Behind the Headlines Arabs Disappointed with Eec

Arab spokesmen have begun to voice disappointment over the failure to change the European Economic Community’s (EEC) policy on the Arab-Israel conflict at last week’s Euro-Arab dialogue meeting in Tunis.

The Tunis newspaper, Al-Amal, quoted here, complained that the dialogue had not achieved all the results expected of it. An Algerian radio commentary regretted that the EEC had not adopted a more pro-Palestinian position and had failed to reach a preferential agreement on trade with all the Arab League countries.

These criticisms have been quickly echoed by the Soviet Union. In a broadcast to the Arab world, Moscow Radio said; “The (nine) EEC countries are doing everything to take the formal recognition of the PLO off the agenda.”

The full communique issued yesterday in Tunis after the two-day conference reflected the decision by the EEC Foreign Ministers at their London meeting the previous week that there should be no independent appeal for reconvening the Geneva conference and no formal acknowledgement of the Palestine Liberation Organization.

PALESTINIAN QUESTION DISCUSSED

Both sides, the joint statement said, “reiterated that the solution of the Palestine question on the basis of the recognition of the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people constitutes a decisive factor in the realization of a just, durable peace.”

It went on: “The European side expressed the belief that the principles embodied in the (Luxembourg) statement of November 6, 1973, and further developed through the statements issued by the group of nine since then, particularly with regard to the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, constitute the basic elements of any peaceful settlement and that these principles must be taken en bloc.

“The European side also expressed concern over the continued Israeli occupation of the Arab territories since 1967 and…expressed their opposition to the policy of the establishment of settlements–a matter which is bound to harm the chances of peace…and to any unilateral action aimed at changing the status quo in Jerusalem. The Arab side expressed its appreciation of this.”

The Luxembourg statement, issued at the height of the pressure conducted by the Arab oil-producing nations after the Yom Kippur War, spoke of the need for Israel “to end the territorial occupation which it has maintained since the conflict of 1967” and of “application of UN Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338.”

At the opening session, the Arab delegate stressed that the basis of the dialogue was political. “Without this political aspect there can be no success in other aspects,” he said, adding that Europe’s security depended on averting another Arab-Israeli war. The European representative, however, stressed that there were limits to the EEC’s readiness to become involved in Middle East diplomacy and that it wished to place equal emphasis on non-political aspects of Euro-Arab cooperation.