France played a major role in the exchange of prisoners last week, French officials stressed. The 14-month negotiations over the release of six Israeli POWs detained by the PLO came to a happy conclusion thanks to France’s good offices, although their freedom obtained in exchange for some 4,600 Palestinian and Lebanese prisoners held by Israel took place under the auspices of the International Red Cross (IRC).
The Palestinians wanted the French to act as mediators in this matter and nobody else, and Paris not only permitted lifting many obstacles in the negotiations, it also provided planes and a ship to help achieve the exchange.
The six Israeli POWs released by the Palestinians were first transferred aboard a French ship while three Air France aircraft requisitioned by French authorities flew about 900 Palestinians freed by Israel to Algeria.
A MAJOR HUMANITARIAN OPERATION
Foreign Affairs Minister Claude Cheysson, who was attending the Franco-German summit meeting in Bonn, when the exchange took place, told French television that the exchange of prisoners was a “major humanitarian operation.”
Cheysson added that the exchange of prisoners had also been a political operation. This latter statement was somewhat disputed by Israel’s Ambassador to France, Ovadia Sofer, who stated on French television that the agreement achieved with the help of the IRC was purely based on humanitarian grounds.
“However, without France’s help such an exchange would not have been possible”, Sofer said. He added that Israel’s attitude regarding the PLO had not been modified inspite of the exchange.
“For over 14 months Israel did not spare its efforts to secure the release of its men. Our major preoccupation was to save the lives of our soldiers and we were ready to pay a very high price to obtain their release. Nevertheless, I want to make clear that after that there will not be any rapprochement with the Palestinians and it would be wrong to interpret the exchange as a political action,” Sofer said.
Meanwhile, a few minutes afterwards, two singers, Israeli Sarah Alexander and Palestinian Imad Saleh, sang together on French television. Their song bore a message of hope that there will be peace in the Middle East and that the Palestinians could live together with the Israelis.
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