French Foreign Minister Roland Dumas will make a three-day visit to Israel next month, the Foreign Ministry has announced.
Dumas, who has not visited the Jewish state since taking office, will be in Jerusalem from Jan. 8 to 10.
The Foreign Ministry said his trip is part of an ongoing effort by France to promote Middle East peace. Israeli observers said Dumas was doing his best to reestablish a French role in the Middle East peace process from which it feels left out.
Dumas has already been to Lebanon and Jordan, but a planned visit to Damascus was abruptly called off last week.
The Syrians were angered when they learned that the French minister intended to raise the question of Syria’s treatment of its Jewish population with President Hafez Assad, as well as Syria’s haven for wanted Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner.
Dumas will travel to Jerusalem accompanied by Israel’s outgoing ambassador to France, Ovadia Soffer. It will be Soffer’s last official trip before his tenure ends.
The veteran Israeli diplomat plans to take a leave of absence from the foreign service to run for election to the Knesset next year.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
