Behind the Headlines Efforts to Resolve a Dispute

Attempts are being made to resolve a dispute that has surfaced recently between the Israeli Embassy and the German-Israeli Society (Deutsch-Israelische Gesell-schaft–DIG, a group organized to promote better relations between West Germany and Israel. Israeli officials have accused DIG of meddling in Israeli politics instead of furthering social and cultural links and have charged the Society’s secretary, Rainer Bernstein, with pro-Arab bias.

DIG supporters rejected what they call the “misinterpretation” of its functions and say it was not organized to carry out “uncritical public relations work” for Israel. Israeli Ambassador Yohanan Meroz met with DIG president Heinz Westphal last month to try to settle the issue. Embassy sources said the meeting was “open and objective” but inconclusive. A second meeting between the Embassy and DIG officials is scheduled for next month.

DIG, which was formed 10 years ago, claims about 2000 members, including 100 Bundestag deputies and several Cabinet ministers. Israeli officials have been unhappy with its activities of late. They noted that in October, Bernstein took a group of West Berlin teachers to Israel without consulting the Embassy as is the usual practice. In Israel, a trade union body known as “Experiment” arranged for the group to meet the Communist Mayor of Nazareth, Self Zuabi. As a result, the Israeli Foreign Ministry called off a planned reception for the teachers.

Later, Meroz boycotted DIG’s annual meeting allegedly because one of the invited speakers was Prof. Emeritus Ernst Simon of the Hebrew University. Simon is a member of the “Buber Circle.” a group of Israeli intellectuals who advocate that Israel reach an accommodation with the Palestinians.

POLITICAL DIFFERENCES DISCLOSED

The controversy has brought to light political differences within DIG. Westphal, a Social Democrat has defended Bernstein’s position. He said that “DIG discusses the Mideast situation uncritically. We don’t want to force advice on Israel but we are deeply concerned about bringing peace to that region.” But DIG’s deputy president, Erik Blumfeld of the opposition Christian Democratic Party accused Bern-stein of representing “Jusos,” the Social Democrats’ militant left-leaning youth movement and of “maintaining contact with sympathetic circles in Israel.”

Recently, the Bundesjugendring, a left-wing umbrella organization that claims to represent West German youth organizations with about 4 million members, defended DIG, of which it is a member. It adopted a resolution stating that “critical solidarity” was necessary to deepen understanding between Israel and West Germany and that DIG had made “an important and indispensable contribution to this goal.” The resolution stated further that the “distorted and polemical attacks” on DIG were tantamount to “an attack on the cause of German-Israeli understanding.”