How France Sees the Mideast
HERALD, GEORGE W.
THE PE GAULLE PLAN How France Sees the Mideast By George W. Herald Paris Despite its unilateral embargo on arms shipments to Israel, the government here insists that France's objectives in the...
...Thousands of Jewish girls and women would have been victimized, tens of thousands of Jewish men slain, hundreds of thousands of Jewish refugees again dispersed over five continents...
...Does the General have any reason for letting them fall victims to still another illusion...
...The special talents of its people as pioneers and scientists would benefit all its neighbors, as they already benefit many countries in Africa...
...Won't they come to feel as deeply misled by him as the French colons in Algeria did when he turned against them after declaring, "Je vous ai com-pra...
...The French believe that if the majority of Palestinians accepted a solution of this kind in principle, Arabs in other countries could hardly show themselves "holier than the Pope...
...Didn't Nasser do everything in his power to taunt, challenge and provoke Israel...
...Since Athens, Al Fatah has staged no further spectacular raids...
...The new Soviet plan calls for the withdrawal of Israeli troops in stages...
...The fact remains," came the rejoinder, "that Israel struck first...
...The Six Day War, instead of embarrassing America as Moscow had hoped, embarrassed the Russians...
...Yes, but when everything is over, Egypt and Iraq would still exist as nation states...
...They felt this was beyond their scope...
...According to French intelligence sources, the comparative size of the Israeli and the combined Arab air forces on January 1, 1969, was as follows: Type Israel Arabs Subsonic planes 113 302 Supersonic planes (M1G-21, Mirages III) 50 365 Bombers 13 70 As the French point out, the various Arab air forces have no coordinated strategy, and Israeli pilots are superior...
...Don't forget that he was in a good position to know...
...Did he really...
...If there are Arabs who misread our position, they are blinded by their passion against Israel...
...Under the circumstances, it is hard to understand why de Gaulle permits the Arabs to acclaim him as their champion and name streets after him...
...In dismay, the General turned against Israel...
...He had just started improving his relations with Algeria and other oil-rich Arab governments...
...When I put these questions to a qualified French official, he replied: "France has never made any bones about its stand in the Middle East conflict...
...If necessary, France would remind reluctant Arab leaders that 570,000 Jews who fled Arab lands had to be resettled in Israel, and that 900,000 French Algerians who were chased from the land where most of them were born had to start a new life in France...
...responded the official...
...Everything would be over within a matter of days, just like last time...
...Trade would flourish between Israel and the Arab countries, old cultural ties would be renewed, and foreign policies would be coordinated in a way that kept the region independent from East and West...
...The social achievements of the young modern state, which compare to those of Sweden, would serve as models to all Arabs with open minds...
...Can you elaborate on that...
...He would wash his hands and say, "I told you so...
...It wants the Israelis to evacuate Israel...
...What does France think of proposals to solve the problem by creating a mixed state on the model of Lebanon...
...All this explains why the General has urged a Big Four consultation on the conflict, within the framework of the United Nations...
...If the French felt that France's policy had contributed to Israel's doom, millions of them would be seized with a violent revulsion against the regime that acted in their name...
...What do you think will happen if a settlement is not reached...
...In contrast, the Arab air fleets consist almost entirely of new machines, Russia has sent several hundred flight instructors to Egypt, and 3,000 Soviet Army technicians now pervade Egypt's ground forces down to the battalion level...
...The whole vision may indeed seem a pipe dream...
...In exchange, it would agree to remain a buffer state, a military no-man's land...
...We have always declared ourselves in favor of its recognition by the other states, urged the respect of its boundaries, and affirmed its right to free navigation on the Suez Canal...
...Moreover, he was violently opposed to U.S...
...That's not the information we have...
...De Gaulle sees the Israel of tomorrow as a peaceful country happily integrated in the world of the Middle East...
...All Palestinian refugees who do not insist on returning to Israel would be resettled in Ismael, with financial and technical aid provided by an Israeli compensation fund...
...It has supplied the Arabs with $2 billion worth of planes and weapons that have not been paid for...
