The proclamation of an independent Palestinian state Tuesday had widely different receptions in Western Europe and the Third World this week.
Nearly 30 Asian, African and Latin American countries formally recognized the new state of Palestine, in the 48 hours following Palestine Liberation Organization chief Yasir Arafat’s declaration at the end of the Palestine National Council’s meeting in Algiers.
But the European Community refused to be stampeded. Several Western governments, though not objecting in principle to a Palestinian state, cited legal reasons for withholding recognition.
Pressure was building within the community, however, to extend some form of recognition to Palestine. It emanated mainly from Greece, the most pro-Arab of the 12 E.C. member states, but also from certain quarters in West Germany, one of the most pro-Israel of the Western partners.
The Israelis meanwhile have mounted a fierce diplomatic offensive trying to persuade their friends and allies to reject the PLO bid.
Israel is particularly upset that Turkey, a non-Arab Moslem country which maintains diplomatic relations with Israel, was one of the first to recognize the Palestinian state.
Turkey, straddling both Europe and Asia, is an important member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. Historically at odds with Greece, it seems to see eye-to-eye with Athens on the Palestinian issue.
The Turkish charge d’affaires, Ekrem Guvendiren, was summoned to the Foreign Ministry in Jerusalem Wednesday to hear Israel’s complaint.
LEGITIMIZES TERROR
He was warned by the ministry’s director general, Yeshayahu Anug, that the Algiers proclamation conferred legitimacy on international terrorism, meaning the PLO.
The Turkish emissary responded that since his government has always recognized the PLO as “the legitimate representative of the Palestinian people,” it respects its decision in Algiers.
The Israelis were relieved to learn that a Radio Monte Carlo report that Egypt had recognized Palestine was erroneous. Egypt is the only Arab country that has a peace treaty with Israel and full diplomatic relations.
Egypt was one of several countries, including the Soviet Union, East Germany and Greece, which welcomed the Palestinian declaration but stopped short of recognition.
In Paris, Foreign Minister Roland Dumas read a statement to the National Assembly Wednesday, in which he explained that France had no basic reason not to recognize independent Palestine but was constrained by legal considerations.
Dumas pointed out that most Palestinians live “in a land over which there is no recognized sovereignty.”
He thought the PNC’s belated endorsement of U.N. Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338 “lifts one of the major obstacles to a mutual recognition by Israel and the Palestinians.”
President Francois Mitterrand may sympathize with the Palestinian state when he meets with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow next week.
If Gorbachev thinks he has Western European support on the matter, he may likely raise it in his meetings with President Reagan and President-elect George Bush in Washington next month.
Switzerland said Wednesday that it cannot recognize the new Palestinian state because “it does not have a government nor fixed and internationally recognized frontiers.”
A Foreign Ministry spokesman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency in Geneva that Swiss criteria for recognition is that a country possess territory, a population and a government.
In Bonn, Education Minister Juergen Moellemann urged the West German government to recognize the newly proclaimed Palestinian state.
Moellemann is known to have influence in foreign policy circles. He also chairs the Association for German-Arab Friendship and staunchly supports Arab causes.
CIRCULATING PETITIONS
In Amsterdam, pro-Arab groups are circulating petitions urging the Netherlands government to recognize the independent Palestinian state.
The Netherlands Palestine Committee and the Association of Palestinians in Holland are soliciting signatures to send to political parties.
Greece is expected to press the ministers to recommend European recognition of Palestine, when the E.C. heads of state and government gather in Athens in December for their regular six-month meeting.
According to reports from Athens, the Socialist government of Premier Andreas Papandreou will announce next week recognition of independent Palestine and, at the same time, will extend de jure recognition to Israel.
Greece and Israel have had only limited diplomatic ties since the Papandreou regime took power in 1980. Although the Israeli diplomat assigned to Athens holds the rank of ambassador, his status is that of diplomatic representative.
This puts Israel on the same level as the PLO, which maintains a diplomatic mission in the Greek capital. Austria is the only other European country where the PLO enjoys such status.
Greek sentiment in favor of recognizing Palestine is said to be shared to some degree by Italy, Spain and Portugal, but not by Belgium, where E.C. headquarters are located.
‘OUT OF THE QUESTION’
A Foreign Ministry spokesman in Brussels indicated Wednesday that recognition of the Palestinian state is “out of the question” at this time.
The countries that have so far recognized the state of Palestine are Algeria, Iraq, Malaysia, Kuwait, Tunisia, Saudi Arabia, North Yemen, South Yemen, Madagascar, Turkey, Bahrain, Jordan, Zambia, Bangladesh, Libya, United Arab Emirates, Indonesia, India, Mauritania, Yugoslavia, Morocco and Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Sudan, Cuba, Brunei, Afghanistan and Qatar.
Countries that have supported the Palestinian action but stopped short of formal recognition include Egypt, the Soviet Union, Greece, East Germany, Syria, Poland, Czechoslovakia, Malta, Cyprus and Oman.
The Times of London reported Thursday that the newly declared Palestinian state plans to apply to compete in the 1992 Olympic Games to be held in Barcelona.
Applicants must have teams recognized by at least five international sports federations to be allowed to compete in the Olympics.
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