Language:
French
Year of publication:
2005
Titel der Quelle:
Commentary
Angaben zur Quelle:
119, 5 (2005) 27-45
Keywords:
Arab-Israeli conflict
;
Antisemitism History 1800-2000
;
France Foreign relations
;
Israel Foreign relations
;
Eretz Israel Relations
;
France Relations
;
Eretz Israel History 1517-1917, Ottoman period
;
Eretz Israel History 1917-1948, British Mandate period
Abstract:
Traces anti-Jewish and pro-Arab tendencies in French foreign policy from the end of the 18th century and the beginning of French interests in the Arab world. Opposition to Jewish nationalism began with the French Revolution and France's unwillingness to grant rights to the Jews as a nation. The French Foreign Ministry has been marked by an aristocratic, Catholic-oriented antisemitism, which came to include opposition to Zionism. French interests were identified with those of the Arabs. Antisemitism was expressed by such diplomats as the writers Paul Morand and (for some time) Paul Claudel, and by the aid given by France to Haj Amin al-Husaini in escaping possible British detention and trial in 1946. An influential figure in French foreign policy was the antisemitic Orientalist Louis Massignon. Even after the Vichy period, when France collaborated with the Nazis, French policy persisted in its antisemitism, including opposition to a Jewish state both before and after 1948. When the presidential system was instated, De Gaulle was pro-Arab, as were his successors. Now, with Muslim antisemitism rife domestically, French officials have been loathe to condemn it or to reorient their policy toward Israel.
Note:
Appeared in French as "La diplomatie française, les Juifs et les Arabes" in "Commentaire" 112 (2005-2006) 833-857. A response to the French version, by Maurice Vaïsse, appeared in "Commentaire" 115 (2006) 615-624.
URL:
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