–Israeli Labor Party leader Shimon Peres will meet tomorrow with West German Chancellor Helmut Schmidt and former Chancellor Willy Brandt on the last leg of a six-day trip to Europe during which he has already met President Valery Giscard d’Estaing of France, British Prime Minister Margaret That-cher, Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky and former Dutch Prime Minister Joop den Uyl.
Peres, who was resting today in the south of France before leaving for Bonn, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that his trip “has been positive and constructive” and that he felt that Europe” is prepared to listen to Israel’s explanations of her policies and stand.”
Peres has reportedly told the West European statesmen with whom he has conferred that though the Labor Party will make definite changes in foreign and internal policies if elected, “There is an Israeli consensus on a number of basic factors such as Jerusalem and a refusal to negotiate with the Palestine Liberation Organization.”
He also called on the leaders to help bridge the gulf between Europe and Israel by adopting a more neutral stance in the Middle East conflict, to press King Hussein of Jordan to join the peace talks and to develop economic cooperation with the region.
On several occasions, the Israeli Labor leader warned that “History will not wait endlessly for King Hussein.” He also said that Europe “must put aside and forget the June, 1980 Venice Declaration” if it still wants to play a role in the Middle East.
The Venice Declaration, issued by the chiefs of states and governments of the nine European Economic Community (EEC) member states at their summit meeting last summer, called for recognition of the PLO as one of the negotiating parties in the search for a solution in the Middle East.
Peres flew to London last Friday for meetings with Thatcher, Foreign Secretary Lord Carrington and British opposition leader Michael Foot. Yesterday, he flew to Vienna for a two hour lunch with Kreisky at the latter’s home. It was an intimate and semi-private affair attended only by Kreisky and his wife, Peres and his aide Yose Beilin.
Austrian sources told the JTA later that Kreisky advocated a dual approach to the Middle East problem: exploration of the Jordanian option while associating the Palestinians, presumably the PLO, in the search for a global settlement. The sources said the Chancellor pursued the approach he first developed last November during the Socialist International meeting in Madrid.
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