The French Government has declared it is ready to grant de facto recognition to Israel in an official announcement issued here today following a meeting of the Cabinet.
Francois Mitterand, government spokesman, said that negotiations between France and Israel are now going on and that the decision to recognize Israel will be acted on as soon as these negotiations are completed and agreement is reached on a number of points which are of interest to both countries.
“The decision of the Cabinet has no relationship with the international discussions which are now taking place with regard to settling the conflict between the Israelis and the Arabs,” the French spokesman said. He added that the Israeli-French negotiations “concern particularly the interests and the status of the citizens of the two countries.”
He expressed the opinion that the agreement between Israel and France will be concluded soon and will be approved “with the least possible delay.” He emphasized that the French decision to grant de facto recognition to Israel did not come about as a result of recent meetings in London between French Foreign Minister Robert Schumann and British Foreign Secretary Bevin.
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