A new diplomatic clash between France and Israel appeared to have been averted today when it was agreed that both Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem and the Mayor of Paris would officiate at the opening of a Paris exhibit here April 24 in connection with French culture week. French authorities had objected to Kollek’s appearance in his official capacity because it might be construed as recognition by France of Israel’s sovereignty over united Jerusalem.
Suggestions by the French that Kollek should not attend the opening or attend only as a private individual were angrily rejected by Israeli officials who threatened to cancel the exhibit and ship the displays back to France.
According to authoritative sources here, a settlement was reached today although there is a residue of ill feeling among Israelis who considered the French attitude a direct insult. The French Embassy in Tel Aviv reportedly approved the new plan and Embassy circles claimed today that the episode stemmed from a “misunderstanding.”
ATTITUDE TERMED PREPOSTEROUS
Members of a French good-will mission here, headed by Alain Poher, President of the French Senate, and consisting of several high ranking Gaullist party leaders, were apparently appalled by their government’s attitude and the settlement was attributed by knowledgeable sources here to their intervention with the French Ambassador, Francis Hure.
The delegation attended ceremonies yesterday naming a Jerusalem street after the late French Gen Pierre Koenig, a World War II hero and champion of Franco-Israeli amity. After the ceremony, two members of the delegation, Gaullist Gen. De Benouville and Jacques Soustelle, engaged Ambassador Hure in a heated discussion. According to a French-speaking journalist present, they labeled their government’s attitude “preposterous” and insulting to a friendly nation.
Earlier, Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban said on a radio program that it was “intolerable” that France should try to lay down the law as to who should receive the Mayor of Paris and in what capacity.
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