FRANCE: The Peace of the Brave

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But, as De, Gaulle above all men knew, he had taken only one more calculated step down a long road. In Cairo the F.L.N.'s government in exile, which had been proclaiming its eagerness to talk peace, now betrayed its fear that De Gaulle had the upper hand. Premier Ferhat Abbas bluntly rejected the idea of going to Paris, which would seem like surrender, insisted that negotiations take place in "some neutral country." Yet De Gaulle had placed the F.L.N. rebels in a delicate position. For the first time, Paris had a government not about to topple at any moment, and a new sense of destiny had swept through France, and could easily spread to the Moslems in Algeria. The last word had not yet been heard from the rebels.