discuss certain details that have been raised by European and American figures, such as voting rights for East Jerusalem Arabs, international supervision of the elections and Israel’s concept of self-rule.

EUROPEANS STILL FAVOR PLO ROLE

Arens justified his reticence on such points, saying, “We must start something for the peace process and not think what we are going to do in three or 10 years.”

He was adamant, however, on one point: that the Palestine Liberation Organization must be excluded from the entire process.

The PLO is leading a campaign of terror against Palestinians they think collaborate with Israel, Arens said. “How do you expect to associate the PLO in a peace initiative?”

He made that remark in response to a question from Francisco Fernandez Ordonez, the foreign minister of Spain who currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the E.C. Council of Ministers.

Earlier in the day, Ordonez stated at a joint news conference with Arens that the European Community “has not changed its Mideast position,” which is that the PLO must be included in a comprehensive settlement.

But various points must be clarified and discussed with Arens here and with Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who will be in Madrid on Wednesday, Ordonez said.

Arens co-chaired the seventh meeting of the E.C.-Israel Cooperation Council here, the body that conducts an annual review of the 1975 trade pact linking Israel with the European Community.

A vexing issue at this meeting was Israel’s huge trade deficit with Europe, estimated at $3.5 billion. That is “greater than our trade deficit with the rest of the world,” an Israeli official stressed.