...In their minds it would mean the end of our civilization, the beginning of an era of darkness that would ultimately spare no one...
...The French official, who had been in close contact with Algerian diplomats, remained skeptical...
...It would be impossible for the Israelis to lord it over their Arab cousins in Cairo, Amman and Damascus...
...Israel, it is true, might defeat them once more, but it will gain nothing from a fourth war...
...As we see it, Israel simply cannot hope to impose its will on the whole Middle East...
...The important thing for him would be that France backed the winner...
...He was uncertain about whether Israel would eventually embark upon a policy of expansion...
...Peace, it would be stressed, is not a oneway street...
...Arab resistance, after all, is not a result of the 1967 war...
...They already find it hard to cope with the million Arabs whose land they now occupy...
...We don't want such horrors to happen, and now is the time to prevent them...
...That's correct," the official agreed...
...Didn't they incite him to block the Gulf of Aqaba to Israeli shipping and concentrate his troops in the Sinai Peninsula...
...Look at Nigeria and Biafra, not to mention cases even closer to de Gaulle's heart...
...That sounds tempting, but no such offer has been made so far," I countered...
...THE PE GAULLE PLAN How France Sees the Mideast By George W. Herald Paris Despite its unilateral embargo on arms shipments to Israel, the government here insists that France's objectives in the Middle East remain much closer to those of the Israelis than those of the Arabs...
...Thus a veritable abyss exists between the official French position and that of Al Fatah and the governments in Cairo, Baghdad, Damascus and Algiers, who continue whipping up frenzied hatred among the Arab masses...
...They were 50 miles from Damascus, but they did not move on...
...Its purpose was above all political...
...Ten days after the embargo decision, French Foreign Minister Michel Debre said over Europe I, a peripheral French radio station: "Our aim is to create conditions that will allow Israel to live and prosper and, at the same time, to restore peace in the area...
...We have too high a respect for the Israelis' resourcefulness to believe that...
...Admitting that he could be wrong, he continued: "If the Israelis really have no other ambition than to be left alone in safety, they should welcome the Big Four meeting proposed by France, which would try to insure exactly that...
...We have never been in favor of forced marriages in this country...
...The General wanted to interrupt the mounting escalation...
...that it will "never accept" the UN Security Council resolution of November 22, 1967, and demands nothing less than Israel's dissolution...
...And the Iraqi government has celebrated as a "day of glory" its public hanging of 14 citizens charged with spying for Israel, nine of them Jews...
...I asked the French official...
...We do not share that passion...
...Israel could be destroyed...
...On the contrary, he warned the leaders involved that they were still militarily weaker than Israel and would be imprudent to attack it...
...Why...
...There would be the usual relief actions to save civilian victims, but it is highly improbable that the superpowers would let themselves be drawn into an atomic war over the Middle East...
...At bottom, this is a very ordinary conflict between two cousins who both feel they have a valid claim on an estate...
...They will know how to fill the supply gap created by the embargo...
...For they might also lose another war against superior forces...
...He felt that the only way to do so was to provide a psychological shock...
...I asked...
...But Israel has received no new planes since the Six Day War...
...It has no desire to set the stage for a nuclear showdown in the Mediterranean...
...It always was and continues to be our policy to support the rights of the State of Israel to its existence, its development, and a true peace...
...They claim he twisted the facts...
...He also notices with growing concern that the Chinese are using the Middle East crisis to infiltrate the Arab world...
...De Gaulle never encouraged the Arab provocations...
...It was Theodor Herzl, however, who said, "If you want, it is no dream...
...The Soviets don't even mention the Suez Canal in their plan...
...The Suez Canal is a vital sea route for the Russians, and they feel the least Nasser can do is reopen it to international shipping...
...In 1967, they stopped at the Jordan and the Suez Canal...
...They would consider it the greatest spiritual setback of the century...
...Apparently his words were heeded...
...The French government has not yet had occasion to study such projects...
...After that, the power equation may very well change and it will be extremely difficult to pacify the region...
