Published in "Ha'aretz".
There will be a long line at the door at Pierre Mendes-France Street in Jaffa tonight. Like every year, women in cocktail dresses and men in suits will wait patiently to shake the hand of the French ambassador at his home, which overlooks the Ajami beach.
Nitzan Horowitz
There will be a long line at the door at Pierre Mendes-France Street in Jaffa tonight. Like every year, women in cocktail dresses and men in suits will wait patiently to shake the hand of the French ambassador at his home, which overlooks the Ajami beach. The reception for Bastille Day, which took place yesterday, is still one of the most popular events on the crowded calendar of the diplomatic community. It is also the annual parade of Israel's francophone community: a varied collection of artists, car importers, academics and gastronomes who have never made peace with the disappearance of the "bridge over the Mediterranean," as relations were Paris were described during the period in which the Israeli army's Nahal entertainment troupe sang of "France, which will always lend us a hand."
It is hard to think of another relationship with as many tortuous ups and downs as the Franco-Israeli relationship. The passionate romance of the 1950s and `60s ended in what many Israelis view as President Charles de Gaulle's "great betrayal" following the 1967 Six-Day War. It marked the start of President Giscard d'Estaing's long period of overtly pro-Arab policy in the 1970s. He was followed by Francois Mitterrand, with faltering attempts to achieve balance, and then Jacques Chirac landed at the c Palace and declared France's return to an active policy in the Middle East.
Each of these governments was shocked when it discovered the heavy residues of bitterness held by their Israeli interlocutors. Suspicion and criticism have clouded relations between Paris and Jerusalem for 30 years now, together with a continuing, two-way attraction. Relations are charged: Israel is in no way just "another country" for France, which will never be a "mediocre European country" for Israel. "Why such hostility toward France?" Paris asks the Israelis, who have turned the city into their most popular tourist destination. "Why are you so hard on us?" has been the Israeli response for decades.
In the current phase of relations, both parties are making efforts to improve the atmosphere. "There is no hostility," declares Roger Cukierman, the new president of the Representative Council of French Israelites (CRIF), the umbrella organization of French Jewry. Cukierman came to Israel as the head of a solidarity mission from the organization. Before the visit, he played host to Ariel Sharon following the prime minister's meeting with President Chirac.
"There is a dialogue and it is possible to reach an understanding," Cukierman says. "Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine is not hostile, he is open. Premier Lionel Jospin is absolutely a friend of Israel. There is perhaps hostility at the professional level of the Foreign Ministry due to the pro-Arab tradition there, but there is not hostility at the level of the decision makers. France's Arab policy is not necessarily anti-Israeli, but rather pro-peace. We are simply asking France to show a little more sympathy for Israel. Today it's fashionable to attack Israel. No other state is attacked the same way."
At meetings in recent weeks with Chirac, Jospin and Vedrine, the CRIF leadership made three requests: to finally accept Israel into the Organization of Francophone Nations, to permit the sale to Israel of teargas grenade launchers manufactured by the French company Matra and to put the French consul in his place for holding separate receptions for Jews and Arabs.
"I told the French leaders one thing: I do not want to change French policy in the Middle East, but rather to stop the expressions of disrespect toward Israel. It is inconceivable that Israel, with half a million French speakers, has not been accepted to the francophone organization, while Albania or the Vanuatu Republic, with a dozen French speakers, are members," Cukierman explains.
And, he continues, "it is not fair for France to denounce Israel for unnecessary use of force while refusing to sell it equipment for teargas. It is unacceptable for the French consul in the capital to see himself as being in Palestinian territory and to send his correspondence `via Israel.' The receptions there are a scandal. The French consulate in Jerusalem is the only place in the world where Jews and Arabs cannot meet. Everyone I've told about this has been very surprised, including Chirac."
Jacques Huntzinger is not at all surprised. The French ambassador was assigned to Israel at his own request against the background of a longstanding friendship with Israel. His previous posting was no less complex: Macedonia. He is well aware of the discord, but says there has been a significant change as a result of Sharon's visit to Paris.
