"Chirac of Arabia" Era at an End

A "slip-up with an announcement," wrote the French newspaper Libération of a faux pas by the Socialist presidential candidate Ségolène Royal during her first Middle East trip. Götz Nordbruch on France's Mideast policy options

​​A "slip-up with an announcement," wrote the French newspaper Libération of a faux pas by the Socialist presidential candidate Ségolène Royal. A few scant hours after her meeting with members of the Lebanese parliament, the controversy was in full swing. Just five months before the first round of the presidential elections in mid-April, the focus of the French election campaign shifted to the Middle East conflict.

"The Nazism that sheds our blood (today) and undermines our independence and our sovereignty is no better than the Nazism that occupied France (back then)," Ali Ammar, a member of parliament from the Hizbullah, is reported to have said at his meeting with Royal in Beirut. In recent days voices from the French ruling party UMP have repeatedly accused Royal of letting this comparison go by unchallenged.

Royal herself, like the French ambassador, who was also present at the meeting, denies having heard this statement. If that had been the case, "we would have left the room."

France's foreign policy shift

For Royal, whose party, the Parti Socialiste, just nominated her as a candidate to succeed Jacques Chirac in mid-November, the trip to Beirut, Jerusalem and Gaza in early December was a premiere. It was no coincidence that the candidate with little foreign-policy experience chose the Middle East for her first trip abroad in the election campaign. In the neck and neck race with her closest rival, Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, the slightest hint about the future of France's Middle East policy can mean crucial votes – or cost votes.

As President Chirac's twelve years in office draw to a close, France is facing a foreign policy shift which could hardly be more controversial, given the crises in Lebanon, Iraq, Israel and Palestine. And especially given that in France issues of Middle East policy are always closely tied to domestic policy debates. In recent days there was repeated talk of an "Arab" and a "Jewish vote" that could tip the scales in the upcoming election.

Yes it is Sarkozy, a member of Chirac's own party, who is the loudest proponent of breaking with Chirac's foreign policy. As "Chirac of Arabia" – the title of a recent book on France's Middle East policy in the Chirac era – Chirac's policy toward the various Arab regimes was strongly influenced by personal connections.

The Arab heads of state with whom Chirac maintained close relations included Saddam Hussein, Hafez al-Assad, Hassan II and Rafik Hariri. His policy toward Israel was correspondingly more reserved. Chirac's furious altercation with Israeli police during a visit to Jerusalem's Old Town in October 1996 was not forgotten, either by the Israelis or by the Palestinians.

"French arrogance"

Sarkozy has criticized this policy on a number of occasions. Recently, for instance, he expressly rejected France's Iraq policy, which he publicly repudiated as a sign of "French arrogance". The desire for stronger ties to the USA is also reflected in Sarkozy's attitude toward Israel. Two years ago Sarkozy was already visiting Jerusalem, where his visit sparked hopes for an impending shift in French policy. Though Sarkozy has announced his intention to visit Ramallah or Gaza, he has not yet done so.

In the presidential elections this attitude could cost votes. Despite the highly restrictive immigration policy he pursued as Minister of the Interior, Sarkozy was long regarded as the "advocate of the Muslims", as he himself once noted in surprise.

With the role he played in establishing the Islam Council, the Conseil français du culte musulman in early 2003 in the face of strong domestic resistance, he created an image for himself as a partner for the Islamic lobby. His hard-line stance during the Banlieue riots in November 2005 and his open support for Israel during the Lebanon war damaged this reputation.

Contradictory demands in Beirut and Jerusalem

By contrast, his socialist opponent adopted a pointedly even-handed approach on her Middle East trip – to such an extent that she was accused of making completely contradictory demands in Beirut and Jerusalem. In Lebanon, for instance, Ségolène Royal criticized Israeli flights over Lebanese territory, only to express her understanding in talks with the Israelis.

In Beirut she did not reject the possibility of meeting with representatives of the Hamas on principle, while in Israel she insisted that there could be no question of meeting with representatives of a terrorist group.

Thus, Royal can hardly be sure of the "Arab vote" either. In view of the recent scandal surrounding racist remarks by a regional socialist politician who called the number of blacks in the French national team a "disgrace for France", an increasing number of people are saying that the socialist candidate is not a real alternative, neither in domestic nor in foreign policy.

Götz Nordbruch

© Qantara.de 2006

Translated from the German by Isabel Cole

Qantara.de

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