Israel May Not Renew Reparations Talks with Germany

The Israel Government will not continue its reparations talks with West Germany on the basis of the German offer to recognize $750,000,000 as the sum Germany owes Israel as reparations but not as a sum which West Germany is prepared to pay to clear that obligation, the London Times reported today in a cable from its Tel Aviv correspondent.

The report says that the German reparations offer has “disappointed the Israel Government and angered many of its supporters.” It points out that there is an inclination in Israel “to doubt the good faith of the Germans.”

“It appears.” the report states,” that an agreement was reached between the Germans and Israeli delegations at The Hague that differences of opinion which arose in the early Part of the conference Should be left over for discussion at the second stage of the talks, and that before the end of the first stage the Germans should stats what sum they regard as fair. What the Germans have done is to state the sum as an admitted debt, but not as an amount they are prepared to pay,” the report explains. “It is this distinction which caused resentment in Israel.

“If Germany’s admitted debt is to be reckoned on the basis of commercial debts which are now under discussion at the London conference on Germany’s pre-war external debts, and is to be whittled down to fit calculations of Germany’s capacity to pay, and if the final payment is to be stretched over a long period of years, many members of the Israel coalition government–especially those of the Religious Bloc who voted in favor of negotiating with Germany may now feel compelled to oppose any prolongation of talks, “the correspondent says.