French President Francois Hollande could have greatly served the peace process in the region by obtaining pledges from the Israelis to allow the Palestinian-Israeli negotiations to take off and reach the desired outcomes in return of his strong supportive stand toward their campaign against the Iranian nuclear program. However, while in Israel, Hollande slammed Iran's nuclear program; knowing that Israel is the only state that possesses nuclear weapons in the region. This position does not give credibility to a major country like France; the Israelis must be secretly laughing about this opportunistic stand. The Arabs, on the other hand, are critical of the Iranian recklessness. However, they do realize that Israel, its politics, and its offensives have posed a real threat to the region's stability and well-being in the past seven decades and will continue to do so in the future. The Israeli commentators actually questioned the seriousness of the French president's support to them. They also recalled Hollande's weak popularity in his own country. Indeed, the latest opinion polls indicated that Hollande is the least popular of all the French presidents of the Fifth Republic. This will definitely affect his government's stand in the international negotiations with Iran that will proceed in Geneva tomorrow. The Yedioth Ahronot newspaper commented on the "new honeymoon" between France and Israel by saying that the Israelis' hasty dependence on the French support might result in a disappointment to all those who had high expectations. During his visit to Israel and the Palestinian territories, the French president showed that he is ready to sell his goods to both teams. In Israel, he failed to make any mention of the settlements. He rather said that the Israelis must make "initiatives" for peace. He only remembered the settlements that represent an obstacle to the two-state solution when he reached Ramallah. From there, he criticized Netanyahu's settlement policy and he called on him to end the building of settlements because these are hindering the two-state solution. In conclusion, the courtesy statements that Hollande directed at the Israelis and the Palestinians will make no difference at all when it comes to the negotiations over the Iranian nuclear file or to the settlement between the Palestinians and the Israelis. Concerning the Iranian issue, the Obama Administration considers the French escalation during the negotiations to be a winning card. Indeed, the US no longer has to be the escalating party and it is focusing instead on its communication with Hassan Rohani's administration. As for the issue of the regional crisis, the French president is the last of the Israelis' concerns when it comes to deciding on their settlement policies or any other policies pertaining to this conflict. According to a large number of Israeli politicians and leaders including the Israeli President Shimon Perez, the greatest threat to Israel's security, interests and future consists of allowing the present difference over the Iranian matter to turn into a conflict on the long run since Israel will be the main affected party in that case. The Israelis also realize that only their relations with the US can provide them with guarantees to shield their policies and even their very existence. In light of all that, one can say that Francois Hollande's tour was nothing more than a PR appearance and a touristic cruise. It will not take us long to forget that he even took this trip.
