The commercial agreement made last June between Israel and the European Economic Community should be followed “in the nearest future” by a full pact associating Israel with the Common Market, Jean Duvieusart, president of the European Parliament, declared here today. He made that statement upon returning from Israel as the head of an European Parliament delegation which spent a week in Israel.
Meanwhile, the Belgische Israelitisch Weekblad, the Antwerp Jewish weekly, charged today that the Belgian Government Department for External Trade had placed itself “in the service of the Arab Boycott Committee.”
The weekly asserted that four Belgian firms, a few months ago received written demands from the Arab committee to halt all relations with Israel. The weekly added that the department called to the attention of the companies that they would be placed on the Arab blacklist if they failed to give written guarantees they would end trade with Israel.
The publication asked whether the Belgian Minister for Foreign Trade, Mr. Brasseur, was aware of the action of the department and whether he approved it.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
