FRENCH GAERC RESPONSE HIGHLIGHTS ISRAEL-PALESTINE,

C O N F I D E N T I A L SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 000993

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/20/2018
TAGS: PREL EUN PGOV IR IZ IS LE GG AF CU SO SR
BK, BO, KV, FR
SUBJECT: FRENCH GAERC RESPONSE HIGHLIGHTS ISRAEL-PALESTINE,
LEBANON, IRAN, IRAQ

REF: STATE 54639

PARIS 00000993 001.2 OF 002


Classified By: Acting Political Minister-Counselor Andrew Young for rea
sons 1.4 b and d.


1. (C) Summary. On May 20 and 22, POLOFF transmitted the
U.S. demarche and supplemental points for the May GAERC to
MFA Deputy Office Director for CFSP Mathieu Carmona.
Separately, MFA DAS-equivalents Ludovic Pouille and Franck
Gellet provided detailed information regarding French views
on Israeli-Palestinian Peace, Lebanon, Iran, and Iraq.
Recent interactions with French officials confirm good
cooperation regarding Somalia and the upcoming Afghanistan
Support Conference. End summary.

ISRAELI-PALESTINIAN PEACE


2. (C) French MFA DAS-equivalent Ludovic Pouille on May 20
said that the GOF fully agrees with our points on supporting
Israeli/Palestinian peace efforts. FM Kouchner was to visit
the region May 22-23 to attend a conference aimed at
promoting private investment in the Palestinian territories.
Pouille reaffirmed France's commitment to the political
process launched at Annapolis last November and to achieving
the economic development goals laid out in Paris last
December. Privately, however, Pouille expressed chagrin that
President Bush had not used these very points in his speech
when he visited Israel and the region earlier this month.
Pouille said the French MFA would have had a more positive
reaction to the President,s visit had these points been used
publicly.

LEBANON


3. (C) Pouille did not have a chance to review and comment
on the GAERC points on Lebanon, but, as reported by Embassy
Paris in septels, the French have wholeheartedly supported
the Doha accord among Lebanese leaders to end recent violence
and resolve the underlying political crisis. Pouille and
French Presidency NEA adviser Boris Boillon, however, have
strongly indicated that France will not agree to an EU
designation of Hizballah as a terrorist organization. The
principal reasons for this are (1) an immediate concern that
doing so would dangerously polarize the delicate political
situation in Lebanon and (2) would render impossible the sort
of limited and discreet dialogue France maintains with what
it considers to be a significant political force in Lebanon
(representing a majority of that country's sizable Shi'a
population). Pouille has indicated that the GOF would
reassess this policy if and when a terrorist incident
occurred that was traced back to Hizballah in a credible and
convincing manner.

IRAN


4. (C) French MFA DAS-equivalent for Iran/Iraq/Arabian
Peninsula Franck Gellet on May 22 expressed his customary
disdain for the USG's insistence on presenting this sort of
demarche on matters to be discussed by an internal EU body.
Nevertheless, he reiterated France's continuing frustration
with other members of the EU, most notably Austria, for
blocking implementation of UNSCR 1803. Gellet said the
motives behind such resistance was purely commercial in
nature and, in Austria's case, stemmed from a desire not to
disrupt Iran's oil industry (and thus jeopardize Austria's
stake in it). Given the need to find consensus across 27
members, Gellet was pessimistic that the EU would ever take
the implementing measures necessary to enforce compliance
with the newly enacted sanctions. Not every country, as he

PARIS 00000993 002.2 OF 002


put it, has made the decision to put its commercial interests
to the side in order to uphold the NPT and prevent Iran from
acquiring a nuclear weapons capability. France, however,
would continue to fight the fight.

IRAQ


5. (C) Gellet did not comment on our Iraq points. However,
he and others in the MFA are well aware of our interest in
the EU collectively and at the level of member states being
more engaged with the Iraqi government in all fields. France
has many times indicated it would use its EU presidency to
champion increased engagement with Iraq. Although there is a
chance his plans may change at the last minute, FM Kouchner
is currently scheduled to visit Iraq May 28-30. In addition
to meeting Iraqi leaders in Baghdad, he is expected to open
an embassy office in the northern city of Irbil. We would
expect Kouchner, should his trip occur as planned, will use
the GAERC to share his impressions and encourage his
colleagues to follow suit with their own visits.

SOMALIA


6. (SBU) Recent interactions confirm that French policy on
Somalia remains in synch with USG policy. Both sides worked
for UNSC adoption of Resolution 1814 on May 15 and are
working as well on a Security Council resolution on piracy in
the region.

AFGHANISTAN


7. (SBU) Regarding the upcoming Afghan Support Conference,
our discussions in Paris reinforce that planning for the June
12 conference and preparatory meetings is proceeding well and
that lines of communication are open.

OTHER SUBJECTS


8. (SBU) The GAERC points on the Western Balkans, Georgia,
Cuba, and Belarus were also delivered without substantive
reaction.


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

STAPLETON

VZCZCXRO2305
OO RUEHAG RUEHBC RUEHDE RUEHDIR RUEHIHL RUEHKUK RUEHROV
DE RUEHFR #0993/01 1441657
ZNY CCCCC ZZH
O 231657Z MAY 08
FM AMEMBASSY PARIS
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 3139
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES PRIORITY
RUCNIRA/IRAN COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUCNRAQ/IRAQ COLLECTIVE PRIORITY
RUEHGB/AMEMBASSY BAGHDAD PRIORITY 0076
RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT PRIORITY 0571
RUEHBW/AMEMBASSY BELGRADE PRIORITY 0940
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS PRIORITY 0357
RUEHBUL/AMEMBASSY KABUL PRIORITY 0637
RUEHSK/AMEMBASSY MINSK PRIORITY 0135
RUEHMO/AMEMBASSY MOSCOW PRIORITY 6116
RUEHNR/AMEMBASSY NAIROBI PRIORITY 1338
RUEHVJ/AMEMBASSY SARAJEVO PRIORITY 0190
RUEHSQ/AMEMBASSY SKOPJE PRIORITY 0303
RUEHSI/AMEMBASSY TBILISI PRIORITY 0511
RUEHTV/AMEMBASSY TEL AVIV PRIORITY 0727
RUEHTI/AMEMBASSY TIRANA PRIORITY 0223
RUEHVB/AMEMBASSY ZAGREB PRIORITY 0270
RUEHJM/AMCONSUL JERUSALEM PRIORITY 0316
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK PRIORITY 1518
RUEHPS/AMEMBASSY PRISTINA PRIORITY
RUEHUB/USINT HAVANA PRIORITY 0073