Sarkozy Starts Visit to Israel

June 30, 2008

The French president, Nicolas Sarkozy, begins a three-day visit to Israel on Sunday in what the press back home is reporting as further proof of an improvement in relations between the two countries.

It’ll be only the third time a French president has visited Israel, and Sarkozy is likely to have a far more conciliatory tone than his predecessors.

That shouldn’t be too difficult. In 1996, during a visit to Jeruslam’s old town, Jacques Chirac lost his rag with Israeli security as he was jostled during a walkabout and famously threatened to take the first ‘plane home.

And in 1982 during a speech to the Israeli parliament, the Knesset, Fran

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