Israel’s Arens Objects to European Peace Initiative

Foreign Minister Moshe Arens complained today that European countries are not consulting Israel about Middle East peace steps and said Israel is ready to suffer isolation from the world for the sake of security.

In the new foreign minister’s first news conference with foreign correspondents, Arens said that Israel does not approve of the European Community’s plan, announced Monday, to start a Middle East peace initiative by encouraging an international conference on the region.

“I think it would be better if prior to undertaking any kind of initiative, the members of the European Community were to meet with us, were to consult with us, were to coordinate with us,” he said.

Arens, 63, a former ambassador to the United States, also renewed Israel’s criticism that the U.S. decision to hold talks with the Palestine Liberation Organization was damaging the fight against international terrorism.

Arens became foreign minister with the formation of Israel’s new government on Dec. 22. He is a member of the Likud Party of Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, which has opposed an international Middle East peace conference.

Arens said his government does not welcome isolation but must think first of security.

“We should not be expected to take any step that might decrease the sense of isolation . . . if they are steps that would endanger the state of Israel,” Arens told the Foreign Press Assn.

Meanwhile, Lova Eliav, a member of the center-left Labor Party, said today that he and three other Israeli parliament members will attend a European symposium this month on Middle East peace with PLO representatives despite Israel’s ban on meetings with PLO members.

“We have to speak to the Palestinians directly and reach peace with them through compromise,” Eliav said. “The more we speak the better.”