PARIS,
February 17 (IslamOnline.net) - "Katsav the Killer of
Children" and "Katsav the thief of Lands" are some of
many slogans that welcomed Israeli President Moshe Katsav on the start
of his three-day visit to France on Monday, February 16.
Coming
in droves to the Bastille Square, French Jews, Palestinians and women
dressed in black seized Katsav's visit to denounce the controversial
separation wall Israel is building in the West Bank, which snakes
through vast swathes of Palestinian lands.
"It
is surely a black day when an Israeli president treads the French
soil," said one woman in black.
The
black color "is a telling example of the appalling conditions
suffered by the mothers of the Palestinian prisoners and the mothers
of the Israeli soldiers. Now the Israeli apartheid wall is another
black page", she added.
"A
red-carpet reception for Katsav: Shame on the government," read
one of the several placards.
Katsav's
visit is the second by an Israeli head of state since 1988.
The
famous Paris avenue Champs-Elysees has been decked out with
blue-and-white Israeli flags fluttering next to the red-white-and-blue
ones of France.
Persona
Non-Grata
Jews
and Palestinians joined hands and called for tearing down the Israeli
separation wall.
Richard
Wagman, the president of the French Jewish Federation for Peace, told
IslamOnline.net that their participation in the rally is an
unmistakable message that French Jews see Katsav as a persona
non-grata as Israel continues to deny the Palestinians their
legitimate right to self-determination.
He
said his organization is drumming up support for an international
campaign aimed at forcing Israel to demolish its West Bank wall.
Israel
claims the wall is necessary for maintaining its security.
The
Palestinians - backed by international community - maintain that the
wall is nothing but an Israeli land-grab and a bid to pre-empt the
borders of their future state.
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Wagman described anti-Semitism as a tool used by Israel to lure more Jewish immigrants
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Wagman
said the wall is a stigma as we live in the 21st century and given
that Berlin Wall and South Africa's apartheid wall are now belonging
to history and reminiscent of painful memories.
During
a joint press conference on Katsav's arrival, French President Jacques
Chirac reaffirmed his opposition to the route of the wall.
He
said Israel is entitled to exercise its right to "self-defense
and security", but the chosen route for the barrier, which
diverges from the Green Line separating Israel and the West Bank,
"dispossesses thousands of Palestinians of their land".
Israel
will boycott an International Court of Justice hearing into the
legality of the wall called
by the U.N. General Assembly.
The
hearing, to take place in The Hague, is to start on February 23, three
days after Katsav leaves France.
Anti-Semitism
On
the anti-Semitism file which is high on Katsav's agenda, Wagman said
the visit will agitate feelings of anti-Semitism.
It
is a source of embarrassment for French Jews as Katsav represents a
state killing on a daily basis Palestinians in the name of Jews, he
added.
Anti-Semitism
is, in effect, a tool used by Israel to lure more Jewish immigrants,
Wagman said.
The
protesters also displayed photos of Rachel Corrie, the U.S. peace
activist crushed
to death by an Israeli military bulldozer last March in
the occupied Palestinian territories.
The
Paris-based Reporters without Frontiers used Katsav's visit to demand
unveiling the outcome of investigations into the death of James
Miller, gunned down by Israeli occupation forces last May while filming
demolition of Palestinian houses in Rafah in the Gaza
Strip.
The
marchers also called for another rally against the wall on March 13
and a global campaign against the Israeli and U.S. occupation on March
20.
They
circulated handouts reading: "An Iraq without Occupation and
Justice in Palestine".
Monday's
rally was co-organized by ten parties and human rights groups,
including the French Jewish Federation for Peace, human rights league,
the movement against racism and for friendship among nations as well
as the Green Party.
