Olmert arrives in France seeking support

Paris, June 14 : Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert arrived in France where he is expected to lobby President Jacques Chirac for support for his West Bank redeployment plan.

The proposal to remove dozens of Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank while annexing others in the absence of peace talks has won US praise but faces political hurdles at home and the misgivings of moderate Arabs.

''I believe Chirac will become a partner in this process,'' Olmert said while in Britain, where he had spent the first leg of his European trip.

''I will do everything in my power to convince him to go along with it and build a friendly relationship with other European leaders.'' He is due to have lunch with Chirac tomorrow.

As top European Union powers, Britain and France have played supporting roles in navigating a beleaguered ''road map'' to Israeli-Palestinian peace. Along with Germany, they have also led Western bids to curb Iran's atomic ambitions through talks.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett today said Britain would be reluctant to see Israel implement a plan to set its border unilaterally and urged negotiations to end the violence. Hamas declared an end to a 16-month old truce on Friday after seven Palestinians including three children, were killed on a Gaza beach on a day of Israeli shelling.

Since ending the ceasefire, Hamas has fired dozens of rocket barrages from Gaza into Israel.

France today said the escalation in the violence was worrying and called for restraint on both sides.

''We call on Israel to stop operations such as extrajudicial executions or indiscriminate bombings which lead to civilian victims,'' said Foreign Ministry spokesman Jean-Baptiste Mattei.

''And we are calling on the Palestinians to stop firing rockets towards Israeli territory.''

Reuters