So much for Sarkozy.
“Sarkozy invites Hizbullah to France,” by Yaniv Salama-Scheer and Herb Keinon for the Jerusalem Post, with thanks to Sr. Soph:
In a significant diplomatic shift, French President Nicolas Sarkozy will invite Hizbullah to take part in a conference on Lebanon scheduled for later this month in Paris, and begin “engaging” Syria, The Jerusalem Post has learned.
New French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has invited delegates from across Lebanon’s political and religious divide to the conference aimed at quelling Lebanon’s violence and political strife.
In another sign that France has decided to step up its involvement in the Middle East, Sarkozy is to meet Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in Paris on Tuesday.
Regarding Syria, diplomatic sources in Jerusalem said France had let Damascus know it was willing to reengage with it, but that it would not in any way back down from its firm support for an international tribunal to try suspects in the 2005 assassination of former Lebanese premier Rafik Hariri, or from its demand that Damascus “keep its hands off” of Lebanon.