Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir called on European countries today to adopt a fairer attitude over the Middle East conflict. Shamir who met Belgian Foreign Minister Charles Ferdinand Nothomb on the final leg of a European tour, said the partners of the European Economic Community (SEC) should encourage the peace talks already begun between Cairo and Jerusalem and back the “moderate elements of the region and discourage the extremists.”
Shamir, whose tour has been aimed at countering reported EEC plans for a new Middle East initiative which might be announced at a summit meeting in Venice June 12-13, said Israel refused to deal with the PLO. He said an EEC proposal to include the PLO in the peace talks would be unacceptable to Israel.
Nothomb told Shamir that Belgium favored an association of the Palestinians with the peace talks in “one way or another.” He added that the wished that all Palestinian factions including the PLO, could express their views. Shamir is scheduled to meet Belgian Premier Wilfried Martens before returning home.
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