France today denied that the sale of French arms to Israel was discussed during President Francois Mitterrand’s visit to Israel last week. An official communique released by the French Foreign Ministry said this subject “was not discussed at any moment” during Mitterrand’s trip.
The communique added, “There is no reason for this subject to be raised at the forthcoming session of the Franco-Israeli economic commission” which is to meet April 29 in Paris. French papers quoted Israeli Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir as saying the commission will deal with this issue.
The communique added that the sale of a French electro-nuclear reactor will have to be discussed by French and Israeli technicians and will therefore probably not be raised either at the Franco-Israeli commission’s session. The commission has not met for over 15 years and its reactivation is seen by French official circles as one of the concrete results of Mitterrand’s trip to Israel.
The French Foreign Ministry’s communique was issued after French news media quoted Shamir as saying that the joint commission will discuss the two issues.
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