Edited sentence: As de Gaulle memoirs show he was personally quite sympathetic to Israel, but he saw it in the interest of France to distance the two nations.De Gaulle launched the immense shift in policy from one favouring Israel to one favouring the Arab states for a combination of reasons.For France to play an important role in the region it seemed supporting the Arab side would give it more leverage in the future.For the pursuit of political and economic ends de Gaulle crafted a new Middle Eastern policy that discontinued support for Israel and instead pursued close relations with the Arab states (Arab policy of France).It was becoming obvious that the strengthening alliance between the United States and Israel would soon make France's role as an ally mostly irrelevant.The Arab states at the time had a combined population of over a hundred million, compared to only three million in Israel.The US could always provide Israel with more money and with higher levels of military technology.Trade considerations also came into play