Chancellor Helmut Schmidt of West Germany declared here today that stability in the Middle East depends on a solution of the Palestinian problem and a comprehensive peace settlement it that region which “is not in sight.”
Responding to a question at a Foreign Policy Association luncheon it the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, Schmidt said: “Arabs sill believe the Soviet thrust in the region is a danger but there may be a greater danger with on unsolved Palestinian question. Some of them fear enemies not in Moscow. I hate to say this but the fact that the Palestinian question remains unsolved and that a comprehensive peace treaty is not in sight, is a great handicap for those who wish to preserve stability in the Gulf area.”
Schmidt said that “So for, there has been little progress in the autonomy talks. There is the absence of a possible comprehensive settlement which will have to provide security for the State of Israel on one hand and the rights of the Palestinians.” He said that such a settlement was important to the Israelis, to the Palestinians and to the Arabs, particularly those Islamic countries which are great oil exporters.
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