EREZ CROSSING, Gaza Strip — 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 her.
The protesters — relatives of Palestinians held in Israeli jails — accosted the convoy of Foreign Minister Michele Alliot-Marie because they mistakenly thought she had called the captivity of Israeli Sgt. Gilad Schalit a “war crime.”
The “war crime” remark had been made by Schalit’s father after meeting the French minister a day earlier in his campaign to free his son.
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. 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. They later followed her to a nearby hospital, pelting her convoy with eggs. AP Television footage showed Alliot-Marie dodging a shoe thrown by a protester as she climbed into a Jeep under heavy guard.
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.
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,” said ministry spokesman Bernard Valero.
