French vow to crush terrorism

Press, 19 August 1982, Page 9

French vow to crush terrorism

NZPA-Reuter Paris President Francois Mitterrand has pledged a relentless effort to crush terrorism in France and vowed that antiJewish actions there would not alter his determination to help solve the Middle East conflict.

He made his pledges yesterday in a televised response to growing public alarm over a wave of bombing and shooting attacks in Paris, mainly against Jewish interests. In the worst attack, six people were shot dead when gunmen, believed by the police to be working for a Palestinian organisation, attacked a Jewish resturant in Paris a week ago.

Mr Mitterand said he believed that France had been singled out as a target of international terrorists because of its policy of seeking peace in the Lebanon conflict.

"I shall not give it up under threats and obviously I intend to organise the country. the public services, the police in such a way that this terrorism is at last punished." he said. He outlined measures to

strengthen and co-ordinate police action against foreign extremists in France. But he also cautioned against applying excessive emergency measures to tackle the problem. The measures include the creation of a new Ministerial post of Secretary for Public Security and the appointment of a senior Gendarmerie officer to co-ordi-nate the activities of the various services fighting terrorism.

Other measures include the tripling of frontier police, and the reinforcement of other police services, the creation of a data bank, controls on arms sales, and a crackdown on the abuse of diplomatic privileges. The Government believes that certain Middle Eastern embassies have been involved in recent terrorist activities in France. Mr Mitterrand said that the French police would also seek greater cooperation with other European countries and France would look at the possibility of the creation of a European court that could try international terrorists.

Making his most emotional public declaration since taking office in May last year, Mr Mitterrand pledged an intransigent and implacable struggle against terrorism.

"I have the responsibility of looking after the nation. I have the responsibility of watching over the grandeur of France. You must know . .

. that I shall obey the mandate you have confided me . ." he said.

He defended French policy in the Middle East, and particularly on the Lebanon conflict.

The Israeli Prime Minister (Mr Menachem Begin) last week accused Mr Mitterrand, a long-standing supporter of the Jewish State, of fomenting a climate of anti-Semi-tism with his criticism of Israeli actions in Lebanon.

Mr Mitterrand said that not even Mr Begin's remarks could turn him into an adversary of Israel. He recalled that he had addressed the Knesset (Parliament), that he had regularly called on Arab leaders to recognise Israel, and that he had.main-

tained that France could not formally recognise the Palestine Liberation Organisation until it gave up what he said was an obsession with destroying Israel. But he said that the P.L.O. was an organisation with a legitimate right to fight, and added that France's policy over Beirut was aimed at securing the P.L.O.’s honourable withdrawal from the citv.

Mr Mitterrand said that he believed Mr Begin's' remarks about anti-Semitism had stemmed from ignorance of France and its leaders.

"It is not healthy, it is not just, to accuse France of having wanted to practise in this business an anti-Semi-tism which repels me." he said.

In Jerusalem Mr Begin criticised the French President for saying that the P.L.O. had the right to fight.

"Our friend. President Mitterrand knows the facts, how the P.L.O. fights, that it murders innocent women and children," Mr Begin said. "I was. therefore.

surprised President Mitterrand did not include any objections in his remarks." Mr Mitterrand had avoided a public reposte to Mr Begin's assertions but he sent a private invitation at the week-end to the Israeli Opposition Leader (Mr Shimon Peres) to'visit Paris in a bid to clear the air. Mr Peres, an old friend and fellow socialist, spent 90 minutes with the President before yesterday's antiterrorism meeting and said later that the talk had helped ease tensions between the two countries.

Mr Peres, who emphasised that he was not representing his Government said that Mr Mitterrand was a friend of Israel who had demonstrated a profound understanding of the country. He also dismissed the allegations by Mr Begin that France had" become a land of rampant antiSemitism. "I myself believe that there may be anti-Semities in France, but France herself is not anti-Semitic, neither by culture, neither by philosophy. nor by tradition." he said.