The Israel Foreign Ministry was reported today to be considering the possibility of dealing with an expected boycott of the annual Independence Day parade by many foreign diplomats here through the device of not issuing invitations to them. The parade will be held here on May 15.
A number of West European countries, as well as the United States and the Soviet Union, are opposed to the staging of Israeli military parades in Jerusalem which is on the Jordanian border. They also do not recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, maintaining their embassies in the vicinity of Tel Aviv.
Another approach reportedly being mulled was that of issuing invitations only to those diplomats stationed in Jerusalem. The British Embassy has already announced that Ambassador Michael Haddow will not attend and it was generally believed that the United States, France, the Soviet Union and the East European bloc countries will follow suit.
Observers here noted that the foreign governments apparently were ignoring the fact that armaments scheduled for display in the parade will be in accordance with the limitations specified in the Israeli-Jordanian Mixed Armistice Agreement. Israel informed the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization headquarters two weeks ago about the troops and arms for the parade in detail.
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