Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens emphatically ruled out the Palestine Liberation Organization as a possible partner in peace negotiations.
He also refused to say whether or not Israel has chemical weapons of any kind. But he said the Jewish state would abide by any international agreements banning the production and use of chemical weapons.
Arens is representing Israel here at an international conference to ban chemical weapons, attended by 141 nations. He is also using the occasion for high-level diplomatic contacts.
He followed an apparently successful meeting with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard Shevardnadze Sunday by one Monday morning with Foreign Minister Qian Qichen of the People’s Republic of China.
While it was described as cordial, it produced few concrete results. Both sides failed to agree on the role the PLO should play in the search for a Middle East peace settlement.
Nevertheless, Qian and Arens agreed, at the Chinese official’s suggestion, to remain in contact through their respective missions to the United Nations.
Arens continued to blast the PLO at a news conference Monday. He alleged it has “perpetrated some of the worst atrocities since the second World War.”
MEETINGS WITH TURKISH OFFICIAL
He contended that contacts by other countries with the PLO give it a certain amount of respectability and recognition. According to Arens, that is counterproductive to the search for peace in the Middle East.
Arens said he has relayed that point of view to all of the foreign leaders he has met here.
He may have clashed on that issue with Foreign Minister Mesut Yilmaz of Turkey, which recognized the independent Palestinian state proclaimed by PLO chief Yasir Arafat in Algiers in November.
Arens reportedly told the Turkish foreign minister, whose country has diplomatic relations with Israel, that its position is considered unfriendly.
Arens said he also asked other countries to abstain from any new peace initiatives to give the Israeli government time to work out its own peace plan, which he promised will be unveiled shortly.
A half dozen of the Arab states attending the conference charged that Israel is stockpiling chemical weapons. According to Tarik Aziz, the Iraqi foreign minister, Israel has used them against the Palestinian population in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Arens’ response was deliberately evasive, as has been Israel’s response over the years to claims that it has stockpiled nuclear weapons.
The foreign minister refused to give a flat yes or no when asked directly if Israel possesses chemical weapons. He said the conference should concentrate on countries which have such weapons and have already used them. He mentioned Iraq and Libya in that connection.
As for Israel, “those who attack us will find us ready to defend ourselves, as we have always been,” Arens said.
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.
