The current visit of President Francois Mitterrand of France to the United States is primarily devoted to strengthening Franco-American relations, but clearly has vital implications for Israel, Soviet Jewry and American Jewry.
That conclusion results from a high-level mission to France, shortly before Mitterrand’s visit to the U.S. where he held talks last week with President Reagan and other Administration officials, by American Jewish Committee leaders.
The Committee leaders met with Mitterrand, Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson, Gaullist Mayor of Paris Jacques Chirac, and six other Cabinet ministers. Meetings were also held with the U.S. Ambassador to France, Evan Galbraith; Israel’s Ambassador, Ovadia Soffer; the U.S. delegation to UNESCO; French Jewish leaders; and several leading French journalists.
TWO CENTRAL THEMES EMERGED
Throughout all our conversations with Mitterrand and his two impressive Jewish aides, Jacques Attali and Charles Salzmann, as well as with other key French government officials, two central themes emerged:
*France shares fundamental democratic values with the United States and therefore is committed to upholding human rights and constitutional democracies.
*France perceives the Soviet Union as a major threat to free societies and to human rights, and must therefore be resisted.
While the image of France in many circles is that of a jaded colonial power, our experiences persuaded us that France today must be taken seriously as a “mini-superpower” that has global interests in virtually ever part of the world. Defense experts report that next to the U.S. and the Soviet Union, France has the largest military force, nuclear capacity, and naval fleets spread over critical areas of the world.
Therefore, France must be viewed as a vital ally of the U.S., and its foreign policy can be crucial for the interests of Israel in the Middle East, the European community, Africa, and Latin America.
‘DOUBLE-TRACK’ FOREIGN COURSE
Under Cheysson, with whom we met for more than an hour in an intense review of foreign policy, it became clear that France is pursuing an assertive “double-track” foreign course. France supports the U.S. in vigorous resistance to Soviet expansionism. At the same time, France is seeking to open a dialogue with the Soviet Union and is widening its commercial ties with the USSR and its allies.
During our talks with Cheysson, Attali and Salzmann, Howard Friedman, AJCommittee president, expressed appreciation for France’s championing the cause of individual Soviet Jewish refuseniks, but pressed France to become more vigorous in supporting the broader cause of Soviet Jewish emigration.
We got a commitment from these French officials that they would press the cause of Soviet Jewry in their widening dialogue with Soviet authorities. Significantly, we were promised that the French Embassy in Moscow would become more actively involved in arranging direct contact with Soviet Jewish refuseniks as does the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
ROLE OF ISRAEL IN FRANCE’S FOREIGN POLICY
On the Mideast, France also follows a “double-track” policy. Mitterrand is portrayed as the foremost friend of Israel, noting that he has been to Israel 17 times, and is the first French President to make an official visit to the Jewish State. While Cheysson firmly stated that “Israel is the cornerstone of France’s policy in the Middle East,” he specializes in maintaining good relations with the Arab states and the PLO’s Yasir Arafat.
Cheysson told us that while he has met with Arafat, he wanted us to know that it is French policy that Mitterrand will nor receive Arafat until he recognizes Israel’s legitimacy and gives up the PLO’s campaign of terrorism.
Attali, the brillant young Algerian Jew who is the closest foreign policy advisor to Mitterrand, told us: “The Arabs consider France — which has a long history of involvement in the Arab world — the only go-between them and Israel, even though they know we are completely with Israel.” He added that France’s relations with the Arab world would be “an asset to Israel and to Middle East peace.”
French authorities said that was especially important now that the U.S. has lost credibility in the Arab world since withdrawing its military forces precipitously from Lebanon. (French troops began pulling out of Beirut today. The U.S., British and Italian troops in the multinational force pulled out last month after Moslem militiamen overran west Beirut.)
Salzmann said that “the change of mind among Arab leaders toward Israel during the past three years has been amazing. Moderate Arabs are ready to recognize and live in peace with Israel, provided certain things are done for the Palestinians.”
Attali said “they know that Israel is a fact and part of their security. Arab countries know that they will not be able to live in a destroyed Middle East. The dream of a polyethnic Lebanon has become a nightmare for them. They are now moving in a good direction.”
FRANCE’S ROLE IN AFRICA
In Africa. France today is a major economic and political force and that, too, has implications for America and especially for Israel. There are now some 300,000 French people in 20 predominantly French-speaking countries in West and Central Africa.
The AJCommittee delegation said that Americans and American Jews feel strongly about the importance of reestablishing diplomatic relations between Israel and the African nations, and urged France to use its good offices to encourage that development. Attali and other foreign service officials indicated that they regarded this as an important issue and would pursue its implementation.
The AJCommittee leaders expressed their profound concern over the pattern of attacks on Israel and Jews at the United Nations, UNESCO and other international agencies. They pointed out that while the U.S. has courageously responded to these attacks, France and Western powers have generally sat by passively.
The delegation insisted that France must stand by the side of the U.S., together with other Western powers in combatting these vile incitements of anti-Semitism, anti-Zionism, and vulgar bigotry.
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