"Sharon apparently feared that the French stage of his visit to Europe would be difficult in comparison with Germany. He said in the past that Israel can rely only on Britain and Germany in Europe. After Paris he changed his mind and realized that France has a deep relationship with Israel. Jospin even defined the relationship as `courageous,' unlike relations between France and the Arab states. He called them `intimate.' These are indeed intimate relations between genuine friends," the ambassador says.
Huntzinger rejects all reports that the meeting at the Élysée was not particularly warm. "I was there," he says, "Chirac asked Sharon to put forth his positions, and Sharon did so for about 80 percent of the duration of the meeting. There were no clashes and no friction. On certain points, the positions were different. But that's no secret: We believe that the Mitchell Report must be implemented as soon as possible, without waiting for 100 percent results, we also think that [Palestinian Authority chairman Yasser] Arafat remains the Palestinian partner despite all of his mistakes. We told all of that to Sharon, but as between friends."
The ambassador attributes the excitement that characterizes French-Israeli relations, for good and for bad, to the fact that "we are two emotional and hot-tempered peoples." These relations, he says, are based on elements that are absent from relationships between other states. "An example? How could it be otherwise when France has the second largest Jewish community in the world?"
Huntzinger has a surprising comment on the issues raised by CRIF. "Israel has one of the highest proportions of French-speakers in the world. It is not a member of the francophone organization but that doesn't mean it isn't a francophone country. There are other major francophone states that are also not members. Israel is not a member because the organization makes its decisions by consensus, and the next conference will be in Beirut.
"But there is something that people don't know, and I told this to every Israeli foreign minister: Israel, for its own reasons, never officially submitted a request for membership, perhaps out of fear that it would not be accepted. But it should do so, and then we'll see what happens."
The ambassador attributes the French refusal to sell Israel the teargas grenade launchers to timing and image. "It would be hard for us to publicly approve the sale of such equipment in the midst of the Intifada." But he does not rule out the possibility of the sale being approved in the future.
As for the separate receptions at the consulate in Jerusalem, which by the way is not under his command and enjoys the same independent status as other consulates in the capital, Huntzinger says they are an "old tradition." He says there is some justification for the practice, in that the Jerusalem consulate wears "two hats": it represents France in the Corpus Separatum, a separate body, as Jerusalem is defined by United Nations resolutions, and also represents France to the Palestinian Authority. "So the holding of a few receptions can be justified. After all, it's impossible to have [Jerusalem mayor] Ehud Olmert and Yasser Arafat at the same event."
There's no place like Jaffa
Contrary to the conventional wisdom, France is not the only country whose ambassador lives in Jaffa. The representative of the Vatican, the papal nuncio, also has an official residence there. "Being the Vatican's neighbor isn't bad," jokes the French ambassador, Jacques Huntzinger. "It's good company, next to God, even though I heard that the nuncio isn't there most of the time."
In practice, therefore, the French ambassador is the only one living in Jaffa. Most of his colleagues live in the "diplomatic ghetto" of Herzliya. "And when everyone else is stuck in the traffic jams, I get to work within a quarter of an hour."
The luxurious residence on Toulouse Street is exceptional from another aspect: People in the profession consider it an architectural gem, a masterpiece of the International Style combined with oriental motifs. The modern house on the top of the hill still stands out from its surroundings. Citrus merchant Abd Al Rahim, one of the heads of the Jaffa port, fell in love with the Bauhaus buildings that were built along Tel Aviv's Rothschild Boulevard and asked architect Yitzhak Rappaport to build him a similar palace in Jaffa. After work on it began, in 1936, the Arab Revolt broke out. Rappaport continued to come to the site, disguised as an Arab, until the house was completed.
The wealthy merchant was exiled in 1948, together with tens of thousands of Jaffa's Arabs. Rappaport was left with Abd Al Rahim's power of attorney. The Israel Defense Forces wanted to expropriate the home, Rappaport refused. In 1949 the home was sold to the French government.
The Huntzingers are very happy. "Jaffa is a beautiful city. We are certainly aware of the problems of this neighborhood, but it is charming: one can drink an aperitif at a seaside restaurant and go down to the beach. Now, after living in Jaffa for a year and a half, I wouldn't trade it for the diplomatic ghetto of Herzliya Pituah for all the money in the world."