...De Gaulle is not France, however, and a majority of Frenchmen would regard a second genocide of the Jews as a crime against all humanity...
...Yet he does not feel that Israel deserves any special treatment in the assembly of nations...
...Many Frenchmen seem to feel the General encouraged the Arab fanatics by labeling Israel an 'aggressor' in the 1967 war," I said...
...many members of his entourage are wholly or partly of Jewish origin...
...But the day is likely to come again when the Arabs feel strong enough to launch a surprise attack on Israel...
...Apparently France, while fully upholding Israel's right to exist as a nation, believes that a possible solution may be found in the federation of two separate sovereign states —tentatively called Israel and Is-mael—having a common capital: Jerusalem...
...He has no wish to split the country with a new Dreyfus Affair, especially since his father was a Dreyfusard...
...Colonel Nasser, for his part, has openly exhorted the Arab terrorist organizations to unite, while offering them equipment and facilities on Egyptian territory...
...If I were the Israelis, I would gladly move back my troops 30 or 40 miles in exchange for seeing Israeli ships, flying the Star of David, pass through the Canal undisturbed...
...Traditionally, France is skeptical about that type of solution...
...He finds them in his immediate circle, even right in the bosom of his family...
...WHY, then did he suddenly yflf reimpose the embargo this January and cripple the Israeli Army...
...Look at the Greeks and Turks on Cyprus...
...And even if Egypt accepted such an arrangement, which seems unlikely, the war would still go on...
...Now that the bombing of North Vietnam has stopped, Moscow is no longer interested in harassing America elsewhere...
...Well," I responded, "didn't the Soviets trigger the war by feeding Nasser false information...
...While acting as he did, he also warned the Arabs that a new major attack by Al Fatah would hamstring his efforts for a just peace...
...Yes...
...None of the big powers will have time to hold them back...
...intervention in Vietnam...
...It appears that General de Gaulle himself could live with such a tragedy...
...They claim they can stay put indefinitely until the Arabs are ready for peace...
...On these essential questions, France's support has never been and will never be ambiguous...
...After all, he had armed Israel...
...These are sentiments the General cannot ignore...
...This is of course no more than an educated guess," he cautioned...
...For the moment, Israel is still stronger than all the Arab states combined...
...Haifa and Tel Aviv could be bombed to ashes...
...As long as the root cause for that resistance is not removed, there can be no peace...
...After an official accord...
...Asked about the big powers' chances of finding a common peace formula, our spokesman said: "The chances look good because the Soviet Union, for several reasons, wants a settlement...
...asked the French official with an air of pained astonishment...
...During the last 18 months, however, he had gradually resumed arms deliveries to Jerusalem and worked his way back to a position of neutrality...
...For him, the Israelis are no different than anyone else, and their role must be viewed solely in the light of France's own interests...
...Ismael would consist of all territory west of the Jordan now occupied by Israel, and the new state would be given access to the sea through Israeli territory...
...But Al Fatah, the Palestine resistance movement, has announced George W. Herald, a frequent contributor here, is a veteran foreign correspondent now based in Paris...
...Israel would have been overrun...
...This does not mean he is an anti-Semite...
...The Prussians had enough trouble with their cousins, the Bavarians...
...It may continue to be so for another year, if that long...
...So could Cairo and Baghdad...
...In what sense...
...Meanwhile, the way is being paved for a Big Four meeting that can prepare an equitable settlement before it is too late...
...The Israelis seem to be in no hurry," I noted...
...The French official maintained that Israel's victory, which the General foresaw, could not have come at a less suitable moment for him...
...Nothing in the record shows that the Israelis dream of any such role," I observed...
...Al Fatah cares little about the evacuation of Egyptian territory...
...It cannot become a modern Prussia in the region...
...I am afraid things would move much too fast...
...Since then, Debre has stated in another interview that France would not object to certain border corrections designed to increase Israel's safety...
...Several Palestine resistance groups are already spreading Red Chinese slogans that are directed as much against Russia as the West...
...You believe no other country would lift a finger to save Israel...
Vol. 52 • February 1969 • No. 3
