French mayor insists on visiting jailed Palestinians

By Yusuf Ozcan

PARIS

A French delegation is insisting on visiting imprisoned Palestinian activists as part of a five-day trip starting Saturday but say the Israeli government is blocking them.

Patrice Leclerc, mayor of Gennevilliers, northwestern Paris, told Anadolu Agency they wanted to visit imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti and Salah Hamouri, a French-Palestinian prisoners’ activist arrested by Israeli forces in August.

"Israel is putting people in jail without telling them why," Leclerc said, adding they believed the activists were being unfairly imprisoned.

"They are prisoners for struggling for the liberation of Palestine. Therefore, the struggle for the release of Palestinian prisoners is actually a struggle for the independence of the Palestinian state," the French mayor said.

Israel announced on Monday it would not allow the seven-member delegation to enter the country due to their support for a boycott of Israel, according to the Haartez newspaper.

It reported the decision was based on legislation passed by Israel’s parliament earlier this year that forbids entry visas or rights of residency to foreigners who supported an international campaign against Israel.

Some of the group’s members had reportedly supported the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement, a global campaign launched in 2005 to create more economic and political pressure on Israel as well as to end international support for its occupation of Palestinian land.

Barghouti, a prominent Fatah leader serving five life sentences, on April 16 wrote an article for the New York Times from Hadarim Prison describing the difficulties faced by Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons, and launched a hunger strike.

At least 200 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons since 1967, while about 800,000 Palestinians have been arrested or detained so far. This corresponds to 40 percent of the Palestinian male population.

Reporting by Yusuf Ozcan; Writing by Ilker Girit