FRANCE: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU IN PARIS FOR TALKS WITH PRESIDENT JACQUES CHIRAC

Record ID: 399867

  • Title: FRANCE: ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU IN PARIS FOR TALKS WITH PRESIDENT JACQUES CHIRAC
  • Date: 25th September 1996
  • Summary: PARIS, FRANCE (SEPTEMBER 25, 1996) (POOL - ACCESS ALL) 1. SV GUARDS OUTSIDE ELYSEE PALACE (2 SHOTS) 0.10 2. SLV CAR CARRYING ISRAELI PRIME MINISTER BENJAMIN NETANYAHU ARRIVES 0.27 3. SV NETANYAHU GREETED BY FRENCH PRESIDENT JACQUES CHIRAC 2.47 4. SV INT NETANYAHU AND CHIRAC SEATED (3 SHOTS) 1.05 Initials Scri
  • Embargoed: 10th October 1996 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: PARIS, FRANCE
  • City:
  • Country: France
  • Reuters ID: LVA1RZTZO9E3367YDH92MLMUYIHM
  • Story Text: INTRO: France has accused Israel of fuelling Middle East tension by opening a disputed archeological tunnel beneath the Old City of Jerusalem.

    As Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu arrived in Paris on Wednesday (September 25) for talks with President Jacques Chirac and Prime Minister Alain Juppe, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Yves Doutriaux said: "The opening of a tunnel by the Israelis under the (Temple Mount) mosques esplanade and the Arab city of Jerusalem is an old project that had been frozen for 10 years. This initiatve adds a new and regrettable factor of tension." Netanyahu flew in from London, where he met Labour opposition leader Tony Blair and former prime minister Margaret Thatcher after talks with Prime Minister John Major on Tuesday night.

    French officials said that at lunch talks Chirac would stress Paris's attachment to the peace process launched by Israel's former Labour leaders and offer French help in reviving stalled negotiations with Syria and Lebanon.

    France, keen to play a bigger Middle East peacemaking role, has stressed the principles of Palestinian self-determination of exchanging land for peace, which Netanyahu rejects.

    The Israeli leader has offended French Jewish leaders by deciding to attend a dinner of supporters of his right-wing Likud party on Wednesday rather than dine with the official leadership of the 700,000-strong community.

    Most French Jewish leaders supported the peace policy of the previous Labour government, and the official community leader, Henri Hajdenberg, told a Jewish radio station that Netanyahu had been manipulated into legimitising a few dozen extremists.

    Netanyahu travels to Germany on Thursday for talks with Chancellor Helmut Kohl.


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