Historical Dictionary of Israel

FRANCE

France: translation

The relationship between France and Israel has evolved through a series of stages over the years, as had France's relationship with theZionistMovement in the earlier decades of the 20th century. Although France voted for thePalestine Partition Planin November 1947 and recognized Israel in 1949, relations between the two states remained cool. In 1950, France joined with theUnited StatesandGreat Britainin a Tripartite Declaration that sought to stabilize the situation in the Middle East by limiting arms supply to the region. In subsequent years the relationship between the two states improved, and by 1954-55, France and Israel had signed a number of agreements relating to arms supply and nuclear energy. A political-military marriage of convenience between Israel and France developed as the revolt against France in Algeria gained support from President Gamal Abdul Nasser inEgyptand Nasser clashed with France over the nationalization of the Suez Canal. France and Great Britain reached a secret agreement with Israel that led to theSinai War(1956). France became Israel's primary supplier of military equipment (including tanks and aircraft) until theSix-Day War(1967), and close links were established in other sectors as well. France also assisted Israel in the construction of a nuclear reactor atDimonain theNegev.
However, after Charles de Gaulle came to power in France in 1958 and suggested a need to resolve the Algerian issue, relations between Israel and France began to cool—a trend that accelerated after the accord in 1962 that led to Algerian independence.The Six-Day War became a more significant watershed, as France announced in early June an embargo on arms shipments to the Middle East, a decision that severely and negatively affected Israel because France was Israel's primary arms supplier. De Gaulle's antipathy to Israel and its policies grew after the 1967 war, and the trend accelerated even further when Georges Pompidou became president. After Israel's raid on the Beirut airport in December 1968 (following aterroristattack on anEl Alaircraft in Athens, Greece), France imposed a total embargo on arms deliveries to Israel. In December 1969, Israel smuggled five gunboats (that had been built for Israel and paid for) out of Cherbourg harbor. This led to an intensification of the embargo and a deterioration in relations that was further compounded by growing French dependence onAraboil and a desire to sell military equipment to the Arab states. Among the factors in the relationship were French efforts to secure theVenice Declarationof the European Community in 1980, which was condemned by Israel.
Relations improved when Francois Mitterrand became president and paid a state visit to Israel in early 1982. Relations in other sectors also improved in subsequent years despite some interruption in the trend as a result of theWar in Lebanon(1982). Bilateral relations were again strained during theintifadaandAl-Aksa intifadaas France, under President Jacques Chirac and along with much of the rest of the European Union, adopted a perspective on the Arab-Israeli peace process that most Israelis interpreted as pro-Palestinianin orientation. Also complicating Jerusalem's bilateral relationship with Paris was a significant rise ofanti-Semiticincidents in France, many of them attributed to the country's increasingly large and restive Muslim population. Chirac's criticism of Israel's military actions inGazaandLebanonin the summer of 2006 as "disproportionate" also contributed to bilateral tensions. At the same time, France continued to use its historical and commercial contacts withSyriaand Lebanon in an effort to facilitate progress toward peaceful relations with Israel on those two fronts.
The election of conservative candidate Nicolas Sarkozy to succeed Chirac as France's president in May 2007 was generally perceived as a positive development in Israel-France bilateral relations. This perception was reinforced by more forceful positions adopted by the new French government with regard to such regional security issues as Iran's nuclear ambitions and Syria's intervention in Lebanon.
See alsoForeign Policy.

  1. france—France translation France Geography statistics and history dd Catholic Encyclopedia.Kevin Knight France France Catholic_Encyclopediau France The fifth in size usual...Catholic encyclopedia
  2. france—France bersetzungfs f GEO Frankreich n France [fs] Substantif fminin Beispielu la France Frankreich neutreem Wendungen de France et de Navarre humoristique weit und br...Dictionnaire Francais-Allemand
  3. rance—rance bersetzung rance [s] I ranzig II masculin Beispielu sentir le ranceavoir un got de rance ranzig riechenschmecken...Dictionnaire Francais-Allemand
  4. france—France translation During the Reformation Protestantism spread rapidly and forcefully in France and it took years for the Roman Catholic Church to reestablish complete c...Encyclopedia of Protestantism
  5. france—France translation Although the HUNDRED YEARS WAR had made France the traditional enemy of England the French monarchy became the chief potential source of foreign assist...Encyclopedia of the Wars of the Roses
  6. france—France translation France mu Englishu either from the name of the country or in some cases a short form of FRANCIS SEE Francis that is sometimes used in America as an in...First names dictionary
  7. france—France translation Over the years France has been maybe more important in its influence upon the Kurds than any other European power besides Great Britainstrong and Russi...Historical Dictionary of the Kurds
  8. france—[frns]Франция...Англо-русский большой универсальный переводческий словарь
  9. rance—подшашка...Англо-русский геологический словарь
  10. france—франция...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  11. france—франция...Англо-русский онлайн словарь
  12. rance—подшашка...Англо-русский политехнический словарь
  13. france—France Франция...Англо-русский словарь компьютерных терминов II
  14. france—n франция...Англо-русский словарь Лингвистика-98
  15. rance—n бельгийский мрамор...Англо-русский словарь Лингвистика-98
  16. france—France noun Франция...Англо-русский словарь Мюллера
  17. france—сущ. геогр. French Republic Франция государство в Западной Европе столица Париж...Англо-русский словарь общей лексики
  18. france—франция...Англо-русский словарь по компьютерам
  19. france—n. Франция [геогр.]...Англо-русский словарь редакция bed
  20. france—the French RepublicФранция Французская Республика...Англо-русский терминологический словарь МИД России
  21. france—франция...Англо-русский технический словарь
  22. france—сущ. общ. Франция республика столица Париж государственный язык французский валюта евро до г. в качестве национальной валюты использовался французский франкem euro Fre...Англо-русский экономический словарь
  23. france—франця...Англо-український словник
  24. france—n геогр. н. Франця....Англо-український словник Балла М.І.
  25. france—f...Большой французско-русский и русско-французский словарь
  26. rance—.strong adj прогорклый перен. уст. замшелый прогнивший.strong mпрогорклостьsentir le rance пахнуть прогорклым...Большой французско-русский и русско-французский словарь
  27. france—[frns] n геогр....Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  28. rance—[rns] n мин.бельгийский мрамор...Новый большой англо-русский словарь
  29. france—France [frns] n геогр.i Франция...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  30. rance—rance [rns] n мин.i бельгийский мрамор...Новый большой англо-русский словарь II
  31. france—frns n геогр. Франция...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна
  32. rance—rns n мин. бельгийский мрамор...Новый большой англо-русский словарь под общим руководством акад. Ю.Д. Апресяна
  33. france—f Франция...Новый французско-русский словарь
  34. rance—.strong adj прогорклый перен. уст. замшелый прогнивший .strong mпрогорклость sentir le rance пахнуть прогорклым...Новый французско-русский словарь
  35. france—f en France tout finit par des chansons см. tout finit par des chansons de France et de Navarre labeille de la France carte de France les dames de France la premire dame...Французско-русский фразеологический словарь