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   From: nowhere@none   
      
   French soldiers in Lebanon who feel threatened by aggressive Israeli   
   overflights are permitted to shoot at IAF fighter jets, a high-ranking   
   French military officer told The Jerusalem Post.   
   Wednesday, several days after meeting with an IDF general in Paris to   
   discuss what he said was a "blatant violation of the cease-fire."   
   The second Lebanon war: JPost.com special report   
      
   Israel refuses to stop overflights (archive)   
      
   Gillerman was right (Nov. 21 editorial)   
   Last weekend, Maj.-Gen. Ido Nehushtan, head of the IDF Planning Directorate,   
   traveled to Paris and met with military officials to explain why the IAF   
   flies over Lebanon despite the UN-brokered cease-fire.   
   Nehushtan, new to his post and previously deputy commander of the air force,   
   told his French counterparts that Israel was conducting the flights to   
   collect intelligence on Hizbullah positions in southern Lebanon.   
   According to the French officer, Nehushtan apologized for an incident on   
   October 31 when an IAF fighter carried out a mock bombing run over a French   
   UNIFIL position in southern Lebanon, almost prompting troops to fire   
   anti-aircraft missiles.   
   "There was a reality on the ground and it was important for us to reaffirm   
   what we had seen and explain clearly what are the orders of the French   
   soldiers to protect themselves," the French officer said.   
   The French told Nehushtan they would view further aggressive flyovers as a   
   violation of UN Security Council Resolution 1701.   
   "No assurances were made to us that they [the IAF] would stop [the   
   flights]," the French officer said. "The orders that the [French] soldiers   
   have is that their weapons are for self-defense and if a commander will feel   
   threatened, as it was about to happen on the 31st of October, he would have   
   the right to use force."   
   Milos Strugar, spokesman for UNIFIL, supported the French position, saying   
   that according to the UN resolution, UNIFIL had the right to use force in   
   self-defense, even against Israeli aircraft.   
   "UNIFIL has the right to take all necessary action to protect UN personnel   
   in self-defense," he said.   
   France's furor at the overflights was not divorced from French domestic   
   political considerations, government officials in Jerusalem said Wednesday.   
   France is scheduled to hold the first round of presidential elections in   
   April, and one of those reportedly considering tossing her hat into the ring   
   is Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie.   
   According to these officials, taking a tough stance toward Israel on the   
   issue - a position that grabs headlines in France - helps her raise her   
   profile.   
   The officials said it didn't hurt Alliot-Marie politically to be seen as   
   someone who needed to be "held back" from responding forcefully to the   
   overflights.   
   France has said on a few occasions since the end of the war that it came   
   close to firing at Israeli jets over Lebanon. In late October, Alliot-Marie   
   told parliament that Israeli F-15's had dived close to French positions in   
   southern Lebanon.   
   "Our troops barely avoided a catastrophe," Alliot-Marie told parliament.   
   "Our troops find themselves in a position where they have to fire in   
   legitimate self-defense."   
   Alliot-Marie is a close ally of French President Jacques Chirac, and if   
   Chirac does not decide to run for a third term, he may back Alliot-Marie to   
   thwart his rival, Interior Minister Nicolas Sarkozy.   
   The Foreign Ministry, meanwhile, has not - contrary to some press reports -   
   asked the IDF to stop the overflights, diplomatic officials said. Rather,   
   they have passed on to the IDF European concerns that the flights be   
   performed more discreetly, and not in a way that could be interpreted by   
   either the Lebanese or the Europeans as a provocation.   
   Nehushtan declined to be interviewed for this report and the IDF Spokesman's   
   Office released a statement confirming that the IDF general had visited   
   Paris.   
      
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