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The Arab policy of France


by Charles Saint-Prot

The Arab policy of France has a very specific and original aspect. Only a very small number of countries have had a truly global and constant policy toward the Middle East.


The two most active in this field are the United States and France. But the nature of and philosophy behind the policies of the two countries are very different.

American policy is driven by hegemonic ambitions. Its objectives are openly declared in a document entitled “America and the Middle East in a New Century”. Published in 2000 by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy, this document makes it clear that US goals in the Middle East are to ensure domination of petroleum reserves and control of petroleum transit routes; creation of a strategic partnership with Israel; establishment of a Turkish-Israeli military alliance; and prevention of the emergence of any strong and independent Arab state or group of states. The objective is to keep the Arab states weak and divided and under the watch of a triangle composed of Israel, Turkey and a powerful American force based in the Arab Gulf. The United States wants quite simply to dominate the Arab world and to achieve this goal they get busy to dissolve it in an artificial “large Middle East". The war and occupation of Iraq was the first stage of this plan. The green light given by the Bush administration to Israeli policies against Palestinians is the second. The third stage will aim, with the complicity of sectarian groups or handled agents, at the creation in many Arab countries of the conditions of partition or fragmentation. This way bigger Arab states can be reduced to silence.

The French Middle East policy has the opposite objective. France is the only power that regards the Arab world as an important and privileged partner, and its policy is based on geography and history. This policy is the expression of a political philosophy and invariable strategic choices. Moreover, it is one of the most solid pillars of the French diplomacy.

Regarding geography, France is by extension a neighbor of the Arab world, which begins on the southern Mediterranean with the Maghrib countries and thence extends through Egypt, Palestine, Lebanon and Syria. For France, the Arab nation is not a distant world. It is at our doorstep. This proximity results in France’s greater sensitivity to what goes on in the Arab world. It also means France has a better knowledge of the region and its people.


France’s Arab policy is one of the oldest historical constants of French policy as a whole. France did not discover the Arabs with the drilling of the first oil wells. Many treaties of friendship and alliance were signed between the Arab France and countries during centuries (Abbasid kingdom in the 9th century, Morocco, Tunis, Oman, Yemen, the First Saudi State in 1811). Charles de Gaulle reminded us that the Arab nation is a region in which France has been present and active for centuries. This vision of the great French leader has shaped the French policy toward the Middle East, whatever the complexion of the government in Paris. President Jacques Chirac has brought a new impetus to French-Arabic relations.

France has its own vision of the world. This vision has always envisaged a balanced international order, respectful of the rights of people to freely choose their destiny. It rejects interference in the internal affairs of other states.

The cornerstone of French policy for more than two thousands years has been the rejection of dominating empires and the search for balance between nations. France is against a unipolar world dominated by a single superpower. Instead, it seeks a multipolar world founded on the safeguarding of the freedom and identity of nations. Finally, France prefers constructive dialogue to confrontation between civilizations. In March 2006, speaking at the Saudi parliament Majlis, French President Jacques Chirac called for "cultivating all opportunities for dialogue to avoid misunderstandings". King Abdallah and President Chirac declared that Riyadh and Paris unite their efforts Riyadh and Paris “to thwart those who, in fanning the flames of fanaticism, provoke a sad clash of ignorance concealed as a clash of civilizations“ All this is reflected in the French policy toward the Arabs.

On the political side, the French support the legitimate rights of the Arab people. France is very conscious that the absence of peace in the region, along with the policy of interference conducted by the US, can have grave consequences for the whole world. Without a just solution to the decades-old problems, mainly the Palestinian question, the fires will not cease spreading and the humiliation inflicted on the Arab people will fuel extremism. France also wants to promote cooperation and friendly relations with all Arab countries


Moreover, the French policy is based on a respect for Arab unity. In his April 1996 speech in Cairo, President Chirac affirmed: “We support the aspirations of the Arab people to solidarity and unity. France brings its support to the Arab League and the regional groupings.” Contrary to the United States, France is pleased with all the initiatives –in political, commercial, social or cultural fields- which can be taken to support the consolidation of a better organization of the Arab countries which is a factor of regional and international stability.

Lastly, France makes strenuous efforts to encourage the entire European Union toward a more active policy on the Middle East and to strengthen the relations between the European Union and the various Arab groupings (the Arab League, GCC, the Arab Maghrib Union). Alas, the majority of the States members of the European Union do not have a clear diplomacy and they remain aligned on the United States, which is not in their long-term interest .

In short, France’s Arab policy remains the catalyst for rapprochement between the two shores of the Mediterranean and, more broadly, between North and South. Today, dialogue between the peoples inheriting the same branch of a civilization originating between the Arab Gulf and the Mediterranean is a must if we want to resist homogenization — a homogenization that benefits a single hegemonic empire aspiring to become the master of the world.

Charles Saint-Prot is director of the French Observatory of Geopolitics Studies and the editor of the review Etudes Géopolitiques. On this subject see: French Policy toward the Arab World, Emirate Lectures Series 42, Emirates Center for Strategic Studies and Research, Abu Dhabi, 2003.