Asia

Asia

Palestinians protesters confront French FM in Gaza

22 January 2011 02:47 (UTC +04:00)

Baku â€“ APA. Dozens of Palestinians enraged by France’s sympathy for an Israeli soldier held by Gaza militants ambushed the French foreign minister’s motorcade in the Gaza Strip on Friday, pelting it with eggs and hurling a shoe that narrowly missed hitting her, APA reports quoting â€œAssociated Pressâ€.
The protesters â€” relatives of Palestinians held in Israeli jails â€” accosted the convoy of Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie because they mistakenly believed she had called the captivity of Israeli Sgt. Gilad Schalit a "war crime."
Schalit, 24, is an Israeli-French dual national. France has repeatedly called for his release since militants linked to Gaza’s ruling Hamas group seized him in a cross-border raid in June 2006.
The demonstrators were lying in wait Friday on the only road leading into Gaza from Israel through the Erez Crossing when Alliot-Marie’s motorcade entered. Some jumped on the vehicle and others carried posters bearing her photograph emblazoned with a red no-entry sign and the words, "Get out of Gaza."
Hamas police dispersed the protesters, but others gathered outside a United Nations office in Gaza City that was her first stop in the Palestinian territory, and later followed her to a nearby hospital, pelting her convoy with eggs. AP Television footage showed Alliot-Marie narrowly dodging a shoe thrown by a protester as she climbed into a jeep under heavy guard.
The "war crime" remark had actually been made by Schalit’s father after meeting the French minister a day earlier in his campaign to win release of his son.
Alliot-Marie â€” the highest-level French official to visit the Hamas-ruled territory since 2005 â€” made no public statement Thursday after meeting with the soldier’s parents in Jerusalem. But Noam Schalit said the minister had called on Hamas to let the Red Cross visit his son for the first time, and referred to his capture as a "war crime."
Palestinians linked the comments to Alliot-Marie, provoking the fury of prisoners’ families. Israel holds thousands of Palestinian prisoners in its jails, and their fate is a hot-button issue in Palestinian society because nearly all families can count members who have served time in Israeli prisons.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the statements attributed to Alliot-Marie reflected a "total bias toward Israel" and ignored the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. "They are the true prisoners of war," he said.
After the attack on her convoy, a French foreign ministry spokesman said Alliot-Marie was not the source of the comments.
"She is in Gaza today precisely to mark France’s engagement in favor of the Gazan population," ministry spokesman Bernard Valero said.
France’s economic envoy to the Mideast peace process, Valerie Hoffenberg, was struck in the head in the fray and was taken to an Israeli hospital for examination.
Speaking after being discharged from Barzilai Medical Center in the southern city of Ashkelon, Hoffenberg said: "There was a lot of people, a lot of violence and I was hit on the head. I don’t know exactly how it happened. ... I started to vomit so I had to get to the hospital."
The hospital’s deputy director, Dr. Ron Lobel, described the injury as "very slight."
France, a former colonial power in the Mideast and North Africa, traditionally has had strong ties with the Arab world. But French President Nicolas Sarkozy has demonstrated greater sympathy for Israel and its analysis of Mideast geopolitics than his predecessor, Jacques Chirac.
At a French cultural center in Gaza, Alliot-Marie called for the establishment of a Palestinian state and security for Israel. She also called on Israel to fully lift all restrictions on people and goods coming in and out of Gaza.
However, in keeping with the policy of the European Union, which considers Hamas a terrorist organization, Alliot-Marie did not meet with Hamas officials during her half-day visit.
In a separate and apparently unrelated development on Friday, Osama bin Laden demanded that France withdraw its troops from Afghanistan in exchange for the release of at least seven French hostages being held by groups associated with al-Qaida.
"The exit of your hostages out of the hands of our brothers depends on the exit of your troops from Afghanistan," bin Laden said in an audio message broadcast by Al-Jazeera television.
France has about 3,850 troops in Afghanistan as part of the NATO mission fighting the Taliban. Sarkozy has said his nation remains undaunted in its role to help stabilize Afghanistan.