President Nicolae Ceausescu of Rumania appeared to lean toward the U.S. and Israeli interpretation of Security Council Resolution 242 rather than that of the Soviet Union and the Arab bloc. This was the interpretation given by members of his audience at the National Press Club where the Rumanian leader spoke yesterday.
In the course of his remarks on the Middle East situation, he spoke twice of Israeli withdrawal from “territories it occupies.” the phrase that appears in the English version of Resolution 242. The Soviet and other Communist bloc and Arab states hold to the direct translation from the French version which refers to “the territories,” meaning all of them.
Ceausescu, who ended a four day visit to Washington during which he met with President Nixon, also said that all parties to the Middle East dispute should be allowed to participate in the Middle East peace conference in Geneva, including the Palestinians. The Rumanian President said there was no Jewish problem in his country, and that economic and social conditions in Rumania have improved to the extent that some Rumanian Jews who emigrated to Israel now want to return.
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