By Barak Ravid, Haaretz – 20 Oct 2009
www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1122381.html
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will not grant French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner permission to visit the Gaza Strip, an Israeli official said on Tuesday.
Kouchner had requested to travel to the coastal territory during his upcoming visit to Israel and the West Bank.
According to the official, Netanyahu sent a message to the French minister saying he could not accede to his request as Hamas would likely take advantage of the visit to create a media frenzy and parade the damages caused by Israel during the Gaza war earlier this year.
On his intented visit to Gaza, Kouchner had planned to observe the construction being done in collaboration with the French at the Al-Quds hospital in Gaza City.
Netanyahu two months ago granted French President Nicolas Sarkozy permission for France to take part in construction of the damaged hospital.
Israel had denied similar requests in the past from Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Netanyahu last week expressed disappointment and dissatisfaction with the French, after they abstained from a UN vote on the Goldstone Commission’s report on the Gaza war.
The report accuses Israel and the Palestinian militants Hamas of war crimes during the Gaza offensive in December 2008. The UN vote passed the controvertial report which demands Israel to investigate war crime charges.
The French FM’s visit to the region had been delayed due to a special convention for the EU Foreign ministers in Brussels and will likely take place in November.
