Austrian, assailing Israel, ends Mideast peace effort

By Compiled From Wire Service Dispatches With Analysis From Monitor Correspondents Around The World; Edited By Anne Shutt

August 25, 1982

Bonn

Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky announced he has ended his decades-old effort to mediate a Middle East peace because of the ''gigantic crimes'' of Israel.

Mr. Kreisky, the son of Jewish parents, has for years been a key figure in backstairs Middle East peace efforts. He said that as someone who had lost close relatives to Hitler's Nazis, he could not be accused of anti-Semitism.