Schmidt Reaffirms Mideast Policy, Also Cites Special Relationship Between Bonn and Jerusalem

Chancellor Helmut Schmidt has made it clear that he is standing by his positions on the Middle East, including self-determination for the Palestinian people and association of the Palestine Liberation Organization in the Mideast peace process, notwithstanding an official protest from Israel and a bitter personal attack on him by Premier Menachem Begin.

However, in a lengthy policy statement to the Bundestag today, Schmidt seemed to take a conciliatory approach to Israel and to acknowledge the special relationship existing between Bonn and Jerusalem which Begin accused the Chancellor of forgetting. He said he would not respond directly to Begin’s

charges “precisely because I am aware of the special moral and historical quality of German-Israeli relations.”

Neveretheless, at meetings with the parliamentary factions of his Social Democratic (SPD) and Free Democratic (FDP) coalition parties in the Bundestag and with his Cabinet, Schmidt defended his view that the Palestinians deserve self-determination and the right to establish their own state if they wish.

He insisted that the PLO should be a party to Western initiated peace moves in the Middle East to keep it from falling into Russian hands. He deplored the fact that the Palestinians and Israelis have each refused to recognize the other.

DEFENDS SPECIAL COMMITMENT TO PALESTIANS

Schmidt also defended his remark that West Germany has a special commitment to the Palestinians driven from their homes on the West Bank, an assertion that infuriated Begin. According to observers here it is based on a theory gaining ground in Bonn circles that since the Third Reich was in a way responsible for the creation of the State of Israel, it also had a responsiblity for the “Palestinian tragedy” which its successor had a duty to help mitigate.

Referring to his recent visit to the Middle East in his Bundestag statement, Schmidt said that he and the Arab leaders he met agreed on the need for a comprehensive peace settlement from which “Israel was not excluded.” He noted that Israel is celebrating the 33rd anniversary of its independence today and said he continued to hope for a comprehensive, just peace and that in this he spoke for all Germans.

Schmidt did not refer directly to the accusations hurled at him by Begin earlier in the week that he had lost sight of Germany’s slaughter of European Jewry and was now making common cause with those who wanted to finish the Holocaust. Begin also implied that Schmidt may have been a Nazi and claimed that in any event, as a Wehrmacht officer in World War II, he had never abandoned his oath of loyalty to Hitler. Begin claimed the German nation “applauded” the slaughter of Jews when Germany as victorious.

SCHMIDT’S REMARKS ASSAILED BY NAVON, SHAMIR

Schmidt’s remarks on the Palestinians and the PLO were also sharply criticized by President Yitzhak Navon of Israel and by Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir but in more temperate language. Schmidt’s only reply today was to caution his critics to “beware of getting excited. Let us beware of exaggerated polemics but let us also beware of dangerous simplifications, “he said.

Bonn government spokesman Kurt Becker refused to comment on the remarks by Israeli leaders today, saying that West Germany does not want a further escalation of the dispute. Yesterday, the Israeli Ambassador, Yochanan Meroz paid a long scheduled visit to the Bonn Foreign Ministry where he discussed the situation with a senior official. Although Israel has lodged a formal protest against Schmidt’s remarks, Bonn refrained from taking similar action over the attacks by Begin.

Meanwhile, the West German State Radio and the German press continued to defend Schmidt and focused largely on Begin’s “undiplomatic” language. But same newspapers suggested that the Chancellor had failed to appreciate fully the effects his pro-Arab policies would have on Israeli public opinion and failed to show restraint and good sense in that connection.

Schmidt was also criticized in some quarters for his failure to respond to a long standing invitation to visit Israel, extended by previous governments and renewed by the Begin government.

JEWISH COMMUNITY ATTACKS CHANCELLOR

Schmidt also came under attack from the Jewish community in West Germany which ordinarily refrains from criticizing government actions. Werner Nachman, chairman of the community, warmed against endangering relations with Israel and reminded the government of what he termed a basic consensus of all democratic parties in the country that the partners in Middle East peace talks can only be those which do not question the Jewish State’s right to exist.

At the same time, Helmut Kohl, leader of the opposition Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who had criticized Schmidt’s handling of relations with Israel, said today that there was no excuse for the tone of Begin’s attack on the Chancellor.