The European Community is continuing efforts to urge that Israel cooperate with the U.N. Security Council’s decision to send a fact-finding mission to Israel to investigate the Oct. 8 fatal shooting of at least 17 Arabs by Israeli police on the Temple Mount.
The top leadership of the 12 E.C. member states concluded a weekend summit meeting here Sunday with a statement criticizing Israel’s refusal to comply with the Security Council’s resolutions calling for such an investigation.
At a news conference here, Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti disclosed he had received a letter from Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat asking the Italian government to work for a “stable, equitable, lasting solution to the Palestinian problem.”
Andreotti said the E.C. statement was a response to Arafat’s letter.
The E.C. declaration criticized Israel’s policies in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and observed that “the tragic events in Jerusalem demonstrate once again that the status quo in the occupied territories is not sustainable.”
It called for a “just and lasting solution” to the Arab-Israeli conflict, warned both sides that “violence breeds violence” and urged that an international peace conference on the Middle East be convened “at the opportune moment.”
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