The head of a body representing Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, which are considered illegal under international law, was turned back after arriving in France, with Israel denouncing the move on Wednesday as “unacceptable”.
Yossi Dagan, head of the Samaria Regional Council, was forced to leave France after landing at a Paris airport last week, his office said in a statement. “During passport control, he was pulled aside and questioned” before being informed that he was banned from entering French territory, according to the statement, which did not specify the date or the airport where the events took place.
The episode comes amid growing friction between Israel and European countries, particularly around West Bank settlements, which have proliferated under caretaker Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s outgoing right-wing government. More than 1,100 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank since then, most of them by Israeli soldiers, according to an AFP tally based on data from the Palestinian Ministry of Health. More than 50 Israelis have been killed in Palestinian attacks or during Israeli military operations over the same period, according to Israeli figures.
Reached for comment, the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not confirm the deportation, but stressed that “Dagan is subject to an administrative ban from the territory because of his active role in implementing the settlement policy in the West Bank”. The measure against Dagan, based “on clearly political and ideological grounds”, is “completely unacceptable”, the Israeli foreign ministry said. “Israel will demand an explanation from the French government and consider its next steps accordingly,” it added.
