PARIS, June 10: Although France has officially communicated no change in its Middle East policy, observers here point out to a number of indications that the French government may be reconsidering its support for Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.

If so, a switchover by France could prove a setback for the Palestinian president, as until now one of the few Western heads of state to have staunchly supported him against Israeli plans to undertake his physical elimination has been President Jacques Chirac.

The latest indication of a possible lessening of support for Yasser Arafat came at a press conference on June 6 by the Quai d’Orsay’s chief spokesman Francois Rivasseau, who while condemning a recent incursion by Israel into Jenin surprised some of his listeners by noting that “Israel, like any government, has the right and the duty to protect its nationals against acts of violence.”

The possibility of France withdrawing its support for the Palestinian leader had already been evoked when during an exchange at the Elysee Palace with President Bush. President Chirac did not seem to be taking the usually strong defence of Arafat that until then he’d been known to take.

“I just don’t like the man,” said Bush, not one for understatement or diplomatic subtleties, in speaking of Arafat. To which, all that Chirac was heard to reply was that, “well, you’ll just have to live with him, because he is democratically elected.”