French presidential candidate Segolene Royal, visiting the Middle East on Saturday, condemned comments by a Lebanese Hizbullah
legislator who compared Israel's
former occupation of south Lebanon to the Nazi occupation of France.
The Socialist former family minister is touring the Middle East to show voters back home that she can represent France in the international arena. Her trip began Thursday in Lebanon, and it continues through the weekend with visits to Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian territories.
A meeting with Lebanese lawmakers Friday posed several potential pitfalls for Royal, whose comments and reactions were being carefully scrutinized back home. Hizbullah legislator Ali Ammar took the microphone and compared Israel's 1982-2000 occupation of south Lebanon to the occupation of France by the Nazis during World War II.
"The Nazism that spilled our blood and usurped our independence and sovereignty was no less wrong than the Nazism that occupied France," Ammar said, in comments translated from Arabic into French for reporters covering Royal's trip.
Royal had no immediate reaction to the comments on Friday, surprising some observers. She condemned them a day later, explaining that neither she nor the French ambassador to Lebanon had heard them at the time.
She called the comments "unacceptable, abominable and hateful," and said she "Would have left the room" if she had heard them. Royal and her entourage had a different translator than the one provided for journalists.
Another potential pitfall came when Ammar offered tough criticism of the United States. Royal responded, "There are a lot of things that you say that I agree on, analyzing the role of the United States." On Saturday, she was asked to clarify her position.
"I don't want it to be confused with a general condemnation of the actions of the United States," Royal
told reporters. She added, however, that U.S. President George W. Bush's "policy in Iraq is a catastrophe."
Critics of Royal - a lawmaker who also governs the western Poitou-Charentes region - often say she lacks international stature. She is likely to face off with France's conservative interior minister, Nicolas Sarkozy, in the April-May 2007 presidential vote.
The Socialist candidate was visiting Lebanon at the invitation of former President Amin Gemayel, father of
Pierre Gemayel, the industry minister who was assassinated.
After a brief stop in Jordan, she will continue to Israel and the West Bank for talks Sunday with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and talks with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Foreign Minister Tzipi Lipni in Tel Aviv.
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