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Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni standing in front of Qassam remains
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| By Ynetnews November 24, 2006 |
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French Ambassador to Israel Jean-Michel Casa, who toured the Qassam-ridden town of Sderot Wednesday along with several other diplomats, told Ynet, "It was very interesting and emotional; we spoke with the children and felt their anxiety, but also their desire to continue to go to school despite the harsh situation.
"We met a man who lost his daughter last year, but he still calls for peace and finding a solution to the situation," the ambassador said. "The situation there is difficult; the residents are suffering and we are aware of their pain and frustration."
Is the international community aware of the severity of the situation?
"I am not certain that the international community doesn't understand. Israel must keep using public diplomacy and show the world the situation on the ground. Two people were killed there within a week, and there was also the Beit Hanoun tragedy two weeks ago. It is important that we understand the issue and continue working toward the cessation of violence."
In Israel there is the sense that while the international condemned Israeli following the Beit Hanoun shelling, it is ignoring the daily Qassam attacks on the Negev.
"There was a very emotional reaction after Beit Hanoun, due to the number of Palestinian civilians that were killed. But in Sderot people are suffering, even after the withdrawal from Gaza. We at the Security Council condemned the Qassam attacks; France supported the decision to condemn the rocket fire along with the condemnation of the killing of civilians in Beit Hanoun. Our position is not unbalanced."
Meanwhile, tensions between Israel and France have been growing to the point that French soldiers in UNIFIL almost opened fire at Israel planes overhead.
The French soldiers claimed that Israeli planes were executing overflights that resembled mock raids, meant to frighten the Lebanese and provoke the soldiers.
In response to such incidents, UNIFIL Commander General Pelligrini of France approached the UN headquarters in New York and asked them to consider granting approval for UNIFIL soldiers to fire at Israeli planes for violating UN Security Council resolution 1701.
French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie, usually a supporter of Israel, rebuked Israel and went so far as to make direct threats.
Israel tried to explain to France and the UN that these flights are necessary for photographing and intelligence gathering purposes, but to no avail.
In informal conversations, UNIFIL representatives told the IDF that they may agree to ignore such flights for the time being, until UNSCR 1701 is fully implemented and Hizbullah stops rearming.
However, they do not understand why Israeli planes need to fly low as intelligence gathering is usually executed at higher heights, and thus refused to concede to low overflights.
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