***image1***The coming of Ariel Sharon, the leader of Apartheid Israel, to Paris provoked opposition and anger among the French population. French support to Israel has never been lacking and behind the shallow discourse of verbal criticism of Israeli policies a deep rooted complicity is continuing. Palestinians know that it was the French government that armed the Israeli army in its wars and that provided the nuclear bomb to the Zionist state. In spite of a growing campaign of the public opinion calling for sanctions against Israel, the French government has signed in April a new aerospace research project with Israel and relations between both countries are thriving at all levels. The official meeting between President Chirac and Occupation âPrime Ministerâ Sharon has thus torn away in front of the public the thin cover over French complicity with Israeli crimes. French activists have taken up this occasion to protest against the ties with Israel and asking the prime minister of Apartheid Israel to be considered âpersona non grataâ in France.
Demonstrations were organized in major French cities and leaflets were distributed to ask the Occupation to tear down the Apartheid Wall. The leaflets also underlined the fact that the Occupation prime minister is a war criminal who should be judged for his crimes.
The main demonstration took place, Tuesday evening, in front of La Madeleine church, right at the center of Paris. Hundreds of people gathered there to protest. A symbolic wall was erected and candles were lit up as the crowd asked for the end of the Apartheid Wall. Representatives from French NGOs dedicated to the Palestinian struggle highlighted the fact that the âdisengagement planâ was used as a pretext by the Occupations forces, continuing to imprison the population of Gaza and to increase in the colonization of the West bank. Settlements are indeed in a continuous process of expansion at the expense of Palestinians farmers whose lands are stolen and destroyed.
As well in Poitiers a demonstration was organized by the AFPS. The activists opposed the visit of the Occupation prime minister and instead called for the isolation of Israel through the end of all economic, cultural, scientific, sports, diplomatic and military ties as well as the boycott of all products made in Apartheid Israel.
France has often claimed to have a special relationship with the Arab world, yet the invitation of a war criminal who leads a racist and colonialist regime shows that its government is still far from support to the Palestinian people or even commitment to international law. It is a clear statement against the struggle for justice and freedom of the Palestinian people as the Occupation is daily killing and oppressing the Palestinian people.
The Occupation must be isolated on the International scene as apartheid, occupation and ethnic cleansing can never be tolerated.