France cooling to Syria

      France has pledged to Israel that it will slow down its rapprochement with Syria until Syria shows its willingness to distance itself from the extremist axis, particularly Iran. That is the message French President Nicolas Sarkozy is to bring Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at their meeting on Sunday in Jerusalem, according to diplomatic sources in Israel and France. Preparatory talks for Sarkozy's visit were held last week in Paris between Olmert's advisors Yoram Turbowicz and Shalom Turgeman and Sarkozy's advisers Jean-David Levitte and Claude Gueant. Two days previously, the teams had met with senior Syrian officials - the French in Damascus and the Israelis in Istanbul through Turkish mediators. Turbowicz and Turgeman have reportedly asked France to tread carefully in its contacts with Damascus, because Syria has still done nothing to gain international legitimization. Olmert's advisors also said that France is a very important element in Syria's disengagement from the "axis of evil," and therefore "cards must be kept aside to be played in the coming moves."(07,52)