Cheysson: France Considers Israel’s Golan Action As ‘Null And Void,’ JTA, Jan. 28, 1982.

Foreign Minister Claude Cheysson said today that France considers Israel’s annexation of the Golan Heights as “null and void” but that it had refused to vote for sanctions against Israel at last week’s United Nations Security Council meeting because the Knesset decision is not threatening world peace.

Cheysson, who was addressing a press luncheon, had harsh words for Israel’s Golan move- “scandalous, unacceptable, indefensible.” But he reiterated President Francois Mitterrand’s decision to improve relations with Israel and “help along with the peace process.” He said “it would have been relatively easy for us to cancel the President’s trip to Israel after the Golan annexation but this would have been tantamount to giving up our own fight on behalf of peace.”