French Ambassador Jean-David Levitte shared perspectives on current events in the Middle East on Friday afternoon at the SMU Political Forum.

Levitte highlighted four “crises” in the region: the Israeli-Palestinean conflict, Lebanon, the War in Iraq and the threat of Iran.

“Five years ago versus now the situation is very different. Before it was just one crisis [Israel and Palestine] where now there are four,” he said.

The common link in all of the crises is Iran, Levitte said. He cited its support of Hamas, its equipping of Hezbollah in Lebannon, its equpping the Shiite’s in Iraq and its enrichment of uranium for nuclear weapons.

Levitte said Iran must be a part of any process to stabilize the region.

He cited the unanimous passage of Resolution 1737 at the United Nations, which asks that Iran suspend “proliferation-sensitive nuclear activities.” He said the best way to engage the Iranians is not to punish them but to bring them back to the negotiating table.

Levitte said that a solution in the Israeli-Palestinan conflict is doable because an existing framework for peace already exists.

“We were an inch away from a peace treaty at the end of the Clinton years,” Levitte said.

He compared the situation to the Germans and the French during the second half of the last millennium. Levitte said it took two determined leaders in the post-World War II era to end the centuries long conflict between the two, and that if they could do it so could the Israelis and Palestineans.

“I think there is a ray of hope,” Levitte said.

Levitte said there were only losers in Lebanon. He said Israeli missiles fired into Lebanon destroyed residential and civilian areas and that bombs from Hezbollah forced Isrealis to flee during last summer’s war.

Levitte said Lebanon has a long way to go in rebuilding, but that a U.N. force separating it and Israel is doing its job keeping the peace in the region.

Levitte said if the situation in Iraq is not a success story then not only would it be a disaster for the United States but for the entire region.

Worse, he said, is that the conflict is happening in the heart of the world’s energy center.

He did not specifically address U.S. policy in the country, but did say that “we have to do everything possible” to ensure Iraq is stable.

Levitte cited a French embassy located outside the Green Zone in Baghdad as a commitment of France to Iraq’s future.

“Let’s agree to disagree without being disagreeable in the future,” he said of the difference between France and the U.S. on Iraq.

The John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies hosted the lecture.