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WEEKLY NEWSLETTER
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Israel
Index
Israeli relations with the states of Western Europe have been
conditioned by European desires to further their own commercial
interests and ties with the Arab world and their heavy dependence
on Middle Eastern oil. Europeans have provided political support
for Arab states and the Palestinian cause, even though Europe has
served as the battleground for Arab and Palestinian terrorist
groups. For example, beginning in the early 1970s, the ministers of
foreign affairs of the European Community called for Israel to
withdraw from territories occupied during the June 1967 War,
expressed "reservations" over the 1978 Camp David Accords, and
accepted the "association" of the PLO in solving the Palestinian
problem.
Despite such official declarations, West European states have
been important trading partners for Israel; about 40 percent of
Israel's foreign trade occurred with European countries.
Furthermore, there has been strong European-Israeli cooperation--
except with Greece--in the area of counterterrorism. Britain was
Israel's most important European trading partner although relations
between the two countries were never free of tensions. In 1979, for
example, Britain disallowed Israel's purchase of British crude oil
after Israel lost oil deliveries from Iran and Sinai. Moreover,
Britain imposed an arms embargo on Israel following its June 1982
invasion of Lebanon.
In the early 1950s, France and Israel maintained close
political and military relations, and France was Israel's main
weapons supplier until the June 1967 War. At that time, during
Charles de Gaulle's presidency, France became highly critical of
Israeli policies and imposed an arms embargo on Israel. In the
early 1980s, French-Israeli relations markedly improved under the
presidency of François Mitterrand, who pursued a more even-handed
approach than his predecessors on Arab-Israeli issues. Mitterand
was the first French president to visit Israel while in office.
Relations between Israel and the Federal Republic of Germany
(West Germany) were "second in importance only to [Israel's]
partnership with the United States," according to Michael
Wolffsohn, a leading authority on the subject. In Wolffsohn's view,
the dominant issues in West German-Israeli relations were: the
question of reparations (up to 1953); the establishment of
diplomatic relations (up to 1965); the solidification of normal
relations (through 1969); the erosion in the West German-Israeli
relationship as Chancellor Willi Brandt--the first West German
chancellor to visit Israel--began to stress Israel's need to
withdraw from all territories occupied in the June 1967 War and to
recognize the right of the Palestinian people to
self-determination; and, finally, during the 1980s, under the
Christian Democrats, West Germany's closer adherence to United
States policies on Arab-Israeli issues.
In January 1986, Spain established full diplomatic relations
with Israel despite pressures from Arab states and policy
differences between Madrid and Jerusalem over the Palestinian
question. This step concluded intensive behind-the-scenes Israeli
efforts--begun upon the death of President Francisco Franco in
1975--to achieve normal relations with Spain. Prior to establishing
diplomatic relations, the two countries discreetly collaborated in
antiterrorism efforts, and there were close ties between Labor and
Spain's Socialist Party.
Although in 1947 Turkey voted against the UN resolution to
establish the Jewish state, in 1948 it became the first Muslim
country to establish full diplomatic relations with Israel. The two
countries subsequently maintained normal relations.
Data as of December 1988
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