Israel will receive French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier as "foreign minister of a friendly country," Radio France Internationale (RFI) quoted Israeli government spokesman Avi Pazner as reporting on Friday.

"When the French foreign minister goes to Israel, he will be received as foreign minister of a friendly country, with which we have our discussions and sometime our differences, but we consider France as a friendly country," Pazner said.

"Israel is eager to keep good relationship with France and the French government," he added.

The spokesman also denied previous reports that Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon had criticized Barnier's meeting with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah on June 29. It was reported that when receiving a French delegation on Sunday in Jerusalem, Sharon described Barnier's meeting with Arafat as an "unfriendly behavior of the French government" toward Israel.

"More and more governments in the world, notably Arab governments, refuse to meet with Arafat. This meeting gives him political oxygen, when it's necessary for him to be totally isolated to allow the emergence of new Palestinian leaders," Sharon said, according to some French delegates who attended the meeting with Sharon.

Sharon also expressed disappointment with recent remarks by French President Jacques Chirac concerning the isolation of Arafat.

During a two-day NATO summit held last week in the Turkish portcity of Istanbul, Chirac described Arafat as "the only person who can impose on the Palestinian people some compromises notably concerning territory" and affirmed that it was legitimate to meet the Palestinian leader.

The French Foreign Ministry said Monday that the government took notes of Sharon's criticism and didn't make any comment on it.

"The statements to which you're referring were made at an unofficial meeting. I therefore don't have to comment on them," foreign ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous told a news conference.