The European Community foreign ministers believe, after visiting the Arab countries and Israel, that it is up to Israel to make the first move toward peace.
Nevertheless, they seem to realize that Israel needs confidence-building measures before it accepts an international conference, an approach the E.C. has been advocating since 1982.
“A first step toward peace would be for Israel to make a statement of principle indicating its willingness to liberate the occupied territories,” Jacques Poos, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, told a news conference here.
Poos, current chairman of the E.C.’s Council of Ministers, held talks with Israeli leaders in Jerusalem and with most Arab foreign ministers during visits last week to Damascus, Syria; Amman, Jordan; and Tripoli, Libya.
With him were Italian Foreign Minister Gianni de Michelis, his immediate predecessor as chairman, and the foreign minister of Holland, Hans van den Broek, who will succeed Poos on July 1. They comprise the E.C.’s so-called “troika,” the three foreign ministers delegated to deal with Middle East issues.
Poos said their mission was to find out what prospects exist for regional peace in the aftermath of the Persian Gulf war, not to offer any peace plan on behalf of Europe because “there are enough on the table.”
Asked about an international conference, he noted that Israel continues to reject the idea.
Israel needs certain measures to bolster its confidence, such as “bilateral non-aggression pacts or reciprocal recognition and arms reduction agreements,” Poos said.
He said that in their talks with Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir and other Israeli leaders, the E.C. ministers stressed the need to observe U.N. resolutions on the Middle East.
“Shamir is not opposed to the implementation of those resolutions but said that it must not be considered as a dogma,” Poos reported.
DISGUST WITH THE PLO
He said they also found that in the Arab world, with the exception of the Palestinians, there is widespread disgust with the Palestine Liberation Organization and its leader, Yasir Arafat, for supporting Saddam Hussein of Iraq in the Persian Gulf crisis.
Nevertheless, the E.C. wants to maintain a dialogue with Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip despite its decision to refrain from high-level contacts with the PLO.
While in Jerusalem, the ministers met with Palestinian dignitaries from the territories.
“The Arab countries that we visited are divided about the role of PLO chief Yasir Arafat in eventual peace talks in the region,” Poos said.
He said Arafat’s behavior created a wide gap with Egypt, Syria and the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council, whose foreign ministers they met while in Damascus. On the other hand, the Palestinians in the territories have no desire to see Arafat replaced, Poos said.
A similar attitude prevails in North Africa among the five member states of the Union of Arab Maghreb, especially Tunisia and Libya, which regard Arafat as the undisputed leader of the Palestinians.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
