Simone Veil, president of the Parliament of Europe, indicated here that the body over which the presides would not invite Yasir Arafat, leader of the Palestine Liberation Organization which is being courted by several European governments, to address that body. Replying to questions at a press conference Saturday, she noted that the European Parliament maintains contacts only with other parliaments.
Veil also observed that the nine member states of the European Economic Community (EEC) cannot be prevented by the European Parliament from launching their planned Middle East initiative. However, she said, the Parliament can express its opinion on the matter. She did not suggest what that opinion might be. Britain, France and West Germany are seeking EEC support to amend Security Council Resolution 242 to refer to the Palestinians as a political entity rather than a refugee problem.
Veil, who is Jewish, and a survivor of Auschwitz met with Chancellor Helmut Schmidt, foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher and other too German officials. At a dinner in her honor Saturday night she said that her visit to West Germany has a strong symbolic and emotional significance for her personally. Asked by a reporter how it felt for her to be in Germany more than 30 years after the war, she replied, “Let me think it over… Everything is so formal, so different.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
