Middle East meetings

Press, 8 April 1987, Page 16

Middle East meetings

Two separate moves towards a peace conference in the Middle East are being pursued at the moment; a conference sponsored by the United Nations is at least a possible outcome. The first significant step came in February when the European Economic Community’s foreign ministers made a declaration on the Middle East advocating a conference. The ministers suggested that neither Israel nor any Arab country should do anything in the meantime to make the situation more tense.

This is the first important E.E.C. initiative on the Middle East since 1980 when the E.E.C. issued its Venice Declaration which urged Israel to end its occupation of territory taken over in the 1967 war, and said that all countries in the area, including Israel, had the right to existence and security. The declaration also said that the Palestinians should have a right to self-determination. The E.E.C. grants aid to the Palestinians in the territories occupied by Israel and allows certain products from these territories preferential access to the E.E.C.

The latest E.E.C. initiative included the statement that, “without prejudging future political solutions, the 12 (members of the E.E.C.) wish to see an improvement in the living conditions of the inhabitants of the occupied territories, particularly regarding their economic, social, cultural and administrative affairs. In other words, the E.E.C. does not want to commit itself, or perhaps show its hand, on the question of a Palestinian State, but does not want the Palestinians to be a permanently deprived people.

The second move for a peace conference is coming from the Middle East itself. King Hussein of Jordan is pursuing with vigour a plan to bring Arabs, including Palestinians, and Israelis to the negotiating table. This has become linked to the E.E.C. proposal. Belgium is the present chairman of the E.E.C. and the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Mr Tindemans, plans to drum up support in the E.E.C., and in the Middle East, for the conference proposal. King Hussein has held talks in the Netherlands, is holding talks in Belgium, and plans to go to Britain. Ministers

of the Arab League, who have been meeting in Tunis, are in favour of the E.E.C. conference proposal.

The European and Arab initiatives come at a time when the United States has lost considerable credibility in the Middle East, mainly because of the sale of arms to Iran. There will almost inevitably be a delay before the United States will be in a position to attempt a new initiative, and have the standing to see it through. The main concern of American foreign policy at the moment is to achieve a degree of arms control with the Soviet Union. In such circumstances, the United States will almost certainly welcome any effort the E.E.C. makes in attempting to get the Arab-Israeli conflict resolved.

Dreadful events continue in Lebanon. In Beirut, for instance, Palestinian refugees are starving because fighting between Arab factions prevents them from being fed. This savage twist to the Middle East tragedy does not involve Israel, except that the presence of the Palestinians in Lebanon was caused in the first place by the war which drove them from the land which became Israel. The events in Lebanon are a reminder that if there is peace between Israel and its Arab neighbours, this may not mean the end of fighting.

The Iran-Iraq war drags on wearily and spills over into Lebanon’s faction fights. However, there seems to be more hope at the moment that something can be accomplished between Israel and the Arab countries than that any settlement can be reached between Iran and Iraq. A United Nations conference would include both the United States and the Soviet Union, without whose backing no Middle East plan is likely to work.

Within Israel the Labour leader, Mr Peres, is in favour of a conference, although the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr Shamir, opposes it. The political balance in Israel at the moment is so fine that Mr Shamir will not be able to ignore Mr Peres, with whose party Mr Shamir’s Likud bloc is in coalition. It is too soon for hopes to be raised on any settlement; the holding of a conference would be a cheering step.