March 17, 2002	Sunday	Muharram 2, 1423

PARIS, March 16: French Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine on Thursday met Israeli Vice Minister of Foreign Affairs Michael Melchior in Paris to “explain” Franco-Israeli relations, especially with regard to recent charges of French “antisemitism”, but has told the Israeli envoy that Mr Melchior’s charges “should not become the subject of controversy.”

The terse communique characterized the meeting as having been held in a “constructive atmosphere”, and reported otherwise that Mr Melchior had handed over to Mr Vedrine a copy of the “first Alexandria declaration”, signed by the religious leaders of the Holy Land.

As for the controversy sparked by the Israeli decision to sponsor a series of several nationwide celebrations “To the Glory of Tsahal (Israeli army)”, throughout France on March 14-18, Mr Vedrine noted succinctly that he had met the authors of a letter of complaint that very morning.

The authors of the appeal, Capjpo (Coordination des appels pour une paix juste au Proche-Orient), had requested that the French government refuse to allow the events to go ahead, as the proposed manifestations were in contradiction with French efforts for peace in the Middle East.

An uproar had greeted the announcement by a French association, that it would hold an event to “honour Israeli soldiers”.