The Israeli Foreign Minister, Mr Shimon Peres, flew to Paris late tonight amid heightened tensions between the two countries over Israeli handling of the Middle East conflict.
The visit comes against a backdrop of angry reaction in France caused by recent statements by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who said Jews in France were "facing a very dangerous wave of anti-semitism."
"France is not an anti-semitic country. There are incidents of an anti-semitic nature, it is very annoying but it is a phenomenon that must be fought," said Peres just before leaving, as a French diplomat gave him a copy of an anthology of Israeli poetry recently published in France.
Recent developments in the Middle East crisis will feature at the heart of the talks Peres will have Tuesday with President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Lionel Jospin, and Foreign Minister Hubert Vedrine.
In an address last week to American Jewish leaders in Jerusalem, Sharon said Israel was "looking with great worry at the situation in France where there are 700,000 Jews who are facing a very dangerous wave of anti-Semitism.
Paris rejected the charges of anti-semitism as "odious," while representatives from the Jewish community in France distanced themselves from Sharon's comments.
The European Union has for weeks unsuccessfully put forward ideas to get past the present exclusively security-based concerns of the Israeli government to open up avenues for a political solution its conflict with the Palestinians.
The plan for resolving the conflict worked out by Peres and the Palestinian parliament speaker Ahmed Qorei is also expected to be addressed in Paris.
It provides for the establishment and recognition of a Palestinian state in the zones currently controlled by the Palestinian Authority - 42 percent of the West Bank and 80 percent of the Gaza Strip - making the recognition of statehood a platform for the negotiating process.
The plan has so far not been approved by either the Palestinian Authority of Yasser Arafat or the government of Ariel Sharon.
The peace initiative put forward by Saudi Crown Prince Abdallah bin Abdel Aziz, which has met with great interest around the world and in Israel, is also expected to be discussed during Peres' visit to Paris, according to a source from his ministry.
It is understood to propose a full Israeli withdrawal from occupied Palestinian territories in return for full Arab recognition of the state of Israel.
AFP