In a Word, French Premier Is Besieged

It was only a single word, but it has landed French Prime Minister Lionel Jospin in the biggest controversy he has faced since taking office more than 2 1/2 years ago.

During a visit over the weekend to Israel and the Palestinian territories, the Socialist premier denounced the “terrorist” attacks of the Islamic Hezbollah militia in southern Lebanon against Israel.

Result: The French leader was showered with rocks by furious young Palestinians, burned in effigy by demonstrators in cities across Lebanon and called on the carpet for his outspokenness by French President Jacques Chirac.

For decades, the French have practiced what they see as an evenhanded Mideast policy, which they hold to be more understanding of Arab interests than that of the United States. On Tuesday, a right-wing politician accused Jospin of reducing years of such French efforts to “dust.”

The prime minister’s allies, meanwhile, have rushed to his defense. “Lionel Jospin has raised the veil on hypocrisy,” said Noel Mamere, a lawmaker from the environmentalist Green Party. “The Hezbollah is an enemy of peace in the Middle East, an enemy of the PLO and of Yasser Arafat.”

For Jospin, 62, who is almost certain to challenge Chirac for the presidency in 2002, this may be a defining moment. Until now, his premiership had appeared to be living under a lucky star. But French television has repeatedly shown videotape of a visibly rattled Jospin being stoned, and his limousine pounded and kicked, as bodyguards hustled him out of Birzeit University in the West Bank on Saturday.

Jospin had gone to the Middle East in a fairly obvious bid to play a higher-profile role in French foreign policy. Instead, even neutral observers say that he blundered, while his opponents contend that he allowed France to be humiliated.

On Tuesday, Jospin came under sharp attack from conservatives in the National Assembly. His reply was swift.

“Being impartial doesn’t lead to being blind to acts that are dangerous for the peace process,” Jospin said. “It doesn’t reinforce France’s position to be weak toward acts of violence or fanaticism.”

Since he became prime minister in June 1997, Jospin has benefited from his own political astuteness, the division and confusion in the French right and the return of economic good times.

For conservatives, the incident at Birzeit University has been a godsend for making the case that Jospin just isn’t the stuff of which heads of state are made. In current conditions, France’s center-right president and Socialist government are supposed to speak with one voice when it comes to foreign policy. Jospin’s opponents claim that he violated that gentleman’s agreement.

“Having profited from the economic upturn, Mr. Jospin was looking to don the mantle of a statesman,” said Patrick Devidjian, spokesman of the conservative neo-Gaullist Rally for the Republic party. “But he has just shown during his visit to the Middle East that he has a lot to learn.”

Liberation, a normally friendly newspaper, also judged that Jospin had committed a major gaffe.

“He created a diplomatic incident practically from nothing, which is the capper for somebody who was trying to convince others of his presidential stature. That’s what’s called giving someone a stick to beat you with,” the Paris daily said.

The contrast with Chirac couldn’t have been more stark: The neo-Gaullist leader looked positively regal during a two-day state visit Monday and Tuesday to the Netherlands. Chirac had summoned Jospin to see him as soon as the prime minister returned from the Middle East, but Jospin, not wanting to look like a schoolboy being chewed out for flunking an exam, postponed the meeting until today.

Chirac has personal reasons for insisting on his overall control of French diplomacy: It is one of the few areas of policy where he remains in charge. The constitution makes the prime minister and his government responsible for the economy and most day-to-day issues.

Polls show that both Chirac and Jospin are popular with the French electorate, with Chirac usually getting higher marks for his personal qualities than his leadership or policies. But the incident in the West Bank may have rubbed away some of the Teflon coating that seemed to protect Jospin.

“The pictures of a prime minister being stoned no doubt will displease public opinion,” Stephane Rozes, a leading pollster, said in a newspaper interview. “It is a psychological weakening for Lionel Jospin.”