Chancellor Willy Brandt told the European Parliament here yesterday that West Germany’s support of last week’s Middle East resolution of the nine Common Market countries would in no way effect the “special relations” between Bonn and Israel “Nobody will be surprised if I say here that Israeli-German relations have a special character. This characteristic remains untouched. For us there can be no neutrality of the heart and of the conscience,” he said. The resolution of the nine EEC nations adopted in Brussels supported most of the Arab positions in the Middle East conflict. It has been denounced by Israel and others as suppine surrender to Arab oil blackmail.
Brandt referred to the Arab oil boycott of Holland, saying that “This is not the way to make friends. Threats and blackmail can only obstruct constructive developments.” But he defended West Germany’s position on the Brussels resolution on grounds of European unity.
“A choir of contradictory European voices is of no help to anybody, but political unity has its price,” the West German leader said. “It demands discarding accents which some of the member states might want to set more strongly than others. This, seems to be unavoidable but people will have to get used to it,” he said. Brandt noted the Middle East conflict concerned the European community “perhaps more than others. It appeals to our responsibility. It is for that very reason that we make ours the demand for an equitable and durable peace in that region.”
NETHERLANDS EMBARRASSED BY JEWISH SUPPORT
Speaking in the course of a Bundestag debate in Bonn last week, Brandt said the EEC resolution on the Middle East was the first attempt to work toward implementing Security Council Resolution 242. It was also an attempt “to break the vicious circle of violence through reason and argumentation,” he said and noted that it was “unavoidable” that individual states had to shift their positions on the Middle East. He was apparently referring to Holland which went along with the Brussels resolution, though with misgivings.
Netherlands Premier Joopden Uyl reaffirmed over the weekend that his government’s acceptance of the resolution does not conflict with the Netherlands’ traditional policy in the Middle East The Dutch government has always supported the existence of the State of Israel as well as the recognition of Palestinian rights as was set forth in the EEC document, he said.
But today the Dutch government dispatched a top diplomat to Saudi Arabia to convince King Faisal to lift the oil boycott imposed by the Arabs on Holland. The diplomat, former Dutch Ambassador in Washington, Johan H.H. van Royen, is due to meet tomorrow with Faisal and top Saudi aides.
Official circles in the Hague stress the Dutch government’s embarrassment by well-meaning expressions of gratitude It has received from Jews all over the world. The government is currently doing its best to convince the Arab states that it is not pro-Israeli and is not supporting or helping Israel in any manner whatsoever. Dutch Embassies in the Arab countries have been in structured to say that Holland voted for the Common Market resolution and favors the stand of the nine as drawn up by France and Britain.
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