The European Jewish Congress is incredulous over French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas’ meeting in Libya this week with Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasir Arafat.
The group, which is affiliated with the World Jewish Congress, is angry because the encounter boosts Arafat’s badly sagging image and could “encourage extremist positions.”
In a statement, the group pointed out that Dumas’ move contradicts a decision made by the European Community’s Council of Ministers not to renew relations with the PLO, which it severed when Arafat supported Iraq in the Persian Gulf crisis.
The group said Dumas’ meeting with Arafat, which took place Tuesday in Tripoli, was “liable to jeopardize the efforts of the E.C. to be associated with the peace negotiations” U.S. Secretary of State James Baker is trying to arrange in the Middle East.
Jean Kahn, president of CRIF, the representative body of French Jewish organizations, has asked the foreign minister for a meeting on the subject.
Jewish and diplomatic circles here wonder why France continues to put its power and prestige on the line for a perennial loser like Arafat, whom other Western diplomats have written off.
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