Betrayal: France, the Arabs, and the Jews

This is a good book and an interesting approach, but it's so slim--it was expanded from a magazine article--that it leaves you hungering for more.

As an excellent summary in Amazon by Craig Matteon puts it, "Anti-Semitism has been a part of the tradition and history of the French Foreign Affairs Ministry - ... and is reflected increasingly in its policies towards Israel, but this is not the focus of the book. " The focus is on France's long quest to be a power broker in North Africa and the Middle East, regardless of the dire collateral damage.

And, boy, there has been a tremendous amount of that. Just consider how many people were killed from $20 billion in arms sales to Saddam (well, that's something I thought he should have elaborate show more on. Ditto why it was supplying Iran at the same time). Ditto Chirac's role over so many years in that. There was new info to me, tho: I didn't realize Chirac was the one that broke the deal between Arafat and Israel during the Clinton administration.

To backtrack, he also skims over the British-French struggle to control the region from Napoleon through WW2 and beyond. It may sound like the Crusades, but, as Pryce-Jones shows with documents from the Quai D'Orsay, some of the high-level anti-Semitism of the 20th century stems from France's vision of itself as the protector of Christianity in Palestine and vicinity.

How does France influence overall EU policy vis a vis Israel, Iraq and Arab countries? Does the Quai d'Orsay still have a great deal of autonomy? Just a few of the questions not answered here. show less