Israeli Foreign Minister Yigal Allon said here today before returning to Israel that his country’s agreement with the European Economic Community (EEC) shows that Europe is not intimidated by Arab threats, Allon, who yesterday signed the trade agreement, also said that the pact shows that the Arab boycott against Israel is not working.
In Spite of Allon’s declaration, EEC officials want out of their way to stress that the agreement signed with Israel is only part of a global settlement for the entire Mediterranean area, EEC officials told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that negotiations with the Arab states will start in autumn, They said that the EEC Commission expects its mandate from the nine member states by late June, Negotiations with Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria are near completion and should be concluded before the end of the year, the officials said.
WORKING RELATIONSHIP BEGUN
The officials were obviously perturbed by Arab protests, which stretched from Algeria to Kuwait, and by Israel’s open jubilation, Officials privately expressed the wish that Israel would make its satisfaction known in a more discreet way.
In spite of this behind-the-scenes maneuvering, Israel and the EEC seem to have started a working relationship, EEC officials are already busy drawing up the official tables and charts listing Israeli exports to Europe on which customs and taxes will drop by 40-60 percent beginning July, Commission President Francois-Xavier Ortolli also accepted an invitation to visit Israel, Ortolli and Allon met for one hour this morning at the EEC’s headquarters and later the Israeli Minister conferred with other Commission members.
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.
