AN ANGRY group of Palestinian protesters attacked the convoy of French foreign minister Michele Alliot-Marie as she entered the Gaza Strip yesterday from Israel.
A female member of her entourage was injured after being hit on the head and was evacuated to a hospital in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon for treatment.
The crowd, relatives of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel, surrounded Ms Alliot-Marie’s car and pounded their fists on the side of the vehicle. Some demonstrators even jumped on top of the car, which was pelted with eggs and shoes, as others lay on the road before being dragged away by Palestinian police who cleared a passage for the convoy.
The crowd, who held placards reading “Get Out of Gaza”, were angry over comments allegedly made by the foreign minister during a meeting on Thursday in Jerusalem with the parents of Gilad Shalit, the soldier who has been held in Gaza since being captured by militants in a cross-border raid in 2006.
Ms Alliot-Marie promised to pass on a message to the European Union that the soldier, who is also a French national, should be allowed visits by the Red Cross.
“Shalit has been held hostage for over four years. His complete isolation and preventing any sign of life from him is completely inhumane. We demand his immediate release,” she said.
However, the Palestinian protesters were upset by a report on Israel radio’s Arabic-language website which erroneously quoted Ms Alliot-Marie as saying that the EU “must condemn the war crime that Hamas is committing by keeping Gilad Shalit in captivity”.
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said her comments reflected a “total bias toward Israel” and ignored the thousands of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
Israel and Hamas have been engaged in negotiations, via German mediation, on a prisoner swap under which Israel will release hundreds of Palestinian detainees in return for the captured corporal.
The protests continued as the foreign minister visited a number of sites in Gaza. There were demonstrations outside a United Nations office in Gaza city and a nearby hospital, as protesters pelted her motorcade with eggs.
During her visit to Gaza, Ms Alliot-Marie called for an end to the Israeli blockade of the strip.
“The blockade of Gaza breeds poverty and fuels violence. In the spirit of the values of freedom and dignity that we share, France calls on Israel to stop it.”
She also called for the establishment of an independent state and for security for Israel.
The French diplomat did not meet Hamas officials in Gaza in line with EU policy which considers the Islamic group a terrorist organisation.
Before leaving the region, she visited the Israeli town of Sderot, three kilometres from Gaza, and was told by French-speaking residents about the trauma of living under the constant threat of militant rocket attacks.