Germans Delay Offer of Definite Sum to Israel and Jewish Groups

The West German Government will not be able to set a definite sum to be paid in settlement of the claims of the State of Israel and the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany without considering its obligations to other creditors, Prof. Franz Boehm, head of the German delegation at the reparations talks here, said this week-end.

Prof. Boehm said that the next few days would be devoted to clarifying points of difference still existing between the Germans and the claims conference and declared that before recessing the talks for Easter, his delegation would be able to announce what sums it would recommend to the West German Government. Official announcement of the sums the German Government would be prepared to pay, Prof. Boehm said, would be made after Easter.

Asked if the setting of these sums would be a unilateral action, Prof. Boehm expressed hope that the German and Israeli delegations would be able to agree on a sum that both delegations could recommend to their respective governments. He admitted, however, that there could be no assurance that the German Government would accept this recommendation.

“It is our hope that before recessing next week to have reached agreement on a single sum which we will ask our Government to pay and the Israel delegation will ask its Government to accept,” Prof. Boehm declared. Asked for assurance that the German Government would accept this recommendation, he added: “There can be no such assurance. Our government must bear in mind the connection of this debt with all other debts.”

Asked by a correspondent whether his delegation had not agreed with the Israel and Jewish delegations that the Hague discussions had no connection with the current London conference on Germany’s external debts, Prof. Boehm replied: “We did not agree there was no connection. We did make definite statements, however, defining that connection. We agreed that the task of determining the sums was up to the German delegation. But Germany is not in a position to meet all these external debts. There is so much money available to the government and this money has to be divided among all creditors.”

Asked further if he did not differentiate between the debt due to the Jews because of criminal acts committed against them and commercial debts due to others, the German spokesman replied: “The talks here were called to discuss obligations, not to take action against criminals. According to law, there are two kinds of obligations, one arising from contact, the other from criminal action. The law, however, does not recognize the priority of one type over the other. In fact, it forbids a debtor from making a choice. Only by agreement among the creditors can priority be established.”

ISRAEL DELEGATION INSISTS ON IMMEDIATE OFFER

The Israel delegation is interested only in an authoritative offer from the German delegation and will not consider any offer not backed by the German Government, the delegation announced here today. Referring to the statement by German delegation head, Prof. Franz Boehm, that the sum the delegation would recommend to the German Government would be announced within a few days, the Israeli spokesman said:

“We have notified the German delegation what we expect from them, before we recess for the Eastern holidays, an answer from their government, not a recommendation to their government.” It is understood here that the Israeli position was put very strongly before the German delegation.