France’s Kouchner to Visit Lebanon, Syria ‘Soon’

The Daily Star
June 30, 2009

French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner will “soon” travel to Lebanon then Syria on an official visit, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevalier said Monday. “Kouchner will also visit Damascus in July to preside over a regional conference for French ambassadors,” Chevalier told reporters.

Chevalier did not specify a day for the visit, but the Lebanese daily An-Nahar has reported Kouchner was expected in Beirut July 9-10. Meanwhile, France sees as “regrettable” clashes in Beirut Sunday and urges all sides to “have a sense of responsibility,” he said.

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Setting the Record Straight

U.S. and Israel Have Shared Interests

“I think it's a big deal. This is a fight that the White House has picked. … I think it surprised Netanyahu. Netanyahu apologized to Vice President Biden … And he expressed regret. … And they thought the thing had been put to bed … And then for some reason … the White House at the highest levels—the president decided let's make a big fuss about this … I do not know, honestly, why the president chose to pick a big public fight just when it was all dying down with Israel.”
—William Kristol, editor, Weekly Standard, Fox News Sunday, March 14, 2010versus
  • “[T]he president, the vice president, secretary of State did exactly the right thing for American interests and for Israel ... [F]irst of all, they were speaking for many secretaries of State, many presidents in the past who have had Israeli settlements shoved in their face before, during, and after a visit by Israel. ... So there's a lot of backstory here, this isn't just about that trip.“Then let's look at the moment we're in. We have an Israeli prime minister from the right who actually could deliver the right. He's done actually a lot of good things on the ground in the West Bank. You have to give him credit for that. We have the best Palestinian leadership we've had in a long time. And we have a Sunni Arab world obsessed with Iran, ready to work with Israel more than ever. You'd think in that context Israel could say to the United States, you know, ‘You're doing all this for us, we're just going to stop settlements in Jerusalem, in the West Bank, not temporarily, not moratorium. We're going to give you a chance to actually test the other side whether they're for real. ... Barack Obama, this Bud's for you. We're going to do this for the American people.’ Is that anti-Semitism, is that anti-Israelism, to ask that of an Israeli government, to ask, act first in its own interest and then in America's interest? I don't think so.”
    —Tom Friedman, columnist, The New York Times, Meet the Press, March 14, 2010

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