In an interview with Israel's main daily Yediot Aharanot on February 4, 2005, French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier answered questions on two main topics: Hizbullah and Arafat.

1— Regarding Hizbullah, Barnier said :

"France continues to pressure Hizbullah to stop attacks against Israel. Regarding the inclusion of Hizbullah on the terrorist organizations' list, we are debating about it within the European Union. And if Abu Mazen asks us to slow down Hizbullah, we'll take that into account."

Interesting answer, since we know that France is by far the biggest obstacle to include Hizbullah in the EU's terrorist list. France still considers Hizbullah as a social organization...for now.
 
2— Re Arafat:

"Arafat was the elected President of the Palestinian Authority. We respected him because he was the one with the greatest influence on his people. But today, Arafat is not among us anymore. Fate decided of his passing."

Barnier still is very nostalgic about Arafat but overall the French are trying to water down their rhetoric. But let's not be fooled, they are still holding onto their position regarding Arab terrorists.
  
Olivier Guitta   2 7 05