A succession of prominent European Socialist leaders, attending the Labor Party convention as guests, reaffirmed their friendship for Israel last night but at the same time spoke out strongly for the rights of the Palestinian people, including a state of their own.
With the convention focused on the leadership struggle between Premier Yitzhak Rabin and Defense Minister Shimon Peres, to be decided tonight, there was little time to consider the significance of these remarks by Israel’s Socialist allies. But to some observers it appeared obvious that on certain issues it regards as crucial to its future, Israel cannot count on the support of its traditional friends. (The 3000 delegates to the Labor Party convention began to vote this afternoon but close to midnight the ballots had not yet been officially tabulated.)
Premier Joop Den Uyl of Holland, told the convention “Our commitment to Israel is as firm as a rock.” But he went on to say, “The time has come when the Palestinian people are entitled to some form of territorial expression of their national aspirations.” Former West German Chancellor Willy Brandt had a similar message. “Israel does not stand alone,” he declared to rousing applause. But, he observed later in his address, “The Palestinians must be enabled to develop the kind of national identity acceptable to themselves.”
PALME BOOSTS PLO
Former Premier Olaf Palme of Sweden, speaking at a press conference in the convention hall, said the Palestinians had to be granted “territorial expression” and thought that should be done through the Palestine Liberation Organization. “I think the PLO is the most representative body of the Palestinian people,” Palme said. “The PLO should be given the right to self-expression in accordance with the principle that everybody has that right even if you do not like it.”
He claimed that the PLO was not a terrorist organization “even though there are terrorist groups within it,” adding that it should “not be judged” by the activities of those groups.
Chancellor Bruno Kreisky of Austria confirmed to reporters when he arrived here yesterday that he had conveyed a plan for a Palestinian state to the Israeli government for its consideration. He said the plan, presented to him by PLO, “moderate” Issam Sartawi, envisioned a Palestine state consisting of the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and two small enclaves within the pre-1967 Israeli borders.
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