French Foreign Minister Dominique de Villepin set two goals for his trip to Israel: "to give new momentum to relations between the two countries and to convince the sides that it is possible and necessary to use the new opportunities created for making peace."
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Even as he took up his position as foreign minister in June 2002, it was possible to sense the new winds blowing from the Quai d'Orsay: The routine preaching to Israel disappeared and the chilling condemnations issued after bombings were replaced by clear and firm rhetoric. France was once again expressing "outrage" and "deep solidarity with the people of Israel."
De Villepin's first visit outside of France was to Israel, and the assessment at the time was that he wanted to build a new relationship that would not rise and fall with the fluctuations of the peace process.
But meanwhile, the conflict between the U.S. and France broke out over the war in Iraq. Israel perceived that dispute as an indicator of France's membership in the camp that is not considered a friend of Israel.
During his current visit, de Villepin sought to bring back the new tone that accompanied his appointment as the French foreign minister; to take the relationship between the two countries out of the deep freeze into which they had fallen. The Israeli Foreign Ministry also regarded the current visit as an unusual effort to improve relations.
To prove the sincerity of his intentions, de Villepin presented a series of initiatives in Israel: He cosigned with his counterpart Silvan Shalom an agreement to form a special committee meant to initiate joint projects in science, trade, education and culture. Some of those projects have already begun as a result of his visit; he also announced French intentions to establish a French Institute in Tel Aviv - a prestigious cultural institution and the only one of its kind outside France that Paris intends to create over the coming decade.
The French media regarded the de Villepin visit to Hebrew University on Mt. Scopus as a profound gesture: No high-ranking French official had ever visited the East Jerusalem campus.
De Villepin did not conceal his country's ambitions to participate in the implementation of the road map and to play a role in the Middle East. According to de Villepin, "the Americans can win the war on their own, but to make peace in the world they need friends." France is prepared to be one of those friends, he said.
Israel was pleased by the warmth, but did not hide its suspicions. Despite sincere French intentions to significantly improve relations, there's no reason to assume that the foundations of French foreign policy regarding Israel and the Middle East will suddenly deviate from the accepted parameters in Europe. Ultimately, the future of relations will be determined by the future of relations with the Palestinians - progress toward withdrawal from the territories, evacuation of the settlements and the establishment of a Palestinian state.
Israel would do well to find a way to accept de Villepin's outstretched hand. Despite the difficulties that have been exposed in the European Union, Germany and France still set its tone. Israel should not cut itself off from Europe and its culture, and France is still an important element in that culture. A close dialogue should be held with France, even if it is a critical discourse
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