The West German government is to continue to pursue its policy of “balanced relations to all Middle East states.” Government spokesman Armin Gruenwald said here that Bonn did not feel recent criticism by Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger that Europe was not cooperating sufficiently in Middle East detente efforts applied to West Germany. However, Bonn would not join in the public discussion on possible dangers of a new Middle East war, he added.
The chief Foreign Office spokesman, Ruedigervon Pachelbel. said he denied Israeli reports that Bonn had signified approval for possible U.S. arms supplies to Israel from bases in West Germany in case of war.
WILL RESIST U.S. PRESSURE
This was underscored when West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt said in an interview published yesterday in the news weekly, “Der Spiegel,” that he would resist any American pressure to use U.S. bases in West Germany to supply Israel with arms in the event of a new Mideast war. Asked by the magazine how strong this pressure is, Schmidt said, “I know of no such pressure, and we would also not accept it.” Differences over the issue arose during the Yom Kippur War when Willy Brandt was Chancellor.
Referring to the planned European-Arab dialogue, von Pachelbel said that a decision on whether the Palestine Liberation Organization should attend would be left to the EEC Ministerial Council. The purpose of the dialogue, he noted, was not to find solutions to the Middle East problem but to plan economic, scientific, technological and cultural cooperation between Europe and the Arabs.
OPPOSED TO PLO IN EEC DIALOGUE
Apparently West Germany is against the participation of the PLO in the EEC dialogue. The Bonn government and other EEC nations are in sharp disagreement with France over the status of the PLO, According to German sources, the French responded positively to a request from the Arab League last fall to include the PLO as an observer, while the other European nations opposed the idea. The European-Arab dialogue had been scheduled to begin in Paris last Nov. 16 but was postponed because of the PLO issue.
The EEC nations will meet later this month in Dublin to discuss the problem at arriving at a joint position on this issue. Ireland, which on Jan. 1 assumed the presidency of the Common Market, has the responsibility of coordinating the dialogue for the next six months.
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