Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky and Soviet Premier Alexei N. Kosygin “agreed that the Middle East crisis is a valid case for the general debate” at the European Security Conference in Helsinki, Finland, an Austrian government spokesman said today. But according to the spokesman, “Kosygin said it should be brought up at a later stage because the agenda is already full of questions of more immediate concern.”
Kreisky and Kosygin concluded four days of talks here yesterday. At a news conference later, Kosygin said the Soviet Union still held to the position that the only way to solve the Middle East crisis was “to support the United Nations Security Council Resolution (242) on the Middle East.” He added that “Israel must withdraw from its occupied territories.”
(A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry said in Jerusalem yesterday that Israel would want to be represented at the Helsinki talks if delegates from any Arab states are invited.
(The Israeli position has been that the Middle East problem should not be included in the Helsinki. agenda. Premier Dom Mintoff of Malta has reportedly said, however, that he will try to get the Tunisian and Algerian foreign ministers invited In that case, Israel will want representation on the same level so that it can state its case too. the spokesman said.
(Mintoff’s efforts are not expected to succeed. In the unlikely case that they do, the U.S. and Canadian delegates would move to have Israel invited Ron Ben Yishai of the Israel Radio reported from Helsinki today.)
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.
