Israel’s former Foreign Minister Abba Eban said here that the European Economic Community’s (EEC) Middle East peace initiative has already failed and that the EEC should abandon it and cooperate instead with the U.S., Israel and Egypt to pursue the success achieved so far by the Camp David accords.
Addressing a meeting of the Socialist International over the weekend, Eban said the EEC had made a “grave mistake” by not consulting Israel on its approach and by its de facto recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization. The EEC has shown insufficient appreciation of the Camp David achievements, he said.
Eban, who is expected to be named Foreign Minister if the Labor Party wins the June 30 Knesset elections, stressed that a solution of the Palestinian problem is possible only through negotiations between Israel, the Palestinians and Jordan.
The Netherlands Foreign Ministry announced, meanwhile, that the resumption of the Euro-Arab dialogue on a ministerial level between the EEC and the Arab states will not take place before the summer recess. It said the delay was caused by “technical reasons.”
The Arab countries have announced that they would not be able to complete preparations in time. When the dialogue is resumed, Dutch Foreign Minister Christoph van der Klaauw will have been replaced in the rotating chairmanship of the EEC Council of Ministers by Britain’s Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington.
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