The European Community condemned Israel’s settlement policies in the administered territories Saturday, as it prepared for a role in a proposed Middle East peace conference on which the parties have yet to agree.
A statement issued following a two-day E.C. summit meeting here called Israel’s continued settlement building on disputed land “illegal” and “incompatible with the will to make progress toward peace.”
But it contained no suggestion of pressure to make Israel comply.
The meeting was the last held under the guidance of Luxembourg. The rotating chairmanship of the E.C. Council of Ministers passes Monday to Foreign Minister Hans van den Broek of the Netherlands, who will hold it for the next six months.
Holland has been described by Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir as the most pro-Israel of the 12 E.C. member states. Van den Broek told a news conference at E.C. headquarters in Brussels on Friday that agreement has been reached with the United States and Israel “on a formula for European participation in a peace conference.”
He said Europe “will participate on the same basis and alongside the United States and the Soviet Union.”
The two superpowers are the putative sponsors of the conference, which is supposed to serve as the opening for direct, bilateral talks between Israel and its Arab adversaries.
SUPPORT FOR U.S. INITIATIVE
Van den Broek stressed that European participation would be based “on the same conditions that will be agreed upon between the parties directly involved in the conflict.”
But to date the parties have been unable to agree even on the nature or duration of the conference.
While the E.C. statement in Luxembourg offered “firm support” for the U.S. Middle East peace initiative, the initiative seems at the moment to be hopelessly stalled.
A U.S. plea last month for “flexibility” on tooth sides was rejected by Israel, while Syria has still not replied. Israel is also demanding veto power over the composition of the Palestinian negotiating team.
But van den Broek sounded an optimistic note. “Europe will be present, above all, to support and, if possible, enhance the American peace initiative,” he said.
“We also think that the European Community will have a role to play not only in the negotiations but also in the working groups to discuss subjects such as regional development, arms control or regional economic cooperation,” the Dutch minister said.
He was referring to the purported willingness of Saudi Arabia and other Persian Gulf states to play a peripheral role in an Arab-Israeli peace conference, confining themselves to broad regional issues.
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