The Persian Gulf states may be willing to consider breaking their economic boycott against Israel, but not until peace talks with the Jewish state begin, according to European Community leaders.
The foreign ministers of the 12 E.C. states raised the boycott issue during trade talks in Luxembourg over the weekend with the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council.
The Gulf states’ responses were cautious, according to Jacques Poos, the foreign minister of Luxembourg, who currently holds the rotating chairmanship of the E.C. Council of Ministers.
“They are waiting for an opening from Israel, but they are not opposed to the principle of reconsidering the boycott measures once the peace process has started,” he told reporters Sunday.
“They said the Arab side had already made a lot of concessions,” Poos added.
The Gulf Cooperation Council consists of Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, all major oil producers.
The E.C. ministers’ talks with them preceded a scheduled meeting in Brussels on Tuesday with Israeli Foreign Minister David Levy to discuss a European role in the Middle East peace conference the United States is trying to arrange.
Poos said the Gulf states were backing Secretary of State James Baker’s initiative. The foreign minister of Qatar, the current chairman of the cooperation council, told the Europeans that the member states were willing to participate in a Middle East peace conference as an observer.
A statement issued in Luxembourg said they would also participate “in any meetings that will include the countries of the region to discuss issues pertaining to arms control and destruction of all weapons of mass destruction, water resources and protection of the environment.”
The United States called that statement a “breakthrough,” but Israel dismissed it, insisting that every Arab country technically in a state of war with Israel must participate fully in peace talks with it.
Levy will meet the 12 E.C. foreign ministers in the framework of the annual session of the E.C.-Israel Cooperation Council, a body that oversees the trade and cooperation agreements Israel has signed with the Europeans.
According to diplomatic sources, their talks will be mainly about an E.C. role in the proposed peace conference, which would be co-sponsored by the United States and the Soviet Union.
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