The West German Bundestag (Lower House) yesterday passed the first reading of the German-Israel reparations agreement and, without debate, referred the measure to committee. It has already been passed by the Upper House.
When the bill was presented to the Bundestag, Chancellor Konrad Adenauer told the deputies that it was Germany’s “holy” duty to recompense the Jews for their sufferings. He added that there was no reason why payment of reparations should interfere with traditional Arab-German friendship. He also denied that payment would violate neutrality in the Arab-Israel conflict, pointing out that none of the goods going to Israel was in the nature of armaments or munitions.
German sources today confirmed that Lebanon told Bonn that the reparations pact with Israel would not bring on an economic boycott of Germany. The Lebanese Government, it is understood, has told Bonn that it will conclude a trade agreement with it as soon as the reparations treaty is out of the way.
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