The opposition Social Democratic Party has invited the Palestine Liberation Organization to attend the party convention, to be held this October in West Berlin.
The invitation was extended personally by the SPD chairman, Hans-Jochen Vogel. It was not addressed to any individual, but party officials would not be surprised if PLO leader Yasir Arafat attended as the head of a Palestinian delegation.
Vogel, who was minister of justice until 1982, is the SPD’s probable candidate for chancellor in the next national elections. He has always been regarded as a good friend of Israel.
According to political observers, the invitation to the PLO was intended to define the SPD’s foreign policy positions and differentiate them from Chancellor Helmut Kohl’s conservative government.
The invitation was opposed by Anne-Marie Renger, co-chair of the SPD’s parliamentary faction.
She is said to have tried to block it. But Vogel reportedly insisted that the international situation required the PLO to be involved in talks aimed at resolving the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Another ranking member of the SPD, Hans-Juergen Wischnewsky, is considered responsible for inviting the PLO to attend the next meeting of the Socialist International in Stockholm this month.
Israel’s Labor Party, a member of the International, will boycott the session to protest the invitation.
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