Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
06PARIS7507
2006-11-22 13:40:00
CONFIDENTIAL
Embassy Paris
Cable title:  

DEMARCHE DELIVERED: MEETING ON SPAIN'S MIDDLE EAST

Tags:  FR IS LE PGOV PREL SP SY 
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Lucia A Keegan 11/28/2006 10:08:11 AM From DB/Inbox: Lucia A Keegan

Cable 
Text: 
 
 
C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 07507

SIPDIS
cxparis:
 ACTION: POL
 INFO: AMB FCS SCI ORA UNESCO DAO ECON STRASBOU DCM
 ODC AGR PAO

DISSEMINATION: POLOUT
CHARGE: PROG

APPROVED: POL/MC:JROSENBLATT
DRAFTED: POL:RWALLER
CLEARED: POL/D:BTURNER

VZCZCFRI961
OO RUEHC RUEHXK RUEHZL RUCNDT
DE RUEHFR #7507 3261340
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 221340Z NOV 06
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3304
INFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1021
C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 007507 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/22/2016
TAGS: FR IS LE PGOV PREL SP SY
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED: MEETING ON SPAIN'S MIDDLE EAST
PEACE INITIATIVE

REF: A. STATE 190259


B. PARIS POINTS OF NOVEMBER 15

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).

C O N F I D E N T I A L PARIS 007507

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 11/22/2016
TAGS: FR IS LE PGOV PREL SP SY
SUBJECT: DEMARCHE DELIVERED: MEETING ON SPAIN'S MIDDLE EAST
PEACE INITIATIVE

REF: A. STATE 190259


B. PARIS POINTS OF NOVEMBER 15

Classified By: Political Minister-Counselor Josiah Rosenblatt, reasons
1.4 (b) and (d).


1. (C) Poloff delivered reftel demarche on November 22 to
Herve Besancenot, MFA DAS equivalent for the Levant. In
response, Besancenot made the following three points: First,
the isolation of the Hamas-led PA government is radicalizing
the Palestinian population; second, a continuation of the
status quo will weaken, rather than strengthen, President
Abbas; and third, a PA national unity government's embrace of
the Quartet Principles "should be a process, not a
precondition." Elaborating on the last point, Besancenot
said it was unrealistic and counterproductive to make Hamas a
yes or no offer. Instead, one should involve Hamas in a
diplomatic process that would produce a phased acceptance of
those principles over time.


2. (C) Taking a swipe at the Roadmap, Besancenot claimed that
Israeli insistence on the sequencing of security
preconditions (while Israel ignored its own obligations on
settlements) had "killed" the Roadmap. Besancenot, who we
have found to be the most ardent proponent of classical
French Arabist thinking at the Quai d'Orsay, summed up the
U.S. approach to the peace process as "catastrophic."


3. (C) Comment: As we have noted previously (Ref B),the
French have been distancing themselves of late from requiring
explicit Palestinian acceptance of the Quartet Principles, a
requirement which they see as hampering their ability to add
dynamism to the peace process -- with the emphasis on proces.
Given France's sense of its role in the Middle East, it is
inevitable that they will be increasingly tempted by
proposals such as Zapatero's. Whether Chirac fully
subscribes to the Spanish ideas is almost beside the point.




Please visit Paris' Classified Website at:
http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/eur/paris/index.c fm
STAPLETON