CLAUDE ESTIER
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difficult situation. After all, over the last ten years, the
Palestinians have gained in terms of world public opinion. Ten
years ago they were considered refugees to be "absorbed"; today
the question of the State of Palestine is raised everywhere in the
world. We wish to contribute, by asking the State of Israel to take
this problem seriously, although we are not going to decide that
we must have a Palestinian state, or where such a state should be
created . So, even if we are not always understood by the Israelis,
we believe that we are acting as friends who are trying to help
them.
Kurzweil:
Of course, it's Israel's problem. But just the same, most
Arab countries have never accepted Israel' s right to exist, nor
hav~
they rejected the idea that it must be pushed into the sea.
Without the war in Lebanon, we never would have known how
many weapons the PLO had . Do you think, at least after the fact,
that there were reasons to eliminate the weapons?
Estier:
I think that the problem is not that the PLO has weapons , for
everyone knows perfectly well that the PLO is an organization
that has closed itself off militarily for the defense of an idea, a
state, etc.
Kurzweil:
But they had more than just weapons .. ..
Estier:
Yes . Probably. But we French had to face the same type of
problem at the time of the war in Algeria. We were faced with a
popular army that fought with and conspired with terrorists, and
then one day, we negotiated with them. Historically, America did
the same thing in Vietnam.
Kurzweil:
But France had a France to remember, and America also.
Estier:
Yes , that is true. I would say that an organization that fights
with weapons and uses military methods and even terrorist
methods is deplorable . But it is the movement of history. What we
say regarding the PLO is that we cannot accept its refusal to
recognize Israel, and that it continues officially, in any case-even
if the language of Yassir Arafat relies on softer words-to
advocate the destruction of the State of Israel. And we have
said-Franc;:ois Mitterand has said on several occasions–
that we do not officially recognize the PLO. For example, despite
Arafat ' s desire to come to Paris, the president of the republic
would not receive him. So we are consistent. Just as we say to
Israel that it must take the Palestinian problem into considera–
tion, we say to the leaders of the PLO that we can't consider them
