West Germany has decided to stick to its decision not to resume arms shipments to Israel, a spokesman for Chancellor Erhard announced here today.
Israel reportedly demanded such resumption as a precondition for the establishment of diplomatic relations. Press Chief Karl Gunther von Hase said that West Germany would continue efforts to convince Israel to accept other goods, but would not ship arms to “areas of tension.” The official West German announcement was made after special envoy Kurt Birenbach reported to Chancellor Erhard on conditions requested by Israel for a diplomatic exchange.
West German dailies today assailed the “polemics” used by leaders of Communist East Germany during the events involving that regime’s leader, Walter Ulbricht, and his visit to Cairo. The Sheddeutsche Zeitung of Munich said that “inadequate though it may be in human terms, West Germany does furnish reparations to Israel” and denounced East German Communist officials who “vilify” such aid as “imperialist deviltry.”
Die Welt, of Hamburg, criticized Otto Winzer, the East German deputy foreign minister who, “reciprocated for the showy reception accorded to Ulbricht by sniping at Israel as an aggressor, a mischief-maker and agitator in the Near East, as a country that endangers peace and threatens the Arab nations.”
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