Reuters
France protests Israeli warning shots near envoy
Date: 15 Oct 2004
PARIS, Oct 15 (Reuters) - France has protested to Israel after troops fired warning shots near one of its diplomats about to enter Israeli territory from the Gaza Strip, Foreign Ministry spokesman Herve Ladsous said on Friday.
The envoy from the French consulate in Jerusalem was travelling on Wednesday in a car clearly marked as diplomatic and had followed security instructions from the Israeli army in approaching the Erez border crossing, Ladsous said.
"An employee of our consulate in Jerusalem was confronted with warning shots on October 13 as he prepared to cross the Erez crossing point in the Gaza Strip," Ladsous said in a statement.
"This type of act is unacceptable, even more so since it concerns people with diplomatic passports who followed all the formalities demanded by the Israeli army," he said.
"It is all the more worrying because it is not an isolated case," the statement added. "Other European diplomats have experienced similar difficulties."
Diplomats said the incident occurred as the vice-consul was returning from a visit to the Gaza Strip. An Israeli tank fired shots about 20 metres (yards) from the car, they said.
They could not give details of the other incidents Ladsous referred to in the statement but said they understood these had happened in recent months.
SOURCE
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