Israeli Ambassador Asher Ben Natan met here today with French Foreign Minister Michel Jobert. It was their first meeting since Jobert replaced Maurice Schumann as Foreign Minister. Israeli sources in Paris described the 50-minute meeting as a “courtesy call” and said “it was frank and cordial.” They refused to say whether the ambassador raised the issue of the Libyan Mirage jets in Egypt.
French sources said, however, that most of the talk centered on Jobert’s suggestions for improving Franco-Israeli relations. The minister, these sources said, suggested that the two countries “let bygones be bygones” and “strive to develop normal and balanced ties.” The minister, these sources added, made no concrete suggestions on how to reach this aim.
Earlier in the day Jobert met with Egyptian President Anwar Sadat’s special emissary, Hafez Ismail. Diplomatic circles said Ismail mainly discussed France’s attitude at the forth-coming session of the UN Security Council where the Middle East will be discussed.
The Egyptian diplomat also pressed France, sources said, to help mobilize West European diplomatic pressure in favor of a political solution to the Middle East conflict. Ismail, who arrived here Tuesday from Cairo, conferred yesterday with President Georges Pompidou. He said, as he was leaving the Elysee Palace, that his trip to Paris was only the first of a series of visits to Western capitals. He praised the French government for its continued firm attitude in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
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