West German Foreign Minister Walter Scheel is due here Wednesday for a four-day visit–the first German Foreign Minister to come to Israel while in office. His tour of the country will include East Jerusalem, Galilee and the Negev. Foreign Ministry officials denied today that Scheel requested not to be taken to the occupied territories. The official said that the time left for sightseeing by Scheel was so short that the question of visiting the occupied areas had not even arisen, “There is no much to see in Israel proper,” the official added.
Scheel’s visit will include talks with Premier Golda Meir and two working cessions with Foreign Minister Abba Eban. The principal subjects are expected to be West Germany’s Ostpolitik–her policy of accommodation with Moscow–and questions arising from Israel’s relations with the European Common Market. Chief among the latter is a document on the Middle East drafted by the six Common Market countries which Israel considers unfavorable. The document has not been adopted as official Common Market policy and Jerusalem is seeking Bonn’s assistance in opposing it when it comes up for discussion.
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