http://gloria.idc.ac.il/columns/2007/levy/04_23_en.html

Candidates across the political spectrum in France are distancing themselves from Jacques Chirac and France's decades long pro-arab, anti-American and anti-Israel Middle East policy. This has been a policy that not only hasn't benefitted France, but has actually harmed its national interests. I find this possible new approach to French Mideast policy very welcoming news indeed. Perhaps finally France's survival instinct has kicked in, and I only hope that the remainder of Europe follows.

Article excerpts:

For Chirac's would-be successors on the left and right, and indeed among large sectors of the French political spectrum, the broad consensus on the country's historic Middle East policy is crumbling. Candidates have been anxious to dissociate themselves from Chirac's line on Syria, Iran, Israel, and the Palestinians.

In the Socialist camp, Ségolène Royal adopted a very hard stance regarding Iran's nuclear weapons program. She declared that Iran ought to be denied even control of nuclear power, because it could be a cover for weapons-making. According to her analysis, "The prospect of Iran equipped with nuclear power is not acceptable," since it would give "a government whose president threatens the existence of the State of Israel… access to such power."

On the Israeli-Palestinian issue, Royal dissociated herself from the French pro-Palestinian stance. Expressing concerns about the security of Israel, she declared herself in favor of the construction of the safety fence so disparaged by French officials.

Sarkozy, who is actually the Gaullist candidate, has adopted a strategic stance in total opposition to Chirac's Middle East vision. He prefers close cooperation with the United States over an alliance with the Arab world that, to some extent, is aimed against America.

Regarding Israel, Sarkozy promised a more balanced French policy. Thus, last March, he asserted that French decision-makers must be able "to say a certain number of truths to our Arab friends, for example… the right for Israel to exist and to live safely is not negotiable, and that terrorism is their true enemy." He also declared himself ready to defend "the integrity of Lebanon," including the disarmament of Hizballah.

As for the centrist candidate François Bayrou, the third main contestant, he stated that while remaining faithful to a Realist, power-oriented conception of international affairs, he also wishes "to establish a French foreign policy which would have as a main theme the right to democracy. No dictatorship is acceptable, even if, at short term, it appears in favor of the national interests" of France.