Richard Faber, Assistant Undersecretary at the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, will lead the European team at the European Economic Community (EEC)-Arab dialogue committee meeting which opens tomorrow in Tunis. As reported last week, the EEC will not welcome Arab calls that it should speak out on the need for convening the Geneva conference and for a Palestinian presence there.
It will try to emphasize the commercial and cooperation aspects of Euro-Arab relations. If a political statement proves unavoidable, the European diplomats will be guided by the November, 1973, Luxembourg Declaration of the EEC and by last year’s UN General Assembly statement by the Dutch UN delegation. (See Feb. 2 issue of the Bulletin.)
Meanwhile, more light has been cast on last week’s London meeting of EEC Foreign Ministers and their decision to refrain from a public declaration calling for Palestinian participation at a reconvened Geneva conference.
A draft declaration along these lines had previously been worked out at two levels among the nine EEC Foreign Ministries, first by heads of Middle East sections and then by political Directors-General. When the Foreign Ministers assembled in London under the chairmanship of the British Foreign Secretary, Anthony Crosland; the French minister supported such a declaration.
But, contrary to some reports, the French minister was not supported by his West German colleague and he eventually acceded to the British argument that it was wrong for the EEC to launch its own initiative prior to the Middle East tour by U.S. Secretary of State Cyrus R. Vance.
As the Year Turns, Support the Journalism You Trust. JTA covers the stories shaping Jewish life around the world — with the depth this moment calls for. As you reflect on the year ahead, consider a gift that keeps independent Jewish journalism strong.
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.
