Re: Jews, Arabs, and French Diplomacy: A Special Report
What a screed! My first remark on Pryce-Jones' lenghty review of France's relationship with both Jews and Arabs is that it gives short shrift to the crucial French-Algerian war from 1954 to 1962, and, incidentally, to the history of French occupation of Algeria from 1830....
It's also inaccurate as regards the presidency of Francois Mitterrand from 1981 to 1995... How come such an otherwise astute pundit of French politics as Mr Pryce-Jones pictures F. Mitterrand as unfriendly, if not hostile, to Jews and Israel?!
Actually, Mitterrand's two presidencies (he was reelected in 1988) amounted to a Golden Age for the French jewry and Israel --just ask Shimon Peres. Mitterrand's widow, Danielle Mitterrand, is Jewish and was born Danielle Gouze. Her sister, film producer Christine Gouze-Renal, is married to Roger Hanin, a Jewish Pied-Noir --both greatly benefited from Mitterrand's rise to power in 1981.... Pryce-Jones briefly mentions Jacques Attali as a counselor of the late President. Well, Mr J. Attali wasn't just another advisor --he was Mitterrand's eminence grise on a number of issues... and a Jew. As was Laurent Fabius, Mitterrand's second (or third) Prime minister and the youngest French ever appointed to the post (Fabius was 39 when he took over Matignon). Besides, Mitterrand's record on the French-Algerian war testifies that he was no "Arab friend":
This was the period of the war in Algeria and Mitterrand took a very hard line in defence of French Algeria. He maintained that the only acceptable form of negotiation with those fighting for independence from France was war. Eventually the intractable nature of the conflict, together with the threat from right wing sections of the army in Algeria to invade France, led to the collapse of the Fourth Republic in 1958 and General de Gaulle's assumption of power.
Excerpted from:
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