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the EC would be in a position to decide how best to proceed in the light of US policy and the siutation at the time. added that it was not possible to achieve a settlement without the involvement of the US; the only country able to influence the Israelis. The best approach might be eventually to seek to influence US policy and the Arabs and Israelis with a view to promoting lines on which a settlement might be achieved. As there was a new US administration and there would be a new Israeli Government, this process could take some time. It might well be nearer the autumn (when Britain will hold the Presidency of the EC) before there was any positive result.
4. Lord Carrington said that China and Britain but not the
US understood that it was impossible to look at Middle East
questions, eg Iran/Iraq, Gulf security, Afghanistan etc in isolation from the Arab/Israel dispute, because it was so dominant in the minds of Middle East countries. The dispute
affected their attitude on all other matters. Lord Carrington forecast that the new Israeli Government would probably be as difficult as its predecessor and that US policy would not be very different from that pursued by the previous Administration. We might be in for a long period when achieving a settlement
would be difficult. Huang Hua replied that he believed the
EC had an active role to play in the Arab/Israel conflict.
US policy of excessive partiality towards Israel made it
difficult for the US to improve, let alone develop relations
with Arab countries. He hoped the EC would use its influenct
on the US so that the US could exert pressure on Israel to
change the rigid and hostile policy of the Begin Government.
5. Huang Hua described the improvement of British relations
with the PLO as a step forward in British policy which conformed
with the reality of the situation. He agreed that the Palestinian
question dominated the Arab world. The Palestinians' right of
self-determination must be restored. The question now was how
to get Arab countries united and prevent those pro-Soviet
Arab countries such as Libya, Syria and South Yemen from expanding their influence. Huang Hua added that the US could
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