France Bars West Bank Settlement Chief at Paris Airport
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MENAFNAn Israeli broadcaster, citing Dagan’s office, reported that French immigration officers stopped him at a Paris airport as he arrived for meetings with elected French officials. The broadcaster said it knew of no earlier case in which a Western country directly barred the head of an Israeli regional council in the occupied West Bank.
According to his office, officials pulled Dagan aside for questioning at passport control last week. An official reportedly presented him with documents citing his part in building 35 settlements in the occupied West Bank and his push to re-establish Gush Katif, a bloc of Israeli settlements evacuated from the Gaza Strip in 2005. French authorities have not publicly confirmed the reasons his office cited.
After being turned away, Dagan flew to Prague, where the broadcaster said he spent three days meeting senior Czech government officials and members of both houses of parliament.
An Israeli television channel reported that Dagan told a military radio station a French police representative had described the decision as political. “Today it’s me, and tomorrow it could be any other Israeli citizen,” he said.
“This move sets a diplomatic precedent,” it said.
The incident comes as Israel continues to expand illegal settlements and set up new outposts in the occupied West Bank, where land seizures, demolitions and attacks by Israeli occupiers have displaced Palestinians. Roughly 770,000 Israeli occupiers live in hundreds of settlements and outposts there, including 250,000 in occupied East Jerusalem.
UN Security Council Resolution 2334, adopted in 2016, declared that Israeli settlements in Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including East Jerusalem, have no legal validity and are a flagrant violation of international law.
France announced entry bans on Feb. 13, 2024, against 28 Israeli occupiers it accused of attacking Palestinian civilians. On March 18 of that year, EU foreign ministers reached a political agreement to sanction occupiers over attacks on Palestinians.
On July 13, EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said a majority of member states back action against trade with illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. She said ambassadors have been tasked with advancing the issue and an extraordinary meeting is likely.
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