Chancellor Willy Brandt said here following talks with Premier Golda Meir that differences of opinion between West Germany and Israel were less than some had expected prior to his four-day visit to Israel which ends tomorrow. He announced that Mrs. Meir has accepted his invitation to visit West Germany at a date yet to be set.
But the West German leader also made it clear that he regards the “special relationship” which once characterized Bonn-Israel relations to be superceded by “normal relations” of a “special character” stemming from what Brandt described as “the sombre background of the National Socialist reign of terror.”
Brandt stressed repeatedly at a State dinner in his honor Thursday night, at a press conference Friday, at a banquet he gave for Premier Meir last night and on other public occasions that the past can be neither undone nor forgotten. But he stressed equally West Germany’s intention to maintain strict “evenhandedness” in the Middle East dispute, and that while his country was prepared to help bring the two sides together it offered neither mediation nor advice.
At the State dinner, however, Brandt appeared to be asking both Israel and the Arab states to take example from his “Ostpolitik” (rapprochement with the Communist bloc) which he said “has been no easy path” and has “required us to give up illusions and indeed to abandon hopes which had been right on their side” because “without a secure peace, all hope would be in vain.” Brandt assured his Israeli audience that “Ostpolitik” was not intended to put anyone at a disadvantage. Mrs. Meir responded by saying that Israel’s neighbors must learn the lesson of “Ostpolitik.”
POLITICAL SOLUTION IN MIDEAST SOUGHT
At his press conference, Brandt again expressed the hope that West Germany’s success at detente “can be infectious.” He said the stabilization of peaceful conditions in Europe “is an element of security for the Mediterranean region, too.”
He stated that his policy since taking office has been to maintain normal diplomatic relations with all countries that want such relations with West Germany. He added that improving relations with one country did not mean deterioration of relations with another. “To be more specific, improving relations with another country will not be at the expense of the State of Israel,” Brandt said. He noted that the Israeli Government shared this view.
Brandt said in reply to questions that at their recent meeting in Bonn. Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid I, Brezhnev had not asked him to carry any messages to Israel. But, he said, he did convey to Premier Meir some of his impressions of his talks with Brezhnev and other world leaders. However, Brandt added, “It would be very unwise were I to report on details of these talks other than to give my impression that, despite all differences between leaders of the world powers, all of them are interested in a political solution in the Middle East.”
Brandt said West Germany would try, in talks with both parties in the Middle East, to be as objective as possible. “That does not mean only to try to be aware of the positions but we want to introduce elements which we consider to be on the line of reason.”
WIDE RANGE OF TOPICS DISCUSSED
Brandt stressed that Israel and West Germany have had normal relations since they exchanged ambassadors eight years ago but these have always been in the context of the historical background of the past, “Without the acceptance of our share of responsibility for the crimes which Nazism committed abusing the name of Germany, external freedom would not be credible nor reliable,” he said. “The three decades that separate us from the days of horror made us forget nothing of what must not be forgotten,” he said.
The German leader said his talks with Premier Meir included cooperation between their two countries, international relations in general, the Middle East conflict and the problems confronting that region. He said Israel’s viewpoint was presented “in a frank manner.” adding that this did not signify wide differences.
The Chancellor said another topic of discussion was the relations between the European Economic Community and the Middle East region. He said on that subject he was in a dilemma because he strongly favored political cooperation between the nine Common Market countries, yet there are substantive differences among them on such subjects as the Middle East. He said, however, that Israel’s economic and political interests in the EEC were consonant with West Germany’s views. “We shall bear them in mind when the enlarged community goes about the task of working out a comprehensive and balanced, policy for the Mediterranean,” he said.
Brandt said that the matter of compensation for Nazi victims was not brought up in his talks with Mrs. Meir. He said he held out little hope that people not covered by existing legislation would be brought into a new framework of restitution, but noted that negotiations were proceeding with Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress.
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.
