Foreign Minister Jacques Poos of Luxembourg, who is here on a three day visit, called on Israel to recognize the right of Palestinians to self-determination. In addition, he said that any Middle East peace talks must include the Palestine Liberation Organization.
Poos met Monday with 15 Palestinians from the West Bank, most of them prominent PLO supporters. According to participants at the meeting, he said he supported the 1980 Venice Declaration of the European Economic Community (EEC) that supported Palestinian self-determination and the inclusion of the PLO in Mideast peace talks.
During his visit to Israel, Poos also met with Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, who told him that terrorism would have to be eliminated before other Mideast problems could be resolved. Poos reportedly agreed with Shamir’s assessment that there would be a continuation of the talks between Israel and the Soviet Union which began in Helsinki last week.
In addition, Poos promised to help Israel in speeding up the negotiations on its agricultural exports to the EEC. The talks have been bogged down because of Spanish objections to the proposed tariff-free quotas for Israel. Luxembourg will raise the issue at the meeting of EEC Foreign Ministers next month.
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