French FM admits "serious misunderstanding" with Israel

French Foreign Minister Michel Barnier acknowledged Tuesday that there was a "serious misunderstanding" between France and Israel, but said Paris is willing to preserve ties with the Jewish country and its people.

Commenting on Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's recent remarks calling on France-based Jews to leave, Barnier said the statement had provoked serious misunderstanding and Paris would like to make understood the real situation in France.

"It was a matter of honor for our republic ... that each citizen is guaranteed the same protection and freedom, whatever their religious belief," Barnier told French radio Europe 1.

Sharon sparked anger and criticism in Paris with a speech on Sunday in which he urged all France-based Jews to leave and move to Israel immediately to flee the "spread of the wildest anti-Semitism".

The French government reacted strongly by asking Israel's explanation on these "unacceptable remarks," and President Jacques Chirac threatened that a possible visit by Sharon to France, discussed by the two sides earlier this year, could be suspended unless such an explanation is offered.

"After some weeks of contacts concerning such a visit it turns out that it is impossible ... and you are not welcome following your comments," he said in a letter to Sharon Monday evening.

However, Barnier said he had no plan to cancel his visit to Israel, scheduled for September or October, despite the current diplomatic row.

"As soon as we have all the explanations and the necessary dialogue over this misunderstanding, I plan to have a true bilateral visit to Israel in September or October," said the French foreign minister.

He pledged the French government would "fight every day if necessary and without compromise against all forms of anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia."

According to a survey made by the Unified Jewish Social Fund (FSJU) in November 2002, France accommodates up to 600,000 Jews, the second biggest community of Diaspora after the United States.

France, also home to 5 million Muslims, saw the number of racist incidents soaring this year. The latest French Interior Ministry figures show that there are 510 anti-Jewish acts or threat in the first half of 2004, while 593 cases were registered in the whole year of 2003.

According to Israel's Ministry of Immigration and Absorption, 7024 immigrants have come from France since 2000, from a low of 1,160 in 2001 to a high of 2,385 in 2002. For the first half of 2004, 647 French Jews immigrated to Israel.

Some French analysts attribute the emigration of French Jews to worries provoked by the rising of French extreme-right Front National party, high unemployment rate and a strong economic growth in Israel in recent years, as well as a special aid by the Israeli government to help French Jewish immigrants settle in the country.

The Representative Council of Jewish Institutions in France also criticized Sharon's remarks as "adding fuel to the flames" and "not corresponding to the facts."

"The Jewish community (in France) worries for the future of their children but knows the French political authorities are doing everything it can to fight anti-Semitism. To add oil to the fire in this way is not acceptable," said the council in a statement.