Wikileaks: France Wanted to Elbow Quartet Out of Mideast Talks

France sought to take over the reins of the peacemaking process from the Mideast Quartet in 2011, according to a National Security Agency cable leaked by WikiLeaks.

Nicolas Sarkozy, who was French president at the time, wanted to jettison the Quartet, composed of the U.N., the U.S., the EU and Russia, “because that group might not bow to Paris’s wishes.”

“France would have no control over what transpired in one of its meetings, and if the group elected not to support direct talks, the French initiative would be a non-starter,” the leaked cable reads.

Paris apparently feared that direct talks would be dominated by then-U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, although Russia was seen as a more acceptable partner. Sarkozy had been “giving thought to appealing to Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev for a possible joint initiative.”

Sarkozy mulled a possible ultimatum to Washington: either back a French plan for Palestinian statehood or France would not “side with the U.S. in September,” when the U.N. was scheduled to deliberate the issue.

Current French President Francois Hollande communicated his government’s displeasure at the revelation of snooping on its confidential cable traffic, calling it “unacceptable.” He  summoned the U.S. ambassador to explain.

“France will not tolerate actions that threaten its security and the protection of its interests,” a statement from Hollande’s office said, adding that surveillance on French interests by the United States was not a necessarily new phenomenon.

“We have to verify this spying has finished,” said French government speaker Stephane Le Foll, but warned her country’s ministers and diplomats to remain wary and vigilant when speaking on their cellular phones.

This article appeared in print on page 7 of the June 25th, 2015 edition of Hamodia.