Michel Barnier, the new French Foreign Affairs Minister, is going on his first Middle East tour soon. He will make a special point in visiting Arafat. When told by Israeli diplomats that if he did, he would not be permitted to meet with Prime Minister Sharon, Barnier did not blink, sticking to his guns, or rather to Arafat's. So, France would rather meet an international terrorist than a democratically—elected official of the only free country in the Middle East.
A few days ago, in an interview with Le Figaro, Hubert Vedrine, ex Socialist French Foreign Affairs Minister, explained that Arafat is not the reason behind Camp David's failure. For Vedrine, even if Clinton said otherwise, it was rather a combination of Barak's hesitation and mistakes, Clinton's lateness to the table and Arafat's mistakes, which caused the Camp David accord to fail. Vedrine added that the reason why Clinton blamed Arafat is that he remains an American politician and he had no other choice. Clearly Vedrine is implying that the Jewish Lobby is so powerful that each American politician has to side with Israel, whatever the situation.
But Vedrine goes on to say that Clinton was very brave because it is unheard of for an American President to understand the despair of the Palestinians. His view of the United States is most decidedly ambivalent at best. Let's not forget that Vedrine coined the term 'hyperpower' to define the USA. Of course, he has plenty of company in the French government.
Former Prime Minister Rocard recently bashed Israel.
Arafat's wife Suha lives in luxury in Paris, on a very generous allowance, while the Palestinian Authority receives hundreds of millions of Euros courtesy of taxpayers, with no strings attached, and no audit or other review.
A trio of anti—American and anti—Israel powerful French politicians seems to be rather normal these days.
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