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PASTOR GENERAL'S REPORT, February 20, 1981
Page 13
"Since the start of the year, officials from Common Market countries,
including Britain and West Germany, have visited the Middle East, and a
leading member of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) has had
talks at the French Foreign Ministry.
"Last week, Egypt's President Anwar Sadat made his much-publicized address
to the European Parliament, welcoming the European initiative, and followed
this up with a visit to Paris to meet President Valery Giscard d'Estaing.
Dutch Foreign Minister and EEC President Cristoph van der Klaauw starts
a tour of the Middle East this weekend, and teams of European parliamen
tarians have been shuttling around the region on fact-finding missions.
"Arab diplomats say Western Europe's makers of foreign policy now regard
the U.S.-sponsored Camp David process as dead and feel that a new approach
is needed to bring lasting peace to the Middle East."
Secret Document for EC Plan
"Camp David brought peace between Israel and Egypt but failed to resolve
the issue of Palestinian rights, its critics contend ....
"Since the European initiative was launched at Venice last June, European
politicians and diplomats have been highly reticent about spelling out
publicly exactly what it is. A discussion document drawn up after Venice
is still classified secret, although Arab diplomats say it forms the basis
of the current contacts between the two sides. They say the document sets
out the initiative under four headings:
"--Israeli withdrawal from the West Bank and the Gaza strip, territories
occupied in 1967, with some amendment to borders.
"--Self-determination for the Palestinians, to be decided in a referendum
carried out inside and outside the occupied territories.
"--A guarantee of the security of all states in the region.
"--A special status for Jerusalem.
'� .. Holland's Mr. van der Klaauw has been designated by the European Eco
nomic Community to follow up on contacts made last year by his predecessor
as EEC president, Gaston Thorn of Luxembourg. The Arab diplomats said,
however, that they expected no major movement in the European stand until
July, when Lord Carrington takes over the EEC presidency....
"What the Arabs will be looking for is a clear sign Europe is prepared
to take a stand on the Middle East that is independent of the United
States and the Camp David process. The Europeans have so far said they
want to contribute to, not cut across, U.S.-sponsored peace plans.
"Details of the European initiative that have so far emerged have proved
contentious on all sides of the Middle East divide.
"Israeli Labor Party leader Shimon Peres, widely expected to become prime
minister in next June's election to the Knesset, has been quoted as saying
the European initiative 'is widening the gap between us and the Arabs, not
bridging it.'