Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir, in talks with Rumanian officials on a visit to Bucharest, has rejected Rumanian advocacy of an international conference on the Mideast, in which both the Soviet Union and the United States would have key roles, according to reports from Bucharest received here today.
Shamir argued that the ability of the Soviet Union to make a contribution toward resolving Mideast problems was necessarily restricted by its lack of diplomatic ties with Israel. The Soviet Union and all the Eastern bloc states, except Rumania, broke off ties with Israel at the time of the Six-Day war.
Shamir’s remarks were interpreted by some observers as intended to encourage Rumania to try to persuade the Soviet Union to revive its virtually non-existent contacts with Israel and perhaps eventually to resume relations with Israel.
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