Poland and Israel resumed full diplomatic relations Tuesday at ceremonies in Warsaw.
Poland thereby became the third Eastern European country to restore ties with Israel severed in the aftermath of the Six-Day War nearly 23 years ago.
Hungary was the first to resume relations with Israel last September. Czechoslovakia followed on Feb. 9. Romania never broke diplomaticties.
Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens and his Polish counterpart, Krzysztof Skubiszewski, technically signed a protocol Tuesday elevating the present low-level interests sections the countries maintain in Warsaw and Tel Aviv respectively to full-fledged embassies.
The heads of those interests sections automatically became the accredited ambassadors. Israel’s envoy to Warsaw, Mordechai Palzur, took part in Tuesday’s signing ceremony.
Arens said after the ceremony that Israel would assist Poland in the economic field and hoped Poland would support Israel diplomatically in the international arena.
The Israeli foreign minister was accompanied to Poland by a large delegation of Israeli industrialists and business leaders. They contacted Polish business leaders and institutions to discuss mutual trade and investments in Poland.
TRANSIT POINT FOR SOVIET JEWS
An immediate benefit for Israel is Poland’s expressed willingness to allow stopover privileges for Soviet Jews immigrating to Israel.
The Polish authorities said they would allow the Jewish Agency for Israel to station representatives in Warsaw to help the Jews in transit and that accommodations would be available at hotels and guest houses.
Until the Soviet authorities allow direct flights between Moscow and Tel Aviv, Soviet Jews en route to Israel need a transit point in a third country.
The Israeli daily Davar reported Tuesday that the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Arab League have told Poland that they are not against the restoration of ties.
But the Arab League’s secretary-general, Chedli Klibi, is said to have asked Poland not to allow its Jewish citizens to immigrate to Israel, for fear they will settle in the West Bank or Gaza Strip.
In Warsaw, Arens spent Tuesday meeting with ranking Polish government officials, including President Wojciech Jaruzelski and Prime Minister Tadeusz Mazowiecki.
At a dinner for Arens on Monday night, Foreign Minister Skubiszewski said it had been a mistake to cut diplomatic ties with Israel in 1967. He said his government regretted it, even though it had nothing to do with the breach.
Arens observed that it is difficult for an Israeli to visit Eastern European countries, “because they are the graveyard of the Jewish people.”
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