Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is scheduled to begin on Tuesday evening a three-day visit to France aimed at opening a new page in Israeli-French ties after years of tension.

The visit will be the first one by Sharon since he met with French President Jacques Chirac in July 2001.

The Israeli prime minister is expected to meet Chirac on Wednesday for talks which will be followed by a working lunch. He will also meet Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin and hold meetings with Jewish leaders before returning home Friday.

In an interview with the French daily Le Monde published on Tuesday, Sharon praised efforts by Chirac and the French government "to fight terrorism", which would "serve as an example for other European countries."

The two countries put aside the controversy provoked by Sharon's declaration in July 2004 encouraging French Jewish to leave France and emigrate "immediately" to Israel. France reacted strongly, declaring that the Israeli prime minister was not welcome in Paris.

Chirac invited in mid-June Sharon to come to Paris to discuss the Israeli withdrawal from the Gaza Strip scheduled for mid-August and consolidate the French-Israeli "partnership."

Sharon has said that the withdrawal is only a "preliminary step" before the implementation of the "roadmap," an international peace plan aimed at the establishment of an independent Palestinian state.

But he warned that little progress could be made unless Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas takes tougher action to stop "terrorism."

"To enter completely in the (roadmap) plan, there has to be a total halt to terrorism, confiscation of weapons and the dismantling of terrorist organizations. ... I have yet to see serious action on his part against terrorism. He is satisfied with small measures. It is a shame," Sharon told Le Monde.

Israeli ambassador to Paris Nissim Zvili said in an interview aired on Europe 1 radio that Sharon's visit is the natural result of a very tangible improvement in relations over the last month.

"There's a new openness and trust between our two governments," said Zvili.

Sharon's expected talks with French leaders come just three weeks before Israel's planned pullout from the Gaza Strip -- an initiative hailed by Chirac as "courageous," in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

"Sharon is creating a positive dynamic," the French leader said.

Source: Xinhua