Peres Says His Visit to Paris Strengthened Israel’s International Position and Franco-israeli Relati

Premier Shimon Peres, returning from Paris last night, said his three-day visit to France had strenghtened Israel’s international position as well as Franco-Israeli relations.

“I found a great deal of good will in France to help overcome the difficulties we have encountered in Lebanon and I must say, that from every possible point of view their attitude was extremely positive and very encouraging,” Peres told reporters at a midnight press conference at Ben Gurion Airport.

Peres said that in his talks with President Francois Mitterrand he raised the issue of Syrian Jewry and there was a possibility that Syria may now allow a limited number of exit visas for Jews. He did not make clear whether he learned this from the French President who met with President Hafez Assad of Syria in Damascus only a week before Peres arrived in Paris.

Peres said Mitterrand promised to do whatever he could to further an Israeli agreement with Lebanon for the withdrawal of Israeli forces from south Lebanon and security guarantees for Israel’s northern borders.

ISSUE OF THE PLO

He said the issue of the Palestine Liberation Organization had come up only briefly during his talks in Paris. Reports from Paris over the weekend said the PLO was the only matter over which Israel and France differ sharply.

Mitterrand and his administration believes PLO chief Yasir Arafat to be a “moderate” influence in the Arab world whereas Israel considers the PLO a terrorist organization and is determined not to negotiate with it, directly or indirectly, the Paris reports said. But those reports added that both French and Israeli officials see their differences on the PLO to be “more tactical than fundamental.”

DISCUSSED NUCLEAR POWER STATION FOR ISRAEL

Even before Peres went to France last week, speculation was rife in Jerusalem and Paris that Israel was interested in purchasing a nuclear power station from the French.

Peres said on his return home that Israel was not seeking any nuclear reactors from France, with military potential or otherwise. “I, personally, in this visit, did not negotiate for the purchase of any reactors in France,” Peres said.

“But Israel will certainly have to decide in the near future about the nature of power stations we have to buy for the coming decade, which can be conventional stations, stations operated by coal or liquid fuel or nuclear stations,” he said, adding:

“We shall have to make up our minds in accordance with financial and technological considerations.” He made clear that whatever kind of generator Israel decides it needs, “it does not have any potential but the production of energy.”

Reports from Paris over the weekend said France offered to sell Israel two nuclear power stations to produce electricity for civilian use and that the two countries were near agreement on all pertinent details. Those included the stations’ specifications, price and even credit arrangements. But Israel is still undecided on the nature or the generators, whether conventional or nuclear, the reports said. Peres did not deny that he discussed such matters with the French only that he did not “negotiate” anything.

Peres said a French decision to sell nuclear reactors to Arab countries would be made independently of any sale of nuclear reactors to Israel. “I am convinced that the French authorities will be very careful not to sell any reactors which have a military potential,” he said.

A Labor member of the Knesset, Shevah Weiss, warned in the course of a Knesset debate today that Israel’s acceptance of a nuclear power station from France would open the way for similar French sales to Arab countries. He insisted furthermore that before any deal is concluded, the enormous financial outlays and possible environmental problems must be considered.

BILATERAL ISSUES DISCUSSED

Apart from the issue of nuclear reactors, a large measure of understanding on the political and economic levels was apparently achieved during Peres’ visit to Paris. He and Mitterrand reportedly decided to keep in close contact and to “institutionalize” regular consultations between their countries.

Reports from Paris said that a bilateral agreement providing for biennial summit meetings and a variety of lower level meetings at regular intervals is under consideration between France and Israel. France has such agreements with Britain and West Germany.

France and Israel will set up a joint committee for the development of scientific and industrial projects on which each country will be represented by four delegates; two will be appointed by their respective governments and two by the manufacturers and industrialists associations in each country. This is similar to the arrangement Israel now has with the United States.

Reports from Paris said Peres received as warm a reception from the opposition factions as he did from Mitterand’s Socialist administration. The Israeli leader met with two major opposition leaders, former President Valery Giscard D’Estaing and Paris Mayor Jacques Chirac, both of whom called on the premier.

VISIT DESCRIBED AS HISTORIC

Peres hosted a reception at the Israeli Embassy in Paris Thursday, attended by more than 2,000 guests including dozens of past and incumbent cabinet ministers, members of the French Senate and Chamber of Deputies, military and industrial leaders.

The Israeli Premier held lengthy meetings during his stay with Mitterrand and Prime Minister Laurent Fabius who was his official host. Fabius, in an exceptional gesture, went to the home of the Israeli Ambassador, Ovadia Sofer, to lunch with Peres. The outgoing French Foreign Minister, Claude Cheysson, and his probable successor, Roland Dumas, were among the other guests.

Peres’ visit to Paris was the first by an incumbent Israeli Premier in more than 20 years. It was described by Sofer and other senior Israeli officials as “historic, highly successful, far above all expectations.”