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France and Israel political meet and greet
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This week, France and Israel met for their second session strategic dialogue headed by Pierre Sellal, Director General of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Yossi Gal, Director General of the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The two countries discussed bilateral relations, Israel’s relationship with the EU, and matters of international concern. This included talks on the Israel-Palestinian peace process, the Middle East and Iran.
In 2004, French President Sarkozy was the first French president to visit Israel in almost 12 years, the first Western leader to emerge in Israel since the Gaza conflict began. Sarkozy arrived in Israel in January to reestablish the need for normalization in relations in the region that could lead to a ceasefire, even asking Syria to cooperate in efforts to convince Hamas to cooperate in international efforts to end the Israeli assault on the Gaza strip.
Sarkozy has gained a lot of media attention for his leading efforts as a troubleshooter in the Gaza war internationally.
In June 2008, speaking at the Knesset, which is the legislative branch of the Israeli government, Sarkozy received a standing ovation for assuming a role in the Middle East peace broker, offering to bring in French troops to aid Israel, and describing a nuclear Iran as intolerable.
Historically, nuclear cooperation between France and Israel goes back to the 1950’s after the Suez Crisis, a military attack on Egypt by France, Britain and Israel.
Iran recently objected to French participation in nuclear talks on whether to send Iran’s uranium abroad to Russia. While economic, cultural, scientific and technical cooperation has been ongoing, political relations between the two countries have centered heavily on the area of nuclear technology and enabling Iran’s regional policy to bring more of a positive outcome to the Middle East.
According to Haaretz, Israel is supporting the Iranian nuclear plan to enrich uranium outside of Iran and sees the international proposal as a positive first step. This while the international community is still evaluating Iran’s uranium stance.
News reports have stated that the US, Russia and France have agreed to maintain a united front on a proposal to enrich uranium.
France’s Total oil company has expressed interest in Iran’s Pars liquefied natural gas (LNG) project. Officials from Total and the National Iranian Gas Export Company in Tehran have been discussing the terms of the project since February 2004. The initial start date of 2009, according to Petrosilicon.com, has been postponed to 2011. According to Marketwatch.com, Total and two other oil companies, Shell and Repsol, have not signed final commitments to implement projects, after receiving pressure from the U.S.. According to IranOilGas.com, France’s Total is still in talks over Iranian hydrocarbon projects.
This past summer, Sarkozy urged Israel not to attack Iran.
Israel and France enjoy excellent economic relations with trade between the countries practically doubling in the last ten years. France’s market share in Israel is 3.8%. France expects that cooperative initiatives in tourism, transport, sustainable development and renewable energy sectors are expected to grow.
Earlier this month, following the release of the Goldstone Report, President Sarkozy and UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown pled, in a joint letter to Netanyahu, that he hold an independent and transparent investigation of Gaza events, facilitate increased access to Gaza, and halt settlement activities in the occupied territories.
While no one seems to be acting the part of the perpetual divorcee giving relationship advice, it appears that the process toward improved relations between Western leaders and Israel still has more to do with who gets what, who said what, and how the political consequences and inevitable repercussions of war efforts, both offensive and defensive in the case of Gaza, are being addressed and whether there will be any attention brought to improving the lives of those living within the conflict zone. Still, the fate of accountability in the ongoing conflict seems to be a matter of grave concern to many who are aware of the Gaza conflict.
During the spring, the first meeting between France and Israel took place between Bernard Kouchner, the French Minister of Foreign and European Affairs, and Avigdor Liberman, Deputy Prime Minister and the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel. They discussed regional policy issues. This included France’s expectations in regards to a viable Palestinian state coexisting in peace and security with Israel while reiterating that 2009 be the year of peace. They also talked about the halting of settlement activities in Gaza, including those related to “natural growth” and the regional track of the peace process. They also discussed the Iranian nuclear issue and France’s intention to continue a trustful dialogue with Israel, in the interest of regional peace and stability.
Hopefully, with Sarkozy's push to be one of the most active Middle East peace brokers, the nature of the relationship between the East and the West will show that leaders, in both areas of the world, hold accountability and peaceful resolutions that lead to negotiated acceptable conditions as urgent matters that are not mutually exclusive.
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