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we find ourselves in a contradictory position. Yet I think that
since May 10, 1981, France has established a certain number of
unassailable principles. Having an Arab policy means that we
have a policy of relations , which are not only commercial and not
based on the need for oil alone. However, we are striving to
reduce our dependence on oil in several ways, including the
development of nuclear power-part of our economic energy
policy. This year, despite consuming more energy, we have
imported less oil than last year. We are also diversifying our
sources so as not to be dependent on a single Arab country or
even on a group of them. We import oil from Iran, Iraq, Saudi
Arabia, Algeria, from all the gulf countries.
Kurzweil:
Yes, but does that change matters basically?
Estier:
I have been talking of our traditional policy of relations with
the Arab countries . Our best mediator today in the Arab world is
Egypt, although it is not recognized as belonging to the Arab
nations by the other Arab countries. Our diversified policy also
derives from France's historic links with Lebanon, Syria, Algeria
naturally, and with the countries of North Africa.
To return to the State of Israel: The policy of France, I
would say, from the beginning has been a policy of support
and-how should I put it?-of backing the existence of the State
of Israel in matters pertaining to its security, to its life within its
internationally recognized boundaries. France has taken this
position even more strongly, I think, since the Left came to power.
But we ask: What is the interest of Israel today? Is it in Israel's
interest to refuse obstinately and systematically to see the reality
of the problem that prevents world order in the Middle East, that
is, the reality of the Palestinian problem? And it is not we who
have stirred up this question; it is not we who have brought it to
international attention . But in the last few months it has been in
the limelight because of the events in Lebanon. It is no longer
simply a question of a military organization that calls itself the
PLO, and that uses a certain form of terrorism. It has become a
genuine political problem for all the countries of the world,
including the United States. Even the Reagan Plan indicates a
certain way of looking at the Palestinian problem. Yet the
government of Begin and Sharon refuses to tackle the Palestinian
problem. France considers this an unreasonable position, one that
risks putting the State of Israel, in the end, in an extremely
