The Socialist international ended its leadership conference here yesterday with the 22 delegations almost evenly spilt over whether the International’s president, former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt, and its vice president, Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, should have met with Yasir Arafat, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization in Vienna earlier this month.
The conference debated the issue for four hours in closed session Friday with Kreisky defending his actions and Shimon Peres, chairman of Israel’s Labor Party, strongly condemning it. Brandt, who is also chairman of West Germany’s ruling Social Democratic. Party, did not attend the conference due to illness.
“We cannot deal with an organization which wants to put an end to the very existence of the State of Israel,” Peres said after the meeting. He enumerated the sections of the PLO Charter which calls for the destruction of Israel and declared that “no Socialist or democratic state can accept such conditions.” Kreisky said that “the major difference is that for Peres the PLO is not a partner for negotiations while I think the time will come when the PLO will become a negotiating partner.” He stressed, “I will continue my contacts with Arafat if I find them useful (in the search for peace) and efficient.”
Sources told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that several delegations, including those from Ireland, Holland, Norway and Senegal opposed Kreisky’s initiative. The Austrian Chancellor’s chief supporter during the debate was former Swedish Premier Olaf Palme.
DISSATISFIED ON THREE MAJOR POINTS
Peres and Kreisky met far two hours Friday before the start of the two-day conference. Peres said he had expressed the Labor Party’s dissatisfaction on three major points: that Kreisky and Brandt had not condemned Palestinian terrorism while they did criticize Israeli settlements on the West Bank; that they failed to react when Arafat compared Israel’s administration of the territories to the “Nazi occupation”; and that they had agreed to meet with Arafat without obtaining a pledge that the PLO’s Charter would be changed to eliminate the clauses calling for the destruction of Israel.
Peres also appealed to the Socialist leaders here not to abandon their traditional pro-Israeli policy. He pointed to Israel’s contributions to socialism and democracy. Peres stressed that it would be harmful to Israel’s interests if a PLO delegation was invited to a Socialist International meeting, even as on observer.
It is believed that Brandt and Kreisky plan to invite a PLO delegation to the Socialist International meeting in Madrid next year. A decision on this is expected to be made when the Socialist International Bureau meets in Lisbon Oct. 30-31.
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