The Israel delegation, after announcing yesterday the suspension of the reparations talks with the West German delegation, was today awaiting instructions from Tel Aviv as to whether its members should remain here or return to Israel.
The German delegation has, in the meantime, continued its sessions with the representatives of the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany, which speaks in behalf of Jewish groups outside of Israel. The Germans announced that the question of the $500,000,000 claimed by the Conference will not be discussed until after the Easter recess. Today’s session was, therefore, devoted to working on differences still existing between the two delegations regarding legislation on restitution and indemnification to individual victims of Nazism requested by the Conference.
The length of the Easter recess has not been definitely fixed, but the German talks with the Conference delegation are scheduled to end tonight, and the Germans indicated that the resumption of discussions will coincide with the renewal of the London conference on German external debts May 19.
A spokesman for the German delegation today stated that the total cost of meeting the demands of Israel and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims, together with the sums which Germany would have to pay to individuals if the legislation proposed by the Conference were adopted, would be $3,000,000,000, one-half of which would go to the two negotiating Jewish groups and the remainder to individuals.
The general feeling here today was that there may not be any second stage to the negotiations with the German delegation unless there is a definite change of heart on the part of the Germans. The German delegation still insists on lumping Israel’s claim with those of other debtor nations. The Israel delegation insists that its claim, based on crimes committed by the Nazi Government, should be considered apart from purely commercial claims of other countries against Germany.
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