Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir is due here today for talks with Belgian officials and representatives of the European Economic Community (EEC) on the Middle East. The Israeli minister is visiting several European countries in an attempt to sidetrack an expected initiative by the Common Market countries to alter Security Council Resolution 242 in a way that would confer political legitimacy on the Palestinians.
While in Brussels, Shamir will meet the Belgian Premier and the Foreign Minister as well as the President of the EEC Commission. Israel’s Ambassador to Belgium, I.S. Minerbi, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that it was natural that Shamir would want to exchange views with EEC leaders considering the role the community seeks to play in the Middle East.
Shamir is especially interested to know the position the Common Market countries’ leaders can be expected to take at their summit meeting in Venice, June 12-13. They plan to announce a new peace initiative in the Middle East on that occasion.
Shamir already has met Dutch and Danish officials. In the Netherlands last week, he was assured by Foreign Minister Christoph Van Der Kloauw that the EEC leaders will not submit a pan at their Venice conference to have the Camp David agreements replaced by an altered version of Resolution 242. The Dutch diplomat stated that the Camp David formulas must remain the cornerstone of the Mideast peace process. But the European leaders will make a statement on the Middle East in Venice.
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