East Germany today lifted the security blanket on the Israeli delegation at the World Youth Festival in East Berlin. The official Communist Party newspaper, “Neue Deutschland,” carried reports on the presence of the delegation, which did not attend the opening ceremony on Sunday, in order to allay suspicions that the East German authorities were keeping them out of sight.
The paper quoted Benjamin Gonen, a member of the Israel Communist Party (Rakach) Central Committee, as saying We represent the other Israel, not that of the occupation, but that which loves peace.” The 20-member Israeli delegation consists of members of Matzpen, the Israel Communist Party (Rakach) and pro-Communist Israeli Arabs